949-743-1140

I got a call from 856-831-0640 telling me I had not paid U.S. National bank. I owed them 936.00 and if I had an attorney to represent me. They had some of my information on me, like old account number and email. They also had a case against me which would mean I would get arrested if I could not pay. The callers name was Jonathan and also Daniel Richards

As you probably guessed, it's a scam.  No debt collector -- let alone a criminal posing as a debt collector -- has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. The criminals calling you are no different than the infamous Nigerian email spammers; their goal is to steal your money by gaining access to your bank account and credit card numbers.  The only difference is, the Nigerian spammers play on your sympathy and these phony debt collectors play on your fear.

I'm not sure who is actually calling you, but their method resembles that of the notorious Bass Associates/States Predisposition/Jackson Philips/United Federal Bank/United Processing Legal Department scam.  (They go by many other names, most of which are meant to sound like government or banking entities.) Here's a recent news article from the Florida Times-Union about this criminal operation and how the Florida attorney general is pursing them even as they fled for Georiga:  http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120107/met_221875639.shtml

Quite a few grifters like the Bass operation not only route many of their calls through various U.S. area codes, they also have calls placed from offshore -- all in an attempt to disguise their identity and location. Another common ploy is to convince the victim to send money via Western Union.  These 800Notes reports are pretty typical:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-480-365-0155
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-918-3849
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-209-920-4600

I suggest that you ignore their threats and turn the tables on them by doing the following:

1) Ignore their threats. Give them nothing, and tell them nothing other than that you've reported them to federal and state authorities.

2) Report them online to the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov/

3) File a complaint with the consumer affairs division of your state's attorney general. The contact information for each state's attorney general is listed at www.naag.org  Just scroll down to the national map and click on your state.

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

5) Check out these websites for more information on protecting yourself against debt collection scammers:

Consumer Credit Advocate Bud Hibbs - http://www.budhibbs.com/First.htm
National Association of Consumer Advocates - http://members.naca.net/findanattorney.php
Warren & Vullings, LLP - http://www.fairdebtlawyers.com/
My Fair Debt - http://www.myfairdebt.com/
Consumer Counsel Group - http://www.consumercounselgroup.com/

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Yesterday I got a call from 856-831-0640 telling me I had not paid U.S. National bank and owed $692.00 and if I had an attorney to represent me. They had my old bank info and my email address. They said they had a case against me which would mean I would get arrested if I could not pay. The callers name was Daniel Richards

You probably won't be surprised to learn that this is a scam. It's ALWAYS a scam anytime someone calls and demands you pay money to prevent an arrest.  See my message above for information about these grifters and how to report them to law enforcement.

The following number was left on my machine at home and at work: 949-743-1140, the caller identify himself as Jeff Douglas.  I called the number; trying to find out what company i was calling he told me his name Daniel Richards that I need to give him my attorney's name. He was going to down load my name to my state and press the following charges

Count 1 Federal Banking Regulations
Count 2 Check Fraud
Count 3 Theft by Deciption

When I asked about the company he was represention he informed that they have over 280 CASH ADVANCE COMPANIES.  I gave the phone to my husband,
I was starting to get scared.  When my husband asked him several questions about the allegation he hung up

Even though it's likely these crooks are calling from overseas, you should probably report this call to the following law enforcement agencies:

1) Your local police

2) The FBI at http://tips.fbi.gov

3) Your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

4) The Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If these criminals call you again, be sure to give them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you've reported them to federal and state authorities. And remember: it is always a scam anytime someone calls and demands money to prevent you from being arrested or charged with a crime.  The only criminals here are the foreign grifters who called you.

Well the same guy who call me early this week JEFF DOUGLAS now has a different number, this hotline number a he called is 949-743-1140, this number is located outside of Camden NJ, how about that.  When I called to speak with him he was not available, the gentlemen (rudiest person)wanted to help, I told them i would wait for him, since he had not received the messages about the several calls i made to his assocites. i was told this was not possible!  I stated that if he had any paperwork to send  me the paperwork through registered mail, in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission, and that i had notified my state's Attorney General's office the department of consumer affairs and then i hug up

Correction: the FBI link is https://tips.fbi.gov

The caller has told me I'm going to be arrested if I don't call them and take care of the problem. I told them that I need to give my attorney information about them and I asked them for the name of the company and the address. They gave me a address for a college in California and the manager name they gave me is the name of the Library at the college. I am scared about this all too but they would not provide me written information regarding my debt even though they have all my information. I am really annoyed and worried but I don't think I should give them any money. Has anyone else had this problem? I just don't want to get into any trouble. The guy that keeps calling me is Keith Parker and says he's calling on behalf of US National Bank. And that it's an emergency that I call him back.

