Harassment
Complaint
Debra M. Persiano
Country: United States
I got a call today at home from a man stating he was a process server for Collin County DA's Office and he is with the Sheriff's office and needed to come serve a warrant on me. I was shocked and asked why? He stated do you live ....are you still at this address are you now at this address and I stated who are you? He again, stated he was from the county going to serve court papers on me today. He gave me a toll free number for what he stated was the county's office which is 1 866.872.6116 gave me a case no. which he called a Cause No. 008307-TX. I called the number was transferred to a Mr. Fisher's office who stated that law suite in the amount of $6,214.24 was filed in Collin Co., Tx and that warrant was out for me. He then after back and forth said let me get more information from my secretary and state this was for an outstanding debt in from Capital One a credit card that I obtained several years back and had disputes over interest charges etc. He stated that if I did not want to go to court or jail that I could pay $1,951.00 in full by end of business today and this matter could be cleared up. I explained that I recently lost my job etc. Anyway, he stated that I needed to call him back by EOB today or they will serve the papers. Ok, so that was a heads up for me. I called the DA's office nothing is filed on me as of today, after searching PMG it is clear that they do not practice best practices for collections and have been in trouble for this before back in 2004. I need someone to give me advise. I want to pay off my debt, I don't want this type of collections to continue this upset me, made my blood pressure raise, this type of collections are not the right thing to do. Had they called and ask to make arrangements or give me an opportunity to clear the matter, rather then threaten me by taken legal action, or harassment stating they are sending a sheriff over today. This is wrong, bad business, and should not continue this company is bad news.
Comments
One scam, which bilked U.S. consumers out of some $5 million so far, involved about 8 million phone calls originating from India and being placed to American consumers over an eight-month period, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday.
In the first case of its kind in the United States, the FTC filed suit against American Credit Crunchers, related company Ebeeze LLC and their owner Varang K. Thaker, all related to a fraudulent debt-collection operation that somehow got ahold of the personal information of people who applied for loans through one or more payday lenders.
The alleged criminals, often pretending to be law enforcement or other government authorities, would falsely threaten to immediately arrest and jail consumers if they did not agree to make a payment on a delinquent payday loan. They demanded payment typically in amounts of about $500, authorities said. Some consumer complied even if they knew they didn't owe money, just to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation, authorities said.
So far, the FTC has received thousands of complaints from across the country about the scam. "We think we have a really serious problem," said C. Steven Baker, director of the FTC's Midwest Region based in Chicago. "As economies have globalized, so has fraud." A U.S. district court ordered the operation to halt and froze its assets while the FTC moves forward with the case.
According to the FTC's complaint, Thaker allegedly obtained information that often included Social Security or bank account numbers about consumers who had inquired about or applied for online payday loans. Thaker allegedly worked with telephone callers in India who called consumers using lies and threats to persuade them to pay debts that were not owed or that he was not authorized to collect.
"Nobody actually owed them a dime," Baker said.
Thaker could not immediately be reached for comment.
About 2 years ago, Indian fake debt collectors accounted for over half of collection agency complaints on this site. FTC finally sued one, but there are many, and any Indian with a phone or VoIP could run this scam.
This thread is primarily dedicated to the Corona Scam, that operated under many names, usually with mail drops in Corona or Lake Elsinore.
The Corona Scam was sued and raided by FTC, and their assets frozen and placed under the control of a court appointed receiver back in October 2011.
There are still several similar scams operating out of Southern California.
Soon....very soon........
What do you mean by "Those are Indian fake "payday loan debt collection" scammers."?
Don't appear to be operating out of southern California call centers.
Usually reported to have thick Indian or middle eastern accents, but use "plain English" sounding names.
Usually claim some "payday loan" is owed.
Usually make threats of immediate arrest.
Many pretend to be some sort of "federal investigators".
Have been reported to obtain consumer information via fake "payday loan application websites".
Many complaints of making threatening calls to people who never even had any payday loan.
Use wierd "investigation agency" names.
Call and harass victim, relatives, or coworkers.
Don't play the "process server calling relative, pretending to serve papers" game.
Engage in crude swearing when confronted.
Really pretty easy to tell them apart.
The court filings [PDF], a complaint seeking a temporary restraining order and freeze of company assets, claim that Orange County-based American Credit Crunchers LLC and affiliate Ebeeze LLC obtained personal information that people had entered in online payday loan applications.
Workers in Indian call centers then contacted consumers and claimed they were delinquent on a loan. The callers often impersonated law enforcement or government officials and threatened consumers with lawsuits and arrest, according to the filings. In reality, consumers did not owe the callers money. Victims of the scam often paid the company several hundred dollars.
The owner of the companies, Varang K. Thaker, could not be reached for comment.
The company assets have been temporarily frozen. If a judge finds in the FTC’s favor, the assets will be permanently frozen and redistributed to victims of the scam. The FTC also has passed along information on the case to Indian law enforcement, who theoretically could pursue legal action against the overseas call centers, said Elizabeth Scott, an attorney for the FTC’s Midwest region.
Mark Merola, who lives in a Florida retirement community, was one of the victims. The company called him continually, said his wife, Janice.”They said they were going to send cops and have him arrested,” she said.
Although Merola did not think he owed any money on a loan, he became scared and paid $523.87, according to the filings.
The threats of arrest were a red flag that the company was operating a scam, because no one can be arrested for outstanding debts, said Tena Friery, research director at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that aims to educate consumers about privacy issues.
The FTC doesn’t yet know how the debt collection company obtained consumers’ personal information. Legitimate sites could have been hacked, or fake payday lending websites could have lured unsuspecting consumers.
But the information also might have been sold to American Credit Crunchers. Many payday lending websites are operated by lead generators, which are marketing firms that do not process loans. They simply sell application data to the highest bidder, said Jean Ann Fox, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, an advocacy organization. Because they are not lenders, they don’t have to be licensed and don’t face the same regulations, she added.
“This is the Wild West of the loan market,” she said.
Copyright 2012 North County Times. All rights reserved.
So this group was in So. Cal, but used Indian call centers?
That would explain how the FTC could actually sue and sieze assets in U.S.
Still different from the Corona Scam.
So. Cal has become a cesspool of these scams.
Rather sad, really.
I thought most of that cr*p was in Buffalo.
"Many payday lending websites are operated by lead generators, which are marketing firms that do not process loans. They simply sell application data to the highest bidder,"
Basically identity theft websites.
We now have a alternate parallel universe, with fake loan application sites, trading in identity information under the guise of "loan leads", and fake debt collectors to collect fake debts.
Yet they share the real phone system, and the real money transfer system.
Indian and Pakistani call centers have also shown up at the center of fraudulent telemarketing operations, and "business directory" shakedown rackets.
The scammers of the world have also benefitted from global outsourcing.