8138631961

Looks like they called my mother in-law and left the same message!!  This is ILLEGAL!!! Not to mention that we don't owe ANYTHING to ANYONE!!!!!

My mom and uncle both recieved phone calls from this number claiming that i was in a car accident and that i needed to contact an attorney.This scared my family into calling the hospitals.

Same thing happened to me this morning.  Same verbage, number, but a guy named Robert Johnson.  What a bunch of creeps to try to trick people like this.  I don't know what they wanted (answering machine picked up) but I have no outstanding debts.

This number called me as a wrong number. (Technically, for my sister, but we live 50+ miles apart and don't talk too often.) I saw this number on my caller id a few times over the past month. This time it was listed as unknown and left a voice mail. They said that some legal action was being taken against the person they were calling, including a restraining order, and the person the message was for was to respond in 48 hours of the message. Now, from when I overheard conversations at the courthouse when I filed for divorce, they aren't called "restraining orders" anymore, so I thought it was probably a collector.  I called back, and explained that they really need to pay attention to what they're leaving on voice mails because my name is nowhere near the person they were calling for. The person who answered asked me to just disregard the call and they couldn't remove my number because it wasn't actually attached to any account they have. That phone number is based out of West Tampa, FL.

Also, at least in AZ, if they don't file something within TWO YEARS, the debt is beyond our statute of limitations and unless you pay them in any way shape of form, they can't take legal action against you. They can call all they want but they can't sue on credit cards.

Whatever it is, they're definitely violating the FDCPA.

My ex-wife, of all people, got the same voice mail on her phone regarding me; "This is special investigator.....restraining order....case number....call your atorney in 48 hrs....etc....

I had my ex forward the voice mail to me so I could listen directly. The hardest part was convincing her that it's some BS scammers as noted in the posts here. I think she thought that she had some juicy drama on me; HA!

For what it's worth, I NEVER answer unknown, blocked, or any number I am not familiar with, I always Google first.

Anyways, I appreciate the site and all the responses.

My daughter received a message on her cell phone stating that she has 'restraining order' against her. She called me asking what to do. I told her delete it immediately.  It a scam.. which now looking at this website has been confirmed.  I echo the sentiments of others 'don't tell them anything!"

Yeah I received these same calls, some thing about so BS payday loan from a state u didn't live in anymore and they have been trying to serve me for 2 yrs or some crap... Asked how much I could offer today told her $100 and she said hold on let me check with the company not even 2 minutes later came back and said $200 and 3 payments of $120 I told her see could serve me and asked for the company name and bank I supposedly took the loan out on, some bank invade never had an account with... Ha... Just laught!

I too have had an outrageous experience with this company. They called my mother AND my father and left these aweful messages about there being a complaint and restraining order filed against me, and they were throwing around the word "court subpoena" and all kinds of nastiness. I even called them because I was so scared, eventhough I couldn't think for the life of me what they could be talking about. They almost tricked me into "settling out of court" because I was so terrified, but it just felt suspicious, and they wouldn't give me enough information, but they acted like this was some old debt I didn't pay and that I was being sued for credit card fraud. Thank God I got off the phone and talked to my lawyer about it and we googled them and found all kinds of the same reports from other people. This is ILLEGAL and do not listen to them if they harass you, because that is exactly what this is...HARASSMENT.

Hi, I received this same call from 813-863-1961  Officer Christopher Wright?  looking for my son. My daughter called back the number to question what type of business it was, a lady answered and asked for claim number, my daughter refused to give claim number because it was not revelavant to what type business it was. She hung up the phone. Fortunately,my daughter was home to put this number and info on the computer to research. So glad you guys are here.  Who can we report this to?  Is anyone trying to sue or stop these people so they cannot do this to anyone else?

Good job guys!!!!!

For at least the last four years, possibly longer, a group has been calling former payday loan applicants advising them that they have defrauded a bank and are now being sued for non-payment of a loan.  The callers will claim to be calling on behalf of an attorney's office (name varies), the Dept. of Law and Investigation, ACS, or other similar combinations below:

United Legal Processing Division
Midline Marketing
Crime Monitoring Services
Monetary Crime Division
U.S. National Bank
Attorney General’s Office (usually in California)
American Legal Services
Affidavit Consolidation Services (ACS)

You will be threatened with arrest, a costly trial and possibly worse.  In no shape, way or form can you be arrested for non-payment on a consumer debt.  Do not believe these threats, as they are without merit and cannot be carried out in the manner they allege.  

Who are they?

