888-481-3633

I got several calls in 1 day at my job.  My boss told them not to call me at my job...i have told them not to call me at my job.   they wouldnt say in reference to all they said was that there is a claim # and that they would show up at my job.  They were told that they are not allowed to show up at my job by my boss.   imkeep getting these calls I will lose my Job.

These calls are coming from a place called Nationwide a collection company.  They actually called my work and told them personal information and that I was in trouble and facing severe charges.  Its against the law to to that and its not true its over a 200 dollar bill that got caught up in my divorce.  They call all the time with threats to show up at work or my house.  However, when I stated I would be calling the police and filling a report they have not called.  Also they will call from many different numbers not just this one.  I asked for paper working proving they were a legitimate company since they were asking for my credit card information.  They said they don't have any and would not provide any.  (Even collection companies can prove they are a business and it is the law to provide that information before requesting credit card information.)  It very well could be a scam.  Report it to your local PD harassment and threats are against the law.

Th issame person called my job yesterday and said that he spoke to my charge nurse.  Hewanted me to give him my address so he can serve me with papers and that there are charges against me.  When I a ask ed what they were he said he do dnt know.  He told me to call the 8884813633 number and gave me some other number.  I called no one answers the phone.  It keeps saying that this is nationwide and thats it.  This person that called said that he was hired vy that cho mpany to fyi nd me and hand me the papers, so he wanted my address to xome too my house.  His last call to me was of him threatening me that he would come to my house.

My nurse manager sent ot an email to everyone saying not to give out any info to anyone who calls for anyone at work.  That it is a scam.

I got a call yesterday from this number claiming to be Nationwide collectors and wanting me to pay them back for a multiloan payday loan that I supposedly opened April of this year online. They had my correct name, SS# and address, however my e-mail was wrong and so was the bank I supposedly used and their last place of employment. I did not give them any current up to date info...I only verified my name and address.

I got a call on my answer machine for someone else. The message, directed at a person who doesn't even live here, was menacing and demanded that I call back and tell them where I live.

Reputable collection agencies do not give this type of information to anyone but the person that they were hired to contact; they don't leave detailed messages on answer machines, and they never, ever come to people's houses or jobs. Real agencies never, ever do this.

THese dumb a##es don't even have all the correct info on the people they are calling?? Well, isn' that a dead give-away that it's a scam??!!!

A man called Tony Banks keeps calling my work, my Human Resources Department, my work voicemail, my cell phone, my mother, etc. Leaving threatening messages stating there are serious charges from a case pending against me and they are going to come to my place of employment, home, mother's home, etc to serve and arrest me, as they have obtained the addresses needed to do so. They are leaving all of this information to anyone who answers the phone as well as on voicemails. I did call the number back on 8/2/12, as they are using my last name from a former marriage of which disolved in 1998. They asked for my social security number, which I did not provide. They provided the last four numbers of a social security number of which is not mine as well as a date of birth which is not mine. I advised them of such, yet they continue to call leaving the same messages. These are very threatening and are causing great embarrassment for me and my employer is quite concerned about this being something that is actually going to happen.

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

This was legit for me as I had defaulted on a multiliansource loan and I called this number given to me by the "processor" and they had all my info at "Nationwide"..I called Multiloansource and they gave me the amount of $820 that I owed and it was the same with Nationwide..Their tactics trying to collect this debt are violations but the debt I owed is legit...I am not a plant but just putting out there that if these people are looking for you there may be a legitimate reason

Did they accept payment arrangements?

I have recieved several calls for the last 2 weeks on my job the caller gave out personal info. about some claim # and the co. being Nationwide this idiot keeps calling saying he has document charges against me but has yet to bring them to my job or home address he's trying to discredit me  on my job when my husband cussed him out and told him to bring the papers to the house he said no cause my husband was too hostile, even if I was going to pay the debt after this has happened they can 4get it! I will let my lawyer take care of this company! I can't even find an address on them, so if anyone can help me with this please do. email tperry65@gmail.com thanks!

My lawyer is dealing with them because of them violating the FDCPA so no I have not made any payment arrangements with them at this point...I saved the calls from the "processor" and told them I was recording the call when they started spouting off charges and threats..I will not pay them a dime until told by my lawyer to do so..

I just wonder if they are legitimate?  Will they pursue in suing you or is it just a scam?

My lawyer is looking into them..I don't think they are but I don't know..I am suing them for more than they can sue me..

Definitely reply when your attorney finds something

Will do..I guess you are going through the same thing..

Yes. I started at the source, multiloan. Called every # they gave me that it had been sold to and it ended with nationwide. But I do know, u can't be charged criminally, or with fraud for an unpaid payday loan. U can be sued but documents must be filed at the courthouse before u are served papers. And u are supposed to be notified in writing by mail 5 or 10 days before the suit can be filed. From what I've read from others posts, they get nothing in writing, nothing is filed at the court house and they are never served.  So are they fraudulent, empty threats or will they pursue is a good question.

The only thing legit in all of this is that the debt I had...The problem was that the loan was illegal in my state to begin with and I was disputing this with Multiliansource and I had already paid back well over the principle amount...I know that this "Nationwide" and their tactics are not legal and that is why I am pursuing a suit against them for violating the FDCPA..They are bottom feeders and from what I found doing my own research is that it all goes back to United Debt Holdings where the debt was placed to begin with and they get these guys to do the dirty work so they come out clean... American Recovery and Nationwide are under the same umbrella....They can sue in civil court only and cannot threaten charges if you don't pay..I have recorded phone calls and messages. They will be owing me and not me owing them..I highly doubt they will spend the time and effort to sue legitimately because of them being aggressive and scaring you into paying in the first place...

This is BS. I dont owe anything and they still call me all day and nigh Igor Eric Kuvykin