Man with accent called and threatens legal action and arrest. ..even called posing as state police! They knew where I worked and my bosses name even! They want you to go get a money pack From Walmart or pharmacy immediately or else They will issue arrest warrant. Complete scam
They did the same thing to me. They called and left a threatening message from a 315 NY number saying that they would get the state police and about my social security number etc... and that I was a criminal. I did however have an account with one of those stupid short term cash lenders that shut down, so I think it has to do with that. I tried to call to figure out where I pay off my debt to the lenders but all of those numbers are not working..... Do I ignore these calls from the people with accents threatening me??? Or do they have something to do with the payday loan I owe???
They did the same thing to me. They called and left a threatening message from a 315 NY number saying that they would get the state police and about my social security number etc... and that I was a criminal. I did however have an account with one of those stupid short term cash lenders that shut down (mycashnow.com), so I think it has to do with that. I tried to call mycashnow etc. to figure out where I pay off my debt to the lenders, if it all, because they were shut down, but all of those numbers are not working..... Do I ignore these calls from the people with accents threatening me??? Or do they have something to do with the payday loan I owe??? Do I owe still owe the $$ to someone if the company shut down???
Caller called and said that I received a payday loan that I did not pay back. I had never received a pay day loan so I knew it was a scam. The caller told me that they were going to issue a warrant for my arrest unless I paid $4000. I told them I would have a lawyer call and speak to them.
I received a call today from this number. He was looking for Angelita Macodo. I have been getting collection calls for her since I got my phone number 7 years ago. This Middle Eastern sounding man says that her social security number is under investigation and for her to call him. The strangest part about the message!! He says at the end "God Bless". Could almost take the thing seriously until her says that. Now we have collection agencies with a direct line to God. lol Maybe when Angelita meets Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates he will check her credit report. lol
This is a criminal extortion scam operating out of India. They are making the calls utilizing VOIP and the names of legitimate firms to make it appear the calls are originating from within the US. There is NO "company" or "debt" and you will NOT be arrested. They are harvesting and/or buying consumers' personal identifying information and you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself. This includes: Notifying the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/, placing fraud alerts with all three credit bureaus, notifying your bank and employer and letting these criminals know you are aware they are attempting to extort money for a non-existent debt and have alerted the authorities.
Read this investigative report ABC News did on this scam:
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.