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
I contact the pay day loans that i have they mention that will never come to arrest you. Please well need to get together sue this people .
This being very stress to me. Dont be scams.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1
MORE ON FAKE DEBT COLLECTORS
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
Attorney General Darrell McGraw took the extraordinary step today of warning the public about a band of scam artists making threats to consumers who allegedly obtained Internet payday loans in West Virginia and across the nation. The consumers they threaten never obtained a loan at all or paid it off years ago.
Internet payday loans are short-term loans or cash advances, usually for 14 days, made over the Internet via interactive web sites and secured by an agreement authorizing debits of the loan and all fees owed from the consumer’s checking account. These loans typically charge interest rates ranging from 600-800 APR and are unlawful in West Virginia.
The scam artists, who speak English with a foreign accent, call themselves “U.S. National Bank,” “Federal Investigation Bureau,” “United Legal Processing” and numerous other phony names. They refuse to disclose real names and addresses and are believed to be operating “off the grid” from homes, automobiles, or from off shore locations or foreign countries, including India. Since the scammers have kept themselves purposely well hidden, thus far no law enforcement agencies have succeeded in locating or shutting them down.
The scammers typically pose as law enforcement officers, investigators, lawyers, and bankers and threaten consumers that they will be arrested for “bank fraud” or other fictitious crimes unless money is wired immediately. They simultaneously scare and confuse consumers by using meaningless legalese gobbledygook phrases such as, “We are downloading warrants against you” or “We are filing an affidavit against you.” Consumers who don’t immediately fall for the scam are warned, “Only God can help you now.”
The scammers almost always call consumers at work several times a day, and tell their supervisors, “Your employee has committed fraud and is about to be arrested.” Such threats have proven unsettling even to the most savvy consumers and employers who suspect the calls are fraudulent.
Attorney General McGraw stated, “Ordinarily my office protects consumers from fraudulent activities by seeking injunctions in court. But legal action cannot be taken until the scam artists can be located. Even then, it is unlikely that the persons behind the fraudulent calls and extortionist threats would obey a court order. In this case, the consumer’s best defense is to be armed with the knowledge of the scam so that all demands for money can be resisted, despite the false but scarey threats of arrest.”
McGraw added, “Because the fraudsters make a special point of calling consumers repeatedly at work, employers must understand that the consumers are innocent victims of a criminal enterprise and cannot stop the calls from coming. I also wish to assure the citizens of West Virginia that my office will continue to do everything possible to locate and shut down the outlaw debt collectors.”
More information about this fraudulent debt collection scheme is available at the Attorney General’s website, www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam. Any consumers who have been threatened by these persons or wish to file a complaint about another consumer matter may do so by calling the Consumer Protection Hot Line, 1-800-368-8808, or by obtaining a complaint form from the Attorney General’s web site.
It's a debt collection 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.wvago.gov
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/1-310-499-9983
Scam alert: Bogus debt collectors
By Leslie McFadden • Bankrate.com
Monday, Aug. 3
Posted 2 p.m.
Bankrate reporter Leslie McFadden contributed this entry.
This scam isn't technically about credit cards, but it is scary enough to post a warning. The Better Business Bureau issued an alert today saying consumers across the country are getting phone calls from bogus debt collectors claiming default on a payday loan. Of course, the consumer needs to pay a large fee to avoid arrest -- as much as $1,000.
The caller poses as a lawyer, and may threaten extradition to face trial if the consumer doesn't pay up immediately.
What makes these calls alarming -- and perhaps convincing -- is that the perpetrators reference the consumer's personal information, such as the person's Social Security number, driver's license number, previous bank account numbers, home address -- even personal references.
"The amount of information they have is really troubling," says BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick. She adds that the amount of data points to a possible security breach.
Spread the word to your friends and family: Don't give out personal or financial information to an unknown caller. Scammers can spoof Caller ID to display different numbers, so trust your instincts over technology.
The BBB offers these tips:
• Ask the debt collector to provide official documentation which substantiates the debt.
• Do not provide or confirm any bank account, credit card or other personal information over the phone until you have confirmed the legitimacy of the call.
• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
• File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau online if you believe a debt collector is trying to scam you.
These appear to be agressive "contest" scammers, possibly based in Jamaica.
They are reported to ask for Western Union wire transfers on various excuses "to claim your winnings", but are also reported to be using disclosed victim's account numbers to funnel other victim's losses out of the country. Either way, you will lose.
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8762652885
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-206-453-0454
"...
Sally F - 28 Jul 2009
This number is a landline in Seattle WA according to calls made to it by my mother. She is involved with a scam. The family cannot get her to stop. She had recently been calling 909-740-8919 (see comments on this site)regularly and has now stopped. I believe by call to 01 Communications (see previous post under 909-740-8919)may have helped. I am wondering if this may be the number that has replaced the 909 number.
Thanks for reporting this number.
...
kim - 13 Aug 2009
rec'd call after we informed the caller we weren't interested he continued to call stated he knew where we live and threatened my husband. They stated they knew me and was my friend trying to get my husband to give me the phone, he refused and they continued to call.
