I got a call from a guy calling himself Officer Steven Smith, he told me I needed to call him back or have my attorney call him back. I thought it was just a prank and ignored the calls. I got about 7 in a row. I called him and he went on with some bullcrap about I owed US National Bank 500.00. I knew I did not so I told him he was a lier and hung up. Then he calls again and my daughter answers the phone and he tells her that I'm going to be arrested and we are in danger. It took a lot of convincing for me to get my child to believe this was a scam. The law was suppose to come pick me up he said in two days, Its been 60 and I'm still waiting for the law. I dare he scare my child like this, he can kiss my double cheeks but when you mess with my child you have to pay. He will pay, sooner or later, he will get whats due him.
EVERYONE BEWARE, DON'T SEND THIS DEVILS ANY MONEY. TELL THEM TO SHOVE IT!. Report them to the Police, FTC, BBB, Secret Service and your state's attorney general
Just found out they said I took loan oout in May of 08, the account they read back to me wasn't open until Sept. Anyone think they barrage people on Firday so you can't check with anyone over weekend, and it's a numbers game to them if 1 out of 10 give them card info, they made some money. I think it's a phishing scam, but they did read info back to me from app and I am worried they will continue to call work and or references with empty threats. Did anyone have lawyer call, what did they say?
My husband received a call this past Friday on both his work phone number and his cell phone number from Danny Archer. This man left messages on both numbers saying that he needed to call back immediately or have his attorney call back regarding an unpaid payday loan. When my husband called this man back he said it was extremely loud in the background and the man had such a thick accent he could barely understand. The man told him that if he did not pay over the phone to settle this debt someone would be at our home on Tuesday to arrest him. When asked for details Danny could not tell him what company the loan was through or when it was even taken out. He told him that they send emails only and it was his fault he had not seen the emails. He had the last four digits of his bank account number and the last four of his SSN- these numbers are honestly easy to obtain and they scare people into thinking they have all the info. By having you pay over the phone they get the missing pieces of info they need and then clean out your bank account! I called back repeatedly from my cell phone and it said the number 201-234-4071 was disc- I called back on Saturday and spoke with Christine Jones who so politely hung up on me when I started badgering her with questions. We have reported them to local authorities and I dare someone to show up at our home on Tuesday...... my husband after all is a police officer :)
This is a total scam run by idiots who cannot speak English, have heavy Mideastern or Indian accents, and use organizational names that would never exist in this country.
Their real names are undoubtedly names like paramanansa yogamatash or maktoum bin mohammad, but they have used, among many, the following American sounding names:
Ryan Smith
James Wilson
Roger Smith
Alex Green
David Richards
Jack Jones
Robert Jackson
Paul Murray
Frank Johnson
Chuck Rogers
Danny Jones
Jake Wood
Jimmy Carter
Joe Anderson
Shawn Michaels
Harry Wilson
Louis Martin
Patrick Wilson
Eddie Wilson
They claim to be from:
United Investigation Bureau Department
United Legal Investigations
United Fraud Investigations
United Legal Investigation Department
United Legal Investigation Bureau
United Stated Legal Department
It should be possible for authorities to trace them to this FAX Number:
646-786-4334
They are running scared, and they keep changing their callback number, including:
http://abcnews.go.com/ http://abcnews.go.com/
Fake Debt Collectors Terrify Consumers
Alleged Debt Scam Calls Threaten Consumers: 'Only God Can Help You Now'
By ALICE GOMSTYN
ABC NEWS Business Unit
Aug. 21, 2008 —
Scammers masquerading as debt collectors and law enforcement officials have terrified consumers with threatening phone calls and bilked them out of thousands of dollars, officials with the West Virginia Attorney General's Office say.
Prosecutors said that the scammers, who speak with heavy foreign accents, are known for repeatedly calling people at home and at work and threatening them with arrest if they don't repay supposed debts -- debts that, according to West Virginia officials, don't actually exist.
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The scammers operate under names such as U.S. National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau and United Legal Processing, said West Virginia Assistant Attorney General Norman Googel.
The callers also have invoked the names of actors Denzel Washington and Steve Martin, people who've received calls tell ABCNews.com.
Googel said that the scammers have been impossible to track down, but ABCNews.com spoke to one man who claimed to be associated with U.S. National Bank. The man said he works for Financial Crime Division, a company he said provides services for USNB.
The man refused to give his name and gave little information about his company.
