908-244-2001

Heavy accented individual going by the name Mr. Martin called and stated a criminal case with the US National Bank had been filed and to Money Gram 1,154.20 from Walmart. would not give any other details-refused to give his correct spelling of name, total debt amount, company that debt was from. Stated he did not have to give that info. Then threatened my husband with arrest tommorrow. Also refused to give out case # or attorney name. We offered to have our attorney call his attorney and were hung up on. My husband was then verbally abused and called dumb, stupid, and ingnorant. We traced this person and number and found a connection between  another harrassing number 1-214- 245-1402 and other  names-Hadley Brown, Celine Jones,  & Frank Miller.

I am a police officer in Indiana and had a subject file a similar complaint on 05-22-2008.  All the info was same, but Mr. Martin now claimed to be with United Legal County Department.  Do not send this person any money!  You are not in any trouble!

Recieved the same type of phone call, stating he was from US National Bank
He had a very heavy Indian type accent.  He also stated money was needed to avoid being arrested for an outstanding payday loan. He said the money had to be paid by 3:00 that afternoon or you would be arrested.  Would not give any details and was verbally abusive.  He called himself Jimmie Cliff, Hadley Brown and Tom Collin.  Also calls from 1-214-245-0943.

I am an IN resident and have received the same threat today from a Mr. Martin, the very same scenario as the others-  am scared to death- what are the laws on this or how do I know what is legitimate or not?  Who should I report this to as I'm supposed to be clearing this up by tomorrow?????

I've not gotten calls from this guy, but just wanted to let you guys know that anyone anywhere can find whatever they want to about you, and most times it doesn't cost a thing. Other times they may have to pay like a yearly fee, but that covers EVERYTHING about ANYBODY. Just please be careful. Don't give any info out to anyone, especially if they aren't telling you anything. You should always keep a current copy of your credit report, so that you know what is going on. And keep all your personal documents in a safety deposit box. Hope this helps :).

OFFICER MARTIN THREATENED ME ALSO CALLING TELLING ME I WILL BE ARRESTED
THIS HE STATES FROM A PAYDAY LOAN FROM 2005 WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS ,THEY ARE
SCAMMERS PLEASE DON'T SEND ANY MONEY TO ANYONE AND REPORT IT TO FTC ASAP
THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT NUMBER EVERYDAY 777-888-9999  ALL DIFFFERENT BEAWARE

I just recieved a call from the 908 number as well with a heavily accented man identifying himself as "Officer Robin White". I didn't give him any information but he continues to call and hang-up (4x in ten minutes). He didn't give a company name.

Gentleman claims to be officer steve martin collectin a payday loan debt.  Threatens me that I am going to be arrested for not paying.

they also called this am stating that i'm fraud they will have me arrested
will never give you their co name ,also stated his name is BEN LADINN
VERY HEAVY ACCENT AND NASTY CALLS YOU BACK TO BACK ALL DAY

I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM OFFICER STEVE MARTIN ALSO. HE IS A SCAM AND HAS A HEAVY ACCENT. THEY PROBABLY LIVE IN THE UK. I WENT TO THE LOCAL POLOCE DEPARTMENT AND HE CALLED ME ON 5/23/08 AND HAS NOT SINCE THEN. DO NOT ANSWER ANY OF HIS CALLS. HE IS NUTS

HA! "steve martin" wild and crazy scammer.

Last year and yesterday I received a call from a guy named Steve Martin from United Legal Investigation.  He said that I was under investgation and would be arrested for not paying off my loan.  He also said that the company I work for was now under investgation because I gave them my work email address when I did the loan.  I paid on these loans when I borrowed money in 2006.  He says that I never paid anything and that I would be arrested for federal banking regulations, check fraud, and theft.  The same guy called a couple of weeks ago stating that his name was Tom Collin.  My manager told him not to call my work place anymore and he called back three times after that.  I had to have the local police call him to make him stop calling.

Who is the FTC and how do I get in contact with them

I had this guy "Steve Martin" Call today and threaten me that he would call my manager and the police would come to arrest me at my job.  He called me a criminal lady.  I looked his number up online and nothing came up.  I then called him back to ask who is was and he got very nasty w/ me.  I then asked where his office was located and he hung up on me.  I continued to call back and was sent to voicemail.  I then called private from my cell and got the voicemail at first.  The second private call I asked "Is this how you run a business by hanging up on people who are trying to get information?"  He once again hung up on me.  A few hours later he calls me back to tell me he talked w/ my manager and the police should be at my job shortly.  I asked him who was my manager and where did I work.  He just said have a good day criminal lady.  This is just crazy!!!!!!!!  I am calling the police to report him and his phone number.

It's a scam. And all their threats are false and illegal.

This is a very active group of scammers, many of whom are calling from India (and probably other countries) and are in cahoots with a group of American pay day loan scammers. They attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false and illegal threats, and alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. Their trademark is to use meaningless legalese gobblygook phrases like "We are downloading warrants against you" or "We are filing an affidavit against you." Another trademark phrase is to threaten the consumer with something like this ridiculous phrase: "If you don't pay then only God can help you."

Typical of many financial scams of this variety, they usually demand payment via Western Union or MoneyGram or credit card. They use any number of phony names such as US National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Hopkins Law Office, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit and many more.  These criminals also use many phone numbers from many area codes; they're probably using caller-id spoofing software and/or VoIP to disguise their real location.

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, or demanding your lawyer's name so they can sue you, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal to them to threaten such a thing.) And since these foreign dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  (Debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.)

The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money.

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. And if the crooks claim to be law enforcement or lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, be sure to include that information in your report.

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://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

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
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-954-678-9724
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-610-571-3252
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-321-221-0018
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-408-404-1520
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-901-328-9342




________________________

"How is a sincere criminal going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?  Almost all crime depends on the acquiescence of the victim.  If the victim refuses his assigned role, the criminal is placed at a disadvantage." -- Robert A. Heinlein, 1985

I just received a call from a Mr. Steve Martin.  He was rude, unprofessional and very threating.  The number was 904-328-2996 of United Legal County Department.  Said I owed for a payday loan fon 2-10-06.  He kept hanging up the phone on me, saying that he thinks I am so smart trying to run for my obligations and so on.  If I could have went through that phone I would have.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and he refused and proceeded to tell me how I would be arrested and he had my Social Security Number, bank account number, email, etc.  Scary how he had all my personal information.  I thought I would research this and found several sites with fraud attached all over it.

A couple suggestions.  You may want to contact your bank with the details of this attempted extortion and ask them to change your account numbers.  Also, in addition to the federal and state law enforcement agencies listed in my message above, you may also want to file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General since the caller represented himself as calling from Jacksonville. You can file a complaint with the Florida AG online at http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Attorney_General

By the way, the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General's office is aggressive in pursuing debt collection scams.

ABC News just did an investigative piece on this particular scam operation. Here's the report:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

ABC News just did an investigative piece on this particular scam operation. Here's the report:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

I received a similar phone call several months ago from a guy calling himself Officer Steve Martin from the United States Fraud Co.  associated with The TGF or TJF Corporation.  He said that I owed them money from an online payday lender I had gone to in 2006.  He said that there was a warrant out for my arrest and that I had an option to settle.  He wouldn't give me that much info other than he was representing US Bank or US National Bank, I can't remember which one it was, but it sounded very fishy.  I filed a complaint with the local police dept. and never heard from the guy again.