Relax; it's a scam. Their threats are bogus.  No debt collector -- let alone a criminal posing as a debt collector -- has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything; and it's illegal for them to threaten such things. Just remember that if someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, it is ALWAYS a scam.

Many of these grifters use Caller ID spoofing software and some are actually from outside the U.S. -- all in an attempt to disguise their identity and location. Another common ploy is to convince the victim to send money via Western Union or other electronic means.  These 800Notes reports are pretty typical:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-480-365-0155
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-918-3849
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-209-920-4600

I suggest that you turn the tables on these criminals by doing all the following:

1) Ignore their threats. Give them nothing, and tell them nothing other than that you've reported their extortion attempts to federal and state authorities.

2) Alert the U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for investigating crimes relating to the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems. You can call or write your local Secret Service field office with the details. Here's the link listing the Secret Service's field offices: http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml

3) Go to https://tips.fbi.gov and notify the FBI that that these crooks used the phone in an attempt to extort money from you.

4) File a complaint with the consumer affairs division of your state's attorney general. The contact information for each state's attorney general is listed at www.naag.org  Just scroll down to the national map and click on your state.

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

6) Check out these websites for more information on protecting yourself from debt collection scammers:

Consumer Credit Advocate Bud Hibbs - http://www.budhibbs.com/First.htm
National Association of Consumer Advocates - http://members.naca.net/findanattorney.php
Warren & Vullings, LLP - http://www.fairdebtlawyers.com/
My Fair Debt - http://www.myfairdebt.com/
Consumer Counsel Group - http://www.consumercounselgroup.com/

Hope this helps.

Will not give details and when I ask for a letter stating what they are talking about he just says "you will get one".

Years ago, I had the same exact threatening phone calls from a debt collector from Bass and Associates.  They were recently fined $1.3 million for doing the same exact thing.  Just google thier name and you can read all about it...but anyway for the past several months the same people that everyone in this forum has mentioned has been calling me.  For some reason, I think that they are affiliated with Bass & Ass....They wanted me to wire them money to some place in Palm Coast, FL which is not to far from Jacksonville, FL, which is the same place Bas & Ass were from.  We must stop these people.  They are continually harrassing me at work and and home and obviously I know I'm not the only victim.  Please, please file a complaint with the FBI, FTC and The Florida General Attorney.

The interesting thing is that since the state of Florida shut down Bass and its many front companies, we've been seeing many more complaints here about these foreigners who run the same Bass/States Predisposition type of debt collection scam.

I doubt that's a coincidence.

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 recived a call from Steven DeSilva with a thick Indian Accent at 610-235-2033 and he told me it was an emergency too call 323-317-9726. When I called this number another guy with an indian accent told me I owed a payday loan from Dec 7, 2007 and I was too pay 1300.00 today to First National Bank (or something similar too that) or they would come tommorow and get me.  He kept asking for my attorney's fax number too fax him documentation and when I asked for the documents he told me he would not send them too me.  He said if I didn't have an attorney he could appoint me one. He told me I would be charged with 3 differnt counts if I didn't pay the money.  They do have my correct bank account number even though when I told him too give it too me he gave me 2 wrong awnsers before he came up with the correct one.  My only concern is they do have my correct account number.  I hope I am not in jeopardy of anything until I can close this account.

It's a scam. Ignore their illegal threats and report them to federal and state law enforcement. See my messages above for more details.

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

Received a call on 1/9/09 from a Tom Parker, who claims I took out a payday loan in March 2007 for $896, but owes in the sum of $5,000.00. Said if I didn't pay that I would be arrested. I told him he was a fraud and ask him what script he was reading from. Told him to prove it and send me the paperwork, but he quickly changed the subject. I'm not afraid of him and if he wants to have me arrested, go ahead. Oh, forgot he called today 1/12/09 and told me his name was Russell Fuller, but I recogonized the voice. They are extorting money from people and getting away with it. He told me that I owed United National Bank (HA HA). Please people don't fall for this scam, if you owe money, they have to sue you.....tell them to take a flying leap.

my husband received a letter in the mail stating that he owes 200.00 for a phone bill which suppose to be from 1995. the lady i was talking said its from a phone with the number 487 she didn't tell me the last 4 digits. she wanted me to give her our checking number and i said i will not do that. she said if i paid 50.00 the two hundred dollars will be forgiven. i told her i will not send anything and i was going to get in touch with a lawyer. she wanted to know his name and i told her she will know it when he calls. i told her the bill was for a number we haven't had for 24 years and she said that is why she is only chargeing us fifty dollars.

i got  a letter in the mail saying that the account for the phone bill is now closed and they will no longer take further action. If you want the letter leave me know .'
thanks jean miller