888-341-4004

I received a call from a Richard Long who said he is with the US Bank Fraud Division. He told me he was filling out an affidavit concerning a pay day loan from 2005. He had my phone number and social security number. He threatened me with possibly losing my job. Taking the hard drive from my work computer, losing my civil liberties, and when I asked him not to call me at work, he refused to stop and said he had 150 other people that would start calling. I have called US Bank and they have told me that they do not have a division like this.

It's a scam, of course; there is no such thing as a US Bank Fraud Division. Most likely, it's the same group of crooks who scam consumers through these numbers, too:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128

Their ludicrous attempts at impersonating law enforcement officers or bank officials and making moronic threats such as taking your hard drive and civil liberties would be funny if it weren't for the facts that it's illegal and they're trying to steal your money.

Just remember this: no debt collectors (let alone criminals pretending to be debt collectors) have the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. Also, it is ALWAYS a scam whenever someone calls you and demands that you pay them money to prevent your arrest.  In short, what they are attempting is extortion.

Anyone being targeted by these vermin should do the following as soon as possible:

1) File a complaint with your local police. (Many police departments can take a complaint such as this over the phone.) Be sure to tell them that you're being harassed by an extortionist who is calling you at home and work and threatening you with the loss of your job and freedom if you don't pay him money.  File a complaint each time they call you.  Filing a police report about this is important so your employer knows that you're being harassed by criminals at your workplace; you may want to ask your employer to help out by filing a police report if and when these crooks call you again at work. (By the way, if this were a real debt collector you can tell him to stop calling you at work and, by law, he must comply; but since these are criminals calling you, I seriously doubt that they would feel compelled to abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.)

2) File a complaint online with the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Include in your report the same information about how these crooks are calling you at work and home and are using illegal threats to extort money from you.

3) File a complaint with the consumer protection division of your state's attorney general. The contact for each state's attorney general is at www.naag.org

4) File a complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

5) If these crooks call you again, just ignore their threats and tell that you know they're a criminal operation and that you've reported them to the FBI and your local police.  Once they know that you're aware that they aren't legitimate, I'll bet they cool it for awhile or stop altogether.

I have also been getting phone calls from these people and last week I did a really dumb thing. I let them scare me into making a down payment and payment arrangements because they used the same scare tactics on me. I was afraid they could arrest me and seize my hard drive from work and I didn't want to go through the embarrasement so I gave in. Now looking at the posts on them I'm afraid I made a really big mistake. After making payment arrangements and already making a down payment I received a message from Richard Long yesterday wanting me to call him so I called this morning and he answered the phone but not using a company greeting, just a hello. I told him who I was and I had a message to call him. He said oh, I have your name right here, did you call to make an arrangement or to turn your self in. I told him that I had already made an arrangement, he was surprised and said you did, I said yes. He said when is your scheduled pay date and I told him. I was testing him and gave him a completely different date then what we talked about originally, I also told him it was monthly when it was supposed to be bi-weekly. He didn't have a clue. When I called him on it, he said who did you make arrangements with. I looked at my notes and it was him, he said oh, and then proceeded to tell me that somebody didn't put my notes in the computer correctly. I'm really concerned that a crook has my bank information right now and I'm not really paying my debt off at all. If anyone else has been through this please let me know. Thanks!!!

I just received the SAME call from a Mr. Long and he scared me!!  Deep voice saying he worked with the white collar crime division and when we were talking he told me he was filing an affidavited for my arrest in Florida!!  Is this person for real!?!?

If this company does NOT stop calling me I'm going to go insane!!  They are harassing me at work and at home!!!  The man goes by the name Richard Long.  PLEAE make him stop!!!!!

It's a scam. Read my message above for information on reporting them to federal and state law enforcement.

I received a call from a Richard Long stating he was with the US Bank Fraud Division and needed to speak with one of my employees.  He was very rude and stated the employee had defaulted on a pay day loan.  At this point I had told him 'this is a place of employment and he needed to contact this person at home'.  He then proceeded to tell me this is a federal business matter and this person is writing bad checks and I needed to keep my 'crooked little nose out of it' and wanted to speak with this person.  I had threatened him twice and transferred him to our security department within our business and both times he hung up before I could complete the transfer.  I received 4 phone calls within 10 minutes.  Later I found out, he had somehow received the direct number to comtact this employee and had called that number 6 times.
My suggestion to anyone who receives phone calls from someone claiming to be 'Richard Long' and with the contact number of (888)341-4004, tell him to stop calling.  Explain to him it is harrassment and you will press charges if he continues to call.  He seems to be deterred by threatening legal action or the mention of Security or Police.

Good job telling this crook to stick it. You and the employees he harassed may want to consider reporting this to these federal and state law enforcement agencies:

1) File a complaint with your local police. (Many police departments can take a complaint such as this over the phone.) Be sure to tell them that you're being harassed by an extortionist who is calling you at home and work and threatening you with the loss of your job and freedom if you don't pay him money.  File a complaint each time they call you.  Filing a police report about this is important so your employer knows that you're being harassed by criminals at your workplace; you may want to ask your employer to help out by filing a police report if and when these crooks call you again at work. (By the way, if this were a real debt collector you can tell him to stop calling you at work and, by law, he must comply; but since these are criminals calling you, I seriously doubt that they would feel compelled to abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.)