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Rating: -1 Banker - 29 Jul 2009
I investigated it for a customer and it appears to be a scam. The representative that I spoke with claimed to work for Wells Fargo but could not provide any verification of that affiliation. If you receive a call regarding a large sum of money that you "won" please disregard and/or report it to authorities. DO NOT send money. The two associated numbers are as follows:
Mark Miller - 315.403.7375
BBJ Bank (not sure about the name, the recording was very primitive) - 206.453.0454
...
smithfam - 6 Aug 2009
tonight i recived a call from the same man that called berta.he said i had to go to western union friday and send 150.00 and he told me not to tell anybody about it cause they will try to keep the money for themself 1.6 million.so please report them as soon as you can....he called me from these #614-9943 wells fargo 876-461-9999 cellphone jm....he told me to call this number876-461-9999 and give put in 1018827349 thats the acct.#
Caller ID: 614-9443....8764619999
Caller: wells fargo ocs
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Rating: +1 LLP - 10 Aug 2009
I got a call from (225)614-9443 saying I had won a destination vacation because I was a good visa customer. It sounded like a Jamaican. It was a lenghty conversation. When I told him I had something to do, He asked me when was a good time to call back. I tried calling that number, I was not able to make a connection.
Caller ID: (225)614-9443
Caller: French Operation
Caller Type: Commercial
...
Sheriff's Dept, UP of Michigan - 22 Aug 2009
Victim stated she received a call from someone with an "Indian" accent advising her she had won $500,000.00 and to call the 206-453-0454 number to answer some questions. Victim called the # and answered questions about owning her own home, etc. but did not give any bank account information. Callers said they would be coming to her home on Monday a.m. with $4. million dollars for her. They told her it was through the BDJ bank and that she had somehow "won" the money...
Caller: BDJ Bank
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Sheriff's Investigator - 11 Sep 2009
I have not recieved a call from this number, but as my nickname shows I am a law enforcement officer investigating a report involving this number.
Here are the facts as I can relay them.
Victim #1 called me to report the fraud. Said he recieved a call from Jonathan Taylor with a number I traced to Jamaica. This call stated he had won 1.5 million dollars from the Gold Rush Casino in Vegas. He only had to send 300 and some dollars to Jamaica to claim his prize, which he did. They gave this bank number to verify funds, which he called and believed. They called back and again wanted money, he did not have the money. So they offered to give him an advance on his winnings to cover the cost of claiming his prize. He recieved money from a wire transfer and was instructed to forward it on to Jamaica. After 4 or 5 of these wire transfers he recieved 7000 from the "company" to forward to Jamaica. This he turned over to me. Turns out these "advances" are coming from other victims! They are using him to funnel the money through to hold his interest and hide the trail.
I was able to contact the other victims, and hopefuly will be able to return some of their money to them. The scammers are starting to turn threatening and abusive, threatening to have the victim arrested and in one case threatened to kidnap the victims children if more money was not sent!
Typicaly I can not do anything about these cases being local law enforcement. This case is difference because I have someone elses money in safekeeping!
I have reported this to the FBI, but their guidlines require a higher dollar loss before they can become involved. So, for anyone who has been scammed by these people or anyone who has had loved ones scammed by them, call your state FBI office! If the FBI gets enough complaints they may be able to add them all into one big case, big enough for the U.S. Attorney to prosecute!
Please, if you have been scammed by them report it to the FBI! Their state numbers can be found on the internet! Also if you are being scammed now, stop sending money! If they have personal information, change accounts or whatever you need to do to protect yourself. I have found on several victims in my investigation they have paid off the victims credit card! I believe this is done with other victims money so they can use the credit card to funnel money through. They then use this credit card payment as a threat claiming the victim will be arrested for allowing their card to be used.
Please report this to the FBI! If you or anyone has sent money through the U.S. Mail, also report it to the Postal Inspector!
Caller ID: 8765660063
..."
Many reports have them threatening U.S. consumers with immediate arrest or criminal prosecution if they don't send money for some alleged "payday loan", often claiming to be attorneys or law enforcement. Characteristics include Indian accents and some of the most incredible legal BS used in their threats. Some claim to be with various nonexistent "banks", as reported by the WV Attorney General, or with some UN "law enforcement agency".
They appear in some cases to have access to either old payday loan data or possibly U.S. consumer credit data, including SSNs. There are reports from consumers who did have payday loans that on checking with the actual payday lender they determined that either the loan had been paid off as they already knew, or that these scammers had no legitimate right to collect an outstanding debt.
Basically a criminal scam operation.
If she had told me sooner or googled their numbers, she might be a little richer. I hope others are smarter and do not let these thieves trick them. She told me also that these guys called themselves Officer John Smith, and gave some badge numbers which evidently are fake, they also used the names Officer Steven Smith, Kevin Johnson, Officer Victor Smith, Officer Ben Johnson. She also had other numbers and different call back numbers. I don't know why she didn't smell the rat early on. But I am posting this in hope that no one else becomes a victim to these lowlife scum bag ....
I called my brother who is a cop, he told me it was a scam and they have received several phone calls similiar, Indian Accent guys with different names and numbers threatening you will be arrested if you didn't settle with them.
We have decided to record them, and then send the recordings to local tv and radio and also newspapers so all consumers can become aware of this scam.
They need your bank information to steal your money.
Give them your credit card number, even for "$49 to remove your name", and you can expect to see fraudulent charges piling up.