Scam Phone Calls
Complaint
Anonymous
Country: United States
Yesterday, I received a call from a "Kevin Johnson" who claimed to be calling to collect on a debt owed on a payday loan. He spoke in a thick Indian accent. I informed him that I was filing chapter 7 bankruptcy and gave him my lawyer's information. Today, he called me back from 1 (311) 695-3764. He left a call back number on my voicemail asking to call him back on this number: 1(347) 602-4551. Then he called me back this evening and would not give me any information except to tell me that he was collecting for a payday loan from Cash Advance. I have never heard of this company, first off. Second off, he was very rude and hung up on me when I was trying to get information. He had my social security number and said he had an affidavit for my arrest. I am very concerned b/c I have read on the internet that this is a scam and this guy has my social security number. I am going through a bankruptcy and I am hoping to establish some credit and I don't need some wierd scammer with my social...
Comments
They appear to have been connected to a Jacksonville FL area debt collector, Ellis Crosby, that was shut down by the Florida Attorney General, but may be operating in the Jacksonville area again, or they may be running their scam out of India. There are reports that the Jacksonville debt collector had an Indian based call center.
Many consumers report that the callers have thick Indian accents, but non-ethnic "plain American" names. "Kevin Johnson" shows up on a number of complaints. No doubt it is an alias. They also hide their actual location, bot to evade being shut down, and since if they were known to be just calling from India, consumers would probably just ignore them. West Virginia Attorney General has a press release on this scam, and ABC news did a report on it.
They have a pattern of harassing calls, pretending to be attorneys, police, prosecutors, etc, threatening to immediately arrest and jail the people they call, or claiming to be about to serve the consumer with a lawsuit if they don't get paid "immediately". They appear to have gotten some access to consumer credit information, in some cases possibly old, even paid off payday loan account records, and are using it to perpetrate this scam by extreme threats to panic people into wiring them money.
Many reports are that consumers may not even know what the alleged debt is about, and they seldom provide any information, although you couldn't trust them anyway. This may indicate that they may not only have access ot old payday loan data, but may be "skip-tracing" and pulling credit data to use in their scam, presumably locating the wrong person, but obtaining that person's SSN and other data. Their language attempts to be legalese, but often includes so much BS and errors in correct word choice it is laughable.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/OAjhMi7i-QC_hgjKpCNiew
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/collection-agencies/unitedlegal-processingdivision.html
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/363/RipOff0363557.htm
"They have also contacted me.
I have also been contacted by these scam artists. Officer Brian and Kevin Johnson have called me and threatened me with arrest and prison time. I contacted my state attorney general, the Federal Trade Commission and the New York attorney general. <b>They gave me an address in New York and when my attorney general sent them a certified letter it turned out to be the address to a public library.</b> I have not heard from these people for months after I told them what steps I have taken and then 2 days ago I heard from their legal department again asking if I knew about the paperwork that they have filed against me. I told the Indian accented guy to bring it on because I needed to get their information to the FTC, the attorney generals of 2 states and to my lawyer so that I could sue them for their illegal activities. The guy sputtered and hemmed and hawed and said thay they would get back to me. His phone number came up as private, and he did not want my attorneys information and then hung up. They like to try and play hardball but dont like it when you play back, they are looking for sheep to prey on but dont like it if you turn out to be a wolf instead."
Contact your state Attorney General, FTC, and FBI to file complaints. Some have reported that complaints to local police have been effective, since they are often impersonating law enforcement officers, and when local police call back, it is pretty clear they aren't going to succeed in scamming your so they stop calling.
The whole world must think we are a bunch of idiot suckers for having credit and debt collection practices so wide open to mass scamming and extortion as routine practices that anyone anywhere in the world can join in. They are right. We are idiots.
Also, there was a call to my family house number saying there were from the IRs and that to call back but I looked the number up and it was a scam. I knew it was a scam because they didn't mention who in my family had to call back.
Yes, you can ask for what information they have on you but if they can't give you information on what your account number is, then you know it is a scam.
1, DON'T talk to them about any personal information don't agree or disagree with them
2. DON'T verify anything they tell you even if they are giving you some correct information
3. DON'T hang up on them in frustration because they will just call you back because they know you are frustrated
4. DON'T EV ER send them money. Never give them a credit card number to pay for whatever you tell them you owe it for
5. DON'T promise to make payments by check and give them your routing number and bank information
6. DON'T ever talk to them except to say Attorney Generals Office, Scam Department (even if you've already answered the phone with hello and they say: example; Is this Mr. Jones, The Jones residence or anything identifying you personally, you say no, this is the Attorney Generals Office and they still want to talk to you tell them this conversation is being recorded, please stay on line until we have enough time to get your location from where you are calling from. Let them know it takes a little more time to track cell phones than landlines so please continue trying to scam me.
7. DON'T argue or agree with them
1. DO note the date and time they called, the number they called from and if you did talk to them what their purpose for calling you.
2, DO immediately (if the office is still open or ASAP) call the Attorney Generals Office, Law Enforcement and your phone Company to give them the phone number they called from.
3. DO go to fb, radio or TV stations, newspapers, etc to let them know about this scam so the public can be made aware of these scammers.
4. DO have a great day because you didn't let a scammer get you and you helped others so they wouldn't stop them from having a happy day either. Thank You