2) File a complaint online with the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Include in your report the same information about how these crooks are you and other employees and that he's impersonating federal law enforcement.

3) File a complaint with the consumer protection division of your state's attorney general. The contact for each state's attorney general is at www.naag.org

4) File a complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

Same exact everything... This Richard Long called me and my boss threatening arrest and other bad things.   We were ready to pay them just because I couldnt believe he had called my boss like that, which by the way is completely and totally illegal, told my boss since I used the company email they would take my computer and file suit against the company.   Jesus, they sure are scarey though.  I looked up this site by the phone number because this guy refuses to give you ANY information, he would not confirm the debt, he wouldnt even tell me the STATE he was in.

Had the same guy do the same thing to me.  He even called my Director and told HIM they would seize my server at work because I supposely used my work email address to for this payday loan.   Once I looked into this more I called Richard, and called him and called and called him.  I said "Hi DICK!  Its me again, where is your place of business, what state are you located in?  Who was the original creditor?  Can I speak to your supervisor?"  He got more pissed with each call and refused to give me any informaiton.   I also called the local FBI http://www.treas.gov/usss/field_offices.shtml and asked them if they had a "white collar crime unit" and if this sounded legit.   He said they had no such site and that no debt collector could have me arrested.  He also told me that until these people could provide me with information pertaining to the supposedly debt that he would not recommend me giving this man any money.  

Since I Harrassed DICK all day, I havent heard back from him.   Of course it is only the 1st day so we will see.   I also called the states atty office in MD to report him and now awaiting a call back from them.

Richard Long called and threatened my daughter so much that she sent him $300. He soon called back and offered to settle a $3,000 debt for 50% and then latter said he would take a $1000.He stated that the debt went back to 2006 and that he had never recieved any payments. the loan and debt does not exist. He threatend to have her jailed. He would not give any details of his whearaouts, and would only recieve a credit card or debit card, no cash, no check or any other form of payment. If you have paid him with any of the above methods close your accounts immediately, and report him to the authoritys and your bank.

He has a deep, kind of hoarse voice. Very calm at first and gradually becomes more direct and firm as you protest, then comes the threats and if you try to speak he just keeps talking over the top of you and will not here what you say or answere your questions. He says he is the director and he has seveeral operations that consist of about 150 people that is at his command.

It's a scam, of course. No debt collector  -- let alone a criminal posing as a debt collector -- has the authority to have anyone jailed for anything.

Your daughter should file complaints with the following federal and state law enforcement agencies:

1) File a complaint with the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  She should be sure to tell them that she's being victimized over the phone by an extortionist.

2) File a complaint with her local police. (Many police departments can take a complaint such as this over the phone.) She should be sure to tell them that she's being harassed and threatened by an extortionist who has already stolen money from her.

3) File a complaint with the consumer protection division of her state's attorney general. The contact for each state's attorney general is at www.naag.org

4) File a complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

Hope this helps.

I have been getting calls from this guy at first he says his name is Ben Marshall. Just recently when he called me again claiming to be Richard Long. He is very rude and nasty, Saying that I had stolen many from US National Bank. There is no such name for US National Ban. He threatened to have me arrested If I didn't pay the rest of this debt off, stated that I had owed $1,206.44. I paid them almost $700.00. But after that I found out that he is a scam I didn't send him anything else. I'm in california, I filed a complaint with the DA's office United States Secret Services, Also the poilce department in my city. The officer took a report. I have been dealing with this guy since January of this year calling once every other at 5:00am harassing me. I called him a scam artist and liar also a fool. I put everything in writing about everthing they said the payment I paid the police department have a copy of my letter.

I'm making a correction in my last sentence. I put everyting in writing about what this Guy said, the payments that I sent to them and the phone calls and what time and dates. They Police department have a copy of the letter that I wrote.

Rich Long called my bosses secretary (i was out of the office) and said he was from The White Collar Crime Unit.  I was called at home and called this number back ~ he said I owed $2,105 and wanted to know when I was going to pay it back ~ I said I had $9.00 in my account and what part of that did he want. He said he know where I lived and worked.  He was threatening and abusive and I hung up on him.  I thought this was a real debt until I checked this number out on line.

See my message above from April 6 for information on reporting these criminals to federal and state law enforcement.

Hope this helps.

Update:

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (Read http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 ) There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: info@intellisourze.com
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  ankur.ranpariya@pragra.com    
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone who are posing as federal law enforcement. Be sure to give as many details as you can.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a small sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857

I had to pay 1800 or risk going to jail

Call about payday loan or I may get arrested paid 1200 already

First I want to let you know that they cannot arrest you for a payday loan. If that was the case, my Dad would have been in jail years ago. A payday loan is just like any other loan. Even though you wrote a check to get it, it is not considered a fraudulent check because they knew the check was no good when they took it. Now, this is what one check payday loan place explained to me when I talked to them about my dad. they said they couldn't arrest him because they knew the check was no good, but they can put it on his credit report. they can charge him through small claims court for not paying a debt, but they can't arrest him for that.
Anytime you have a bill, tell that person to give you the company information to call them back. Then actually contact them through the information you already have and verify that this person is legitimate. I refust to give anyone else any information over the phone. Even if they repeat my ss# to me right i tell them it's wrong. I don't give out any info over the phone. There are too many scammers calling people nowadays. Especially ones with foreign accents.