Debt-Free America (or U.S. Credit Card Help Center)

There's no point putting any of their calls in the phone number section because, like most scammers, they change their spoofed number with every call but they're interesting enough that I'm keeping an eye on them and their M.O.

The call begins with "Hi, this is Dan from the U.S. Credit Card Help Center". Dan helpfully says you're now protected from all debt collection by the "Fair Debt Collection Act". Anyone reading 800notes is probably aware of two things: 1 — That's not the name of the "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act", and 2 — that's not what the act does. (And if you weren't aware before you are now!)

Next comes a bit of a curve ball: They won't let you through to the real con just by pressing 1 like most scammers. Apparently they've had too many people automating this as a way to annoy the scammer without the call recipient having to waste any of their own valuable time. So you have to answer "yes" to two question before they'll let you hear the real pitch. (Which is interesting because they must lose thousands of potential marks due to people believing the old "don't say yes" urban legend.)

If you pass through this primitive "bot filter" you get to the payload, which is a live phone bank operator who identifies the business as "Debt-Free America". First of all, there is (or was) a business operating under that name, but their web site is gone now. When I first checked a few weeks ago it was online and claimed the phone calls had nothing to do with them. I believed it at the time but I'm not so sure now that the site has conveniently disappeared. Archive.org's last capture of the web site was 10 October, 2020:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200921191929/http://debtfreeamerica.com/
It was taken down some time between then and archive.org's next attempted scan on the 29th of November. That site does look shady as hell.

Their web site gave a physical address of: 101 N. Lynnhaven Rd. Virginia Beach, VA 23452
And searching on that address did indeed yield a "Debt Free America" at that location. But it also gives only a Facebook page for their web site: https://www.facebook.com/DebtFreeAmerica/
And the Facebook page for Debt Free America says their web site is: http://www.newsuccesspath.com/

More information will follow as I gather it...

Whois says that the site went up in '97 and is set to expire in '25 and that the site was updated 1/15/20.  It says that it belongs to

Virginia Dept. of State info  https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/EntitySearch/Bus ... &isSeries=False

Entity Name:HARBOUR FINANCIAL, INC.Entity ID:02180164
Entity Type:Stock CorporationEntity Status:Active
Formation Date:05/27/1981Reason for Status:Active and In Good Standing
VA Qualification Date:05/27/1981Status Date:06/19/2009
Industry Code:0 - GeneralPeriod of Duration:Perpetual
Jurisdiction:VAAnnual Report Due Date:N/A
Registration Fee Due Date:Not RequiredCharter Fee:$20.00
Registered Agent Information
RA Type:IndividualLocality:VIRGINIA BEACH CITY
RA Qualification:Officer of the Corporation
Name:RAY E NOFTSINGERRegistered Office Address:HARBOUR FINANCIAL INC, 101 N. LYNNHAVEN RD. #300, VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, 23452 - 0000, USA
Principal Office Address
Address:1288 Laskin Rd Apt 401, Virginia Beach, VA, 23451 - 5269, USA
Principal Information
Title    Director    Name    Address    Last Updated
President    Yes    RAY E NOFTSINGER    1288 LASKIN ROAD #401, VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, 23451 - 0000, USA    05/07/2019
SEC/TREAS    Yes    SHIRLEY P NOFTSINGER    1288 LASKIN ROAD #401, VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, 23451 - 0000, USA    05/07/2019
Yes    NATALIE M GILES    975 Colonial Meadows Way, Virginia Beach, VA, 23454 - 0000, USA    04/28/2020
Yes    JACLYN HOLLOWAY    380 BARKMOOR DR., LENOIR CITY, TN, 37771 - 0000, USA    05/07/2019

Those names are on the site.  Looks like they run the business out of their apartment?

The book's title is "Paid In Full" and it can be found on Goodreads with a picture of the author's.

I just updated my original post with their Facebook page and some other data.
They may run their business out of their apartment now. The web site closing may indicate they've fallen on hard times. Their business address of 101 N. Lynnhaven Rd. Virginia Beach, VA 23452 is a big office space kind of place, though they may have had nothing more than a PO box there. They may not even have that now.
The domain name of their web site as given on their Facebook page (http://www.newsuccesspath.com/) has nothing more than a Godaddy parking page.

