Not much - they're scammers calling from overseas. Best you can do is block their number(s) or assign a no-ring tone which means you won't hear the phone ringing, and it'll just go directly to voice mail. You can tell them you know they're scammers, you've reported them, and you definitely won't pay them. If you're getting these calls at work, please print up this thread and give to your HR Dept and/or manager to alert them you're being harassed by scammers.
These people called me and threatened me with police action at my job if I didn't pay them. They said I took a payday loan out and didn't pay it back and it went into default. When I pressed them for their names (Ryan Anderson and Tracey Moore) they gave me fake names, and when I pressed them for a location they hung up on me, not before telling me to go ahead and call the police myself. They were very hostile and rude!!!
Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.
"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."
Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.
Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.
"He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."
At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.
"I was more or less in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."
After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.
"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.
ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.
Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.
"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."
A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.
I received a call from a Ryan with McKenzie Law Associates. He said that I was a suspect in a crime. He said that I defaulted on a loan with Cashadvance. I never took a loan out with this company. He said that he couldn't give me their phone number to call and rectify this. It started to sound like a scam and wasted my time at work. He threaghtned to call the local police to come out to my work to verify my work place and notify of my employer. He said that I could get fired because of this.
I received a phone call yesterday that was on my voice mail. When I listened today, it was from MAX and he stated that I needed to return his call immediately and that there was action pending against me. When I returned the call, I asked for MAX and the man that answered the phone had pulled up all of my information. He said I had an outstanding PayDay Loan, which I have never taken out. When I pressed to find out what company he was calling for, he said they were a law firm, McKenzie Law Associates. He stated that since I had my own business, I would lose my licenses(which I do not have). He also said if I did not take care of the outstanding balance, the police would be at my door in 45 minutes. I said to bring it on and he hung up. I have been harassed for several weeks and many times a day.