In the past when pressed by law enforcement for an address, the callers have provided the following information:

David Morgan and Associates
Morgan & Associates
Morgan Associates
954-727-8481
1155 Northwest 85th Street
Wintergarden, Florida  33150
(Address is likely invalid)

The collector's MO matches a once legit collections agency called Ellis Crosby & Associates.  Here are some links on them:

http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm
http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/EllisCrosbyJudgment.pdf

They have been previously fined over $1.3 million for various violations.  They have been known to use phone banks in India to make their calls, which more or less coincides with the difficult to understand accent many of us detect when we are contacted.  

The last time this group went by any "official" name was back in 2008:

Ellis Crosby & Associates / Douglas & Morgan Associates
4494 Southside Boulevard Suite #200
Jacksonville Florida 32216
Phone:  800-928-3536 / (904) 928-3536
(Address is likely invalid)

There are NUMEROUS consumer alerts out against this group of individuals:

Florida:
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061107/met_176207561.shtml

Kansas:  
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html

Colorado:  
http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/ ... lls_likely_orig

Rhode Island:  
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/rho ... -3002135-1.html

West Virginia:
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

Missouri:
On July 15th, 2010 a Public Awareness Bulletin was sent out by Missouri Information Analysis Center.  

"..received reports from individuals in Ohio and Illinois reference suspicious telephone calls they received. In both instances, the callers are reporting that a voicemail is received from a man, with a Middle Eastern accent, identifying himself as an officer working with the Financial Crimes Unit.  The message indicates that the reason for the call concerns a loan made by the receiver or someone in the receiver's family. The voicemail requests that a return call be made and a telephone number is provided. When a return call is made, the caller is asked to provide personal identifying information such as their date of birth and social security number.

Reports indicate that the calls are frequent and persistent and that they even threaten arrest or legal action if information or money is not provided. It appears that the individuals making these calls may have access to some records connecting individuals and their relatives.  Missouri does not have a Financial Crimes Unit and all indications are that this is a fictitious agency. If you receive a similar phone call, please be advised that it is a scam and please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Missouri Information Analysis Center at 866-362-6422."

Bottom line:

Do not supply the callers with any additional information.  Inform them you have reported them to law enforcement and hang up.  If you haven't already, go ahead and report the calls to local law enforcement, your state's Attorney General and beyond.  Look up the local Secret Service branch's information in your area and get in contact with an agent there.  

If you ever applied for a cash advance online, your information is out there.  
Possible sources for the breach of your privacy are:

* The scammers obtained your information from Teletrack - a reporting agency used by many cash advance lenders to determine their risk lending to you.  The service is able to tell cash advance lenders if you have existing loans with other companies, for example.  Many state laws prohibit borrowers from having more than two cash advances out at the same time.

* The scammers created their own fake payday loan application site.  People looking for a cash advance went to the site and applied, thus freely providing the scammers with their information for malicious use at a later time.  

* The scammers were able to get into the database(s) of cash advance lenders - probable targets being Sonic Payday and Cashnet USA.  


How to protect yourself:

* Inform your employer.  You are likely getting calls at home and/or at work, so make sure your employer is aware the calls are part of a scam and to not take them seriously.  Advise the callers that they are no longer allowed to call you at work.  If they continue to call, document the date and time of the calls you received.  Save voice mails left if at all possible.  

* Change your number(s).  For some this may not be an option, for others a one-time number change can be done free of charge.

Be advised - any references you listed on your payday loan application will be contacted.  Let those people know that this is a scam, and they can disregard.

* Use Google Voice.  Google Voice is a great replacement voice mail system for just about any phone number you use.  Messages can be transcribed and voice mail recordings can be saved as mp3 files.  

Pro Tip - call the scammers with a Google Voice number before turning off your old phone numbers.  Make sure when you call you identify yourself so they can start up their script.  At any point after they have your information pulled up just hang up.  They will then start religiously calling your Google Voice number.  At this point, you are free to change your regular phone number(s) and enjoy not having these people ever call you again.  (And laugh at the fact these people are basically talking to a brick wall several times a day)

The scammers change their numbers frequently.  Law enforcement used to think it was because the callers ran out of minutes on their prepaid wireless accounts or they were shuttered due to fraud, but now they understand it's simply to evade detection by savvy consumers online.  With the proliferation of VoIP, it's even easier for the crooks to stay a couple of steps ahead of law enforcement.  Below is just a sampling of the 30+ numbers that have been used in recent memory.

1-201-244-7722
1-209-349-7382
1-209-797-2212
1-212-500-0839
1-213-256-0408
1-213-995-3039
1-281-763-0433
1-347-289-3902
1-347-844-6817
1-347-844-6831
1-424-354-4270
1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935
1-518-212-0219
1-561-300-8018
1-561-210-4185
1-626-200-4646
1-631-456-4041
1-646-274-1143
1-646-810-8635
1-650-241-4604
1-707-401-4056
1-707-633-2789
1-708-401-0535
1-716-442-2824
1-717-862-4080
1-718-705-8669
1-760-514-0132
1-760-563-5384
1-772-318-4938
1-850-201-1111
1-858-777-1977
1-859-908-2281
1-866-860-4509
1-877-226-7488
1-888-706-7463
1-888-771-9249
1-888-785-4479
1-909-327-4870

So can they really do anything to you?

