866-595-6915

I received a message from the above number saying that they are from a Law firm. They say I took a pay day loan that I never took. They have called my job and and my house and leave threatening messages.

I received the same phone call, what can we do about it

yeah, this is a typical indian scammer, same recorded message. dont be scared of them, just report the number to the local police and it'll be gone in a week or two and they'll just use another number.

i also applied over 2 years ago for a payday loan online, biggest mistake ever, i never took out a loan because as soon as you send in the application they bombard you with emails and calls. horrible business.

so, what happens is all of these call centers are obviously located in dirty India, and they might be legit call centers, but a bad guy is waiting outside and pays an employee for private information, then this bad guy sells it to the scammer call centers and that's how they get things like your social, etc. (BBC did a special on this)

so what do you do? i answer the phone, let them talk, then just say "go f yourself" , that's the only thing i say until they hang up. make them hang up, let them pay the phone bill.

also, another thing that makes them hang up, tell them you are eating a nice juicy burger from mcdonalds or a roast beef sandwich.

india is the worst country in the world, even worse than nigeria, and this is a perfect example of their way of life, they feel nothing is wrong with trying to scam us Americans out. tell them to leave our countrymen and women alone and to "fk themselves"

these guys are scumbags...theyve called me for months sayin that im gonna face legal action if i dont respond and this is the first time that the number was not blocked...always some scripted message n always some indian dude bein an [***]...i never took out any loan my whole life so ive jus been ignoring it

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

been receiving calls from someone saying they are mark walker of cci investigations. these calls started year ago and i had some nasty dialog with these scumbags when i new they were scammers. The calls stopped for a while and now they are back. I told them to f..k themselves and hung up. They are relentless. i have even threatenen them with bodily harm but they dont care . Would love to pay these scums a visit with a hollowpoint.

been receiving calls from someone saying they are mark walker of cci investigations. these calls started year ago and i had some nasty dialog with these scumbags when i new they were scammers. The calls stopped for a while and now they are back. I told them to f..k themselves and hung up. They are relentless. i have even threatenen them with bodily harm but they dont care . Would love to pay these scums a visit with a hollowpoint.

Called my job and left a threatening message, said I would be sorry if I or my attorney didnt call them back.
She was very loud rude and evil. Help...please make them stop, it did for awhile now it is happening again..
she said her name was angela williams, but was definatly indian.

You need to read my previous post, which states this is an extortion scam operating out of India. Let them know you are aware of what they are attempting (extortion), are recording their call and reporting them to the authorities. Print off this thread and show it to your employer.

Report them to
Your local police
Your state's Attorney General
The FTC:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
Secret Service:
http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml
FBI
https://tips.fbi.gov
Internet Crime Complaint Center:
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Protect yourself
https://800notes.com/forum/ta-55aaf878cb7e2d2 ... 654448153805545

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/09/id-theft-s ... day-loan-sites/

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 28#.UFo1xbJlT8l

These middle eastern [***] keep calling me. Said for my attorney to call them to resolve this serious matter. If I find out their address I will personally take care or this matter. PERSONALLY

Same thing is happening to myself, they want money that I don't owe. Quiet irritating. I advised them too many times,  that I don't know what they're speaking of. As I type they're calling harrassing myself about a payment. Luckily, the first night I thought this is odd. Never have I heard such rudeness, besides being on the reciving end of a call center for my employment. Never have I demanded when attempting to speak to someone, nor make someone feel pressured. In my place of employment, then I thought...Why would they send police to my home?!?!?...(had me for a moment).  So, that night I searched the number, and suprisingly enough my thought of a scam was true. Thanks, to this site. So, on today 9/21/2012...I reported it, to my local police office about the matter. It may not help, but I am going to try the link above for internetcrime.

Not a phone call, but a letter saying they had tried to contact me by phone.  A poor excuse for letterhead, presumably American Airlines but not the correct logo.  This claimed I had qualified for an award of two airline tickets (from any international airport) worth up to $1198.  The letter gives the contact number as 1-866-237-6915 and is purportedly from one Ali Dunn Vice President.

The English is relatively good, but does use ordinal numbers for the date (June 3rd and June 12th) rather than the usual American 3 and 12.  No return address but posted from Phoenix AZ

Careful out there, folks!