Toll-free phone # on Facebook (800-234-6781) is different from their original web site (800-887-2389)

Here's their book on christianbook.com: https://www.christianbook.com/reset-your-goal ... 9400/pd/51372EB
It does appear to be the same two people as on the Facebook page.

Same pic on Goodreads.  Heck, are you trying to say that they are now "In Debt In America"? :)  No wonder they are making illegal calls.

There is a business called Debt Free America operating out of Tempe, Arizona which appears to be unaffiliated with the people making the phone calls. In fact, I think the people in Virginia Beach may be unaffiliated with the people making the calls. Just because their operation looks sketchy doesn't mean it's the same sketchy operation making the phone calls. The only thing connecting the VA people and the phone callers is the web site being shut down shortly after the phone calls began. That's highly circumstantial. Probably different shady folks behind each one.

BTW: The Virginia "Debt Free America" claims on their Facebook page to be a "licensed non-profit". The IRS web site can find no such non-profit listed.

Well, the two people listed as affiliated probably have driver's licenses, and they might not be making a profit.

So,...."licensed non-profit" might not be a long stretch of the truth.  You know, 'cause good Christians don't lie.

The latest calls from these scammers ("Hi, this is Dan from the U.S. Credit Card Help Center") no longer identify themselves as "Debt Free America" when you get through to a live person. It's now "The Debt Relief Program". There's no telling why they changed but they may never have had anything to do with either of the known "Debt Free America" programs I've been investigating.

My call from "Debt Free America" showed a local residential phone number on my caller ID that was spoofed.  The caller stated it was about lowering credit card debt and they hung up on me before I could get more information about this company.

Yep, that's their M.O. Normally I'd suggest that yoy post a report under the phone number that called you, but there's really no point because they never use the same number twice (they probably switch spoofed numbers  daily). And I've noticed they're back to identifying themselves as "Debt Free America" again.

Just to add:
101 N. Lynnhaven Rd. Virginia Beach, VA 23452 is a three story office suite building.
The office suites are numbered Floor and Unit, so 104 is first floor/unit 4....
Suite 300 (third floor/unit 0) is/was DebtFreeAmerica.com - https://www.yellowpages.com/virginia-beach-va/mip/debtfreeamerica-com-19292959

I found some new information that says that this is out of Pakistan.  https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-971-671-6111
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-207-715-3865

yourdebtreliefprogram.com
Updated 10 hours ago
Domain Information
Domain:yourdebtreliefprogram.com
Registrar:GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registered On:2020-09-28
Expires On:2021-09-28
Updated On:2020-09-28
Status:clientDeleteProhibited
clientRenewProhibited
clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited
Name Servers:ns65.domaincontrol.com
ns66.domaincontrol.com
Registrant Contact
Organization:ONETEN COMMUNICATION
State:SINDH
Country:PK
Email:Select Contact Domain Holder link at https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=yourdebtreliefprogram.com

I had some time on my hands, so I did some digging.

Quote:

When I first checked a few weeks ago it was online and claimed the phone calls had nothing to do with them. I believed it at the time but I'm not so sure now that the site has conveniently disappeared.

I found the following and after looking over each, I do believe they were being exploited for the name "Debt Free America". All of their listings are consistent and localized to the same area. Scammers  constantly change phone numbers to avoid being traced and it is within reason to believe they removed their website due to the harassment from people finding it in web searches to complain about the calls.

Quote:

debtfreeamerica.com / Newsuccesspath.com
101 N. Lynnhaven Road
Suite 300
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
(757) 343-6911
https://www.bbb.org/us/va/virginia-beach/prof ... m-0583-14003223
http://debtfreeamerica.com/  (Site Discontinued - closed message)

Search results for 757-343-6911:

The Eagle Real Estate Team
Ray Noftsinger
1288 Laskin Road Unit 401
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
Phone: 757-343-6911 / 757-216-9222 (Swell Real Estate Co.)
https://eaglelistings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/realtorraynoftsinger/
4169 Virginia Beach Blvd. Suite 100
Virginia Beach, VA, VA 23452

https://www.zillow.com/profile/ray9430

5701 Thurston LLC (Investment Firms Industry)
registered agent- HARBOUR FINANCIAL INC.
101 N Lynnhaven Rd Ste 304
Virginia Beach​, VA, 23452-7523
757-343-6911

A listing of his Experience, Credentials and Memberships:
https://www.sellwithswell.com/ray-noftsinger/