7604405421

They called my cell two days ago he said his name was Chris Jones, today he called my job and told he to contact Michael Carter...He wouldn't state what I was being sued for or who was he was working for. I called back the lady hung up on me twice, the third time I called she claimed my number was not in their system. I really don't have the time for the games but they want a lawsuit they have one

I received the same call moments ago and when I tried to get them to clarify what was going on they told me to call back the same number for Michael Carter. This is phone harassment and it can lead to legal actions so if the keep calling me one will be filed and I'm not playing. I have their message saved and their number. Anybody want to join in because I just might have to get an attorney.

I am saying the same thing. What legal action can be taken from this, do you know? They are getting people worked up and hanging up and not answering when you call them. What is really going on?

People who hardly speak English call me from this number and tell me they need to speak with me and get my attorneys info. One time they called and I firmly told them not to call my job and they used all kinds of profanity towards me. I have asked them their specific contact info and what account they are calling in reference to and all they can verify is that they have the last 4 digits of my social, other than that and my work number, they have no info. When I told them I was contacting the BBB to file a complaint, they said I was going to be arrested.

Harassment and deformation of character. Hell I really thought it was something serious like I've did something but I haven't done anything to be sued and etc

Just received the same type of phone call on my cell and work line.  Harassing so not professional or a way to get your point across especially if you are trying to collect anything from someone.  Its funny that my best friend is a top rated attorney in Orange County, CA.  Messed with the wrong gal. Im pregnant and can't afford to get all stressed.  Don't people have better things to do?! Get a life or at least a real job!!

Just received a call from these [***] too.  Told them I was God and they were not sure of what to say. Kept asking for me and I just kept saying this was God.  Finally they hung up.  I am fed up with this crap too and somone needs to take this little SOB by the throat and show him what a real threat is.  They think this is a fun little joke as they cannot get a real job like us real american workers.

this person  called from india and it seems they are using a spoof number in san diego county. I guess they dont know how US law works. they wanted my attorney and wished me luck on my "journey" total BS I have anxiety too but this is more of a joke!

if u look up michael carter @ the cali state bar website nothing comes up!! it is total BS laugh and taunt them slumdogs from BOMBAY ! they make threats and when u call back no one picks up lol total scham as for the ssn#'s did anyone apply for a PAYDAY loan?

same thing, threatening phone call and i dont like it

I just a call from them sayin i was being sued for a million dollars nd ill b getting papers inthe mail...lmfao

I got a call saying time sensitive too and that if I didnt it.will unfold for me and all! This is all a scam he has another number as well! Don't fall for it or pay anything he's trying to get you to pay!!!

threatning phone calls

I got the same thing  whats the point ?  Is this a finanical scam  I mean what are they asking for??

yes i did just a few days ago. the harassment call came about 2 hours ago. they said do not disregard this call the sherifs department had served me with warrant arrest. if i did not respond they could only wish me the best of luck for what will unfold on me. scared me half to death. they knew i was USAF. United States Air Force. I put USAF for my job title. i am retired now and scared half to death anyway so this got to me big time.

I am retired military with post traumatic stress disorder medical retirement. I know what you mean about not needing to get stressed. Wow you are pregnant that is so serious to upset a woman while she is pregnant. It makes me madder that they did that to you. My sister had high blood pressure when she was pregnant and anything stressful was deadly for her and the baby. i forget what they call it when pregnant women suffer stress related dangerous high blood pressure. that really gets to me that they did that to you. what on earth is the point. how do they know our phone number names and jobs. if anyone finds out please post. oh and by the way did anyone else notice this has only been posted the past 2 days starting june 6 and already this many of us are freaking out enough to post a blog and do some research on the number. I downloaded quicktime right before the harassment call i thought maybe it was related phishing or a virus.

Just got the same voice mail and I could barely understand this person and so I googled it and in seeing all your responses I feel much better knowing its not real but freaked out how they got my information

well i applied on line for a loan. and i recetved 8 calls from a number 555-497-7495. and told me if i did not pay one hundred and fifty dollars today. i was going to jail.and then i get another phone call from this number 760-440-5421 r u all getting calls from these two numbers? i called all my lenders and they told me to have all my info deleated from the system. this is totally not cool.

Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

I got the same call from David Miller. I got two voicemails and he even called my job. He yelled at me on the phone he said he wanted my attorneys name and number because I was getting sued for a PAYDAY loan that I never paid back. I asked him what are you talking about and he said you owe them money so I asked him How Much was this loan for and when did I get it? Mind you i never made a payday loan in my life... and then he started yelling at me saying he needed my attorneys info and stuff. It scared the [***] out of me I started freaking out.