It's not a simple yes or no answer.  Logic dictates that, if they really wanted to take you for a ride and drain your bank accounts, they already would have.  

So, why haven't they?  

Authorization.  

Why do you think you are being called so much?  Perhaps it is because they like the sound of your voice?  No, they have to have your authorization to take any form of payment from you, period.  The callers know their audience, and that audience is typically a bunch of people that have applied for payday loans in the past.  Most of those people they call couldn't afford an attorney if they wanted one, and are so used to receiving collections calls that so long as they sound like a real collector, they will likely be perceived as one.

Furthermore, they don't even really want to talk to your attorney - that just sounds official and scary enough.  A real attorney would take the callers to task and write them off as two-bit con artists.  The callers need you, in writing, to authorize payment against the fictitious debt they claim you owe.  Go ahead, ask them for proof you owe the debt - more commonly known as verification of debt.  See what they say.  A phone authorization carries very little weight, so if they have something signed by you on file, you are done for - and the callers know that.  That authorization is the only thing these callers are doing by the book, and for good reason.  If they just went all willy nilly and made an ACH debit from your checking account, without your written approval, you could in turn report the transaction as fraudulent to your financial institution.  In about 7-10 business days, you would get the funds returned to your account.  Then the scammers would be up against a bank and their team of lawyers and investigators.  

Bottom line:

If you haven't paid the callers a dime, don't.  If you planned on paying them to shut them up, just don't.  Remember - you are not being contacted by a legally licensed, ethically owned and operated collector.  Read up on the FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf - and know your rights.

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

So this is a collection agency just trying to collect and not a attorney's office from what i am understanding you are saying, correct?  Because i received a call from them today stating the same thing and also containing a restraining order and that i need to contact my lawyer to get this resolved. should i just disregard this call.?  Please let me know.

just received the same call! it was a female and her message said the so-called action was regarding a car accident!! don't know what planet she's living on but i haven't been involved in any accidents ..whatever.
anyway here's a link to the FTC to file a complaint which i'm in the process of doing now. bottom feeder collectors ..must not realize they'll lose everything when they chose to stoop into the slime!

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

and thank you everyone for posting!

wow! thank you so much Saint for the great info! i didn't see this before i posted.

My father received a phone call from this group, when I called back they wanted me to verify specific information about myself that I would not verify.  When I told them that I would have to be an idiot to verify that over the phone they hung up.

I got the same call from a block number my phone was able to unblock the call and it came from (312)235-6319 that's a number from Chicago IL, it also said the same bs on the voicemail, it said to contact a number (813)863-1961 that's Tampa FL, they said I had 48hr to clear that matter I contacted them and it was about an old credit card.........................................

Just got a call from a friend saying they called her looking for my hubby and they did what everyone else is saying.....they left her a voice mail saying he has to call back in 48hrs because of a RESTRAINING ORDER we totally freaked out because he hasn't done anything he is a family man with no history of anything violent! Thanks to finding this website I am not worried......However I thought that it is illegal?       Wonder if we can all do a lawsuit on them?

I received a call from "Temika Lester" about a complaint that has been filed against me and gave me a claim number and said I needed to call back 813-863-1961 and that this is in regards to a restraint order...then I googled the area code and found out it was from Florida...haven't been there in 10 years and then googled "Central Legal Network" and found this website and now know not to call them back.

I also just picked up my voicemail a few minutes ago from someone who said her name was Temika Lester and was a special investigator saying the was someone filing a complaint against me and filed a "restraining order" against me and I needed to contact a lawyer then get in touch with the phone number 813-863-1961 and reference some affidavit number. I have only had my current phone number for 1 week and haven't given it to anyone, so I researched the area code to find it was Florida, yet I have never been to that part of the US ever, found this website and read the comments. Not to mention the caller had my maiden name and not my married name. I blocked my number and called the number and heard the recording say Central Legal Network, if this some sort of attempt to warn me of a restraining order then why haven't I been served, an actual restraining order would mean I cause harm to someone and that person would know my name and where I lived. This is scary. I will be filing a complaint with the FTC cause this can't be legal.

Got the message about a restraining order and that my attorney needs to call WTF!  THIS IS A COLLECTION AGENCY!

Got a call from this number, same thing as everyone else, they wanted to serve me a civil suit document  for orchard bank. Never heard of them, never had a credit card so it's total BS.
Then wanted my dob, ss# etc. I just referred them to the local sheriffs office number and hung up.