'It's not necessary that each and everyone knows about Financial Crime Division, and probably one of them is you,' he said. (To hear an excerpt of this interview, click here. Links to more interview excerpts are included on the second and third pages of this story.)
The man also denied that consumers had been threatened with arrests.
But Mark Feury, a 35-year-old assistant manager at a hotel cafe, said it was the threat of an arrest that drove him to wire nearly $800 to U.S. National Bank in January. The Lewisberg, W.Va., resident said that he took out several payday loans -- short-term loans -- in 2005 to help pay for Christmas presents and medical treatments for his son, who suffers from autism.
Feury said he paid his loans back in 2007, but the scammers' phone calls -- at least 35 in all, he said -- and their threats made him doubt himself.
'I was scared to death,' he said. 'Everything they said literally just stressed me out to the max.'
The group has targeted consumers who took out payday loans through Web sites years ago, Googel said.
The group has secured consumers' Social Security numbers and other personal information, which may have been stolen from Internet payday lending sites, Googel said.
What has made the group especially intimidating, Googel said, is its use of phrases that sound like legal terms -- such as 'downloading affidavits' -- but, in reality, are meaningless.
The alleged scammers have also invoked God, Googel said, telling victims that 'only God can help you now.'
Some of the scammers' tactics are downright puzzling.
One West Virginia woman, who asked that her name not be revealed, told ABCNews.com that a scammer once called her and identified himself as 'Denzel Washington.'
Feury said that one of the scammers who called him said he was calling from 'Steve Martin's office.'
Collection and Money Fraud
Googel said that the scammers' use of celebrity names may indicate a lack of familiarity with American names. Some, he said, suspect that the scammers are based in India.
Since July 2007, Googel said, the West Virginia Attorney General's Office has heard from nearly 20 consumers who have complained about the scam.
West Virginia residents aren't the only ones complaining. The Florida Attorney General's Office said it has heard more than three dozen complaints related to U.S. National Bank.
Thus far, Googel said, the scammers have been impossible to trace, using a multitude of phone numbers and fake addresses.
'The way they've hidden themselves is pretty slick,' he said.
ABCNews.com called a phone number associated with U.S. National Bank -- Feury listed the number in a complaint against the company -- and was transferred to the man who claimed to work for Financial Crime Division.
The man, who spoke to an ABC News reporter for about five minutes, said that U.S. National Bank owns Internet payday lending Web sites and that Financial Crime Division is a 'legal affidavit processor' -- a term that Googel also has dismissed as meaningless -- that works to notify borrowers that they still owe money to USNB. (The man refused to provide ABC News with contact information for U.S. National Bank.)
'They have taken so many loans they have forgotten that one to pay back and we are calling them about this legal matter,' the man on the phone said. 'That's not our problem that they have forgotten.'
The man argued against the complaint that his company had called people about nonexistent or repaid debts. Consumers, he said, have failed to provide the company with proof that their debts have been repaid.
'When we are asking the information, they are not ready to give to us,' he said. 'If they have paid it, they must have something in writing, some kind of receipt, but they are not going to give it to us, so how can we trust them?'
Loan Scams and Fake Address
When asked where Financial Crime Division was based, the man hung up.
Googel said that he has been on the phone with the suspected scammers many times and that each time they refuse to provide identifying information such as valid addresses or a licensing number, which collections agencies operating in West Virginia are required to have.
'I yell and scream at them, but it doesn't do any good. It's sort of high drama in a way,' he said.
Googel said that he has notified the Federal Trade Commission about the scam, but the FTC would not confirm whether it had launched an investigation. An FTC official told ABCNews.com that it does not disclose whether it is investigating a company unless it takes the company to court.
I just got my second call back from this number-- this time it showed up as private, not unknown. I told them I knew they were running a scam and he then proceeded to read me my social. He then asked if i would pay them and i told them it would never happen. I never even took out this loan. I tried to file a report w/ my police department because of the harrassment and threats, and i'm worried about possible identity theft-- what a joke. My police department tried to tell me it was probably a legit debt and they were trying to do their jobs. Um, so your making a judement call that because I'm a young mom w/ 2 kids that I take out lots of pay day loans, so many in fact that I don't even remember to pay them all back! These people need to be stopped. My daughter heard them on the phone threatening to send someone to our home tomorrow and that scared her. I would love to have a lawsuit against these extortionists. I hope they get what they deserve.