I recieved a call from 415-952-7351today. They repeated calling me leaving threatening messages to have my attorney call them. The original callers name was Mark Smith. I called him back but spoke to a Michelle Brown. I was also given the callback number 415-484-5967. Both claiming to be calling from a legal affairs dept. Both people had very very heavy accents so i believe the names were made up. They insisted i owed 998.33 for a pay day loan and if not paid immediately i would be served paperwork for court and arrested with a warrant at 4pm at my employer. They did have my social security number and place of employment but i believe that information is easy tofind out. They said if i dont pay at least half he balance (500.00) then i woukd be jailed until my court date and fines wouldgo up to 4,584.88. I was a bit intimidated at first but adter calling my local law enforcement and reading this post i am definately convinced this is a scam.wish i knew where else i could report this scam!
My daughter received a call from 415-484-5967 from a woman who identified herself as Michele Brown. She threatened my daughter with immanent arrest for non payment of a loan. My daughter paid the amount claimed due and was then told that a legal process had already begun and that an additional $2,500 was required to avoid immediate arrest. I called them and asked them to identify themselves and they said that they were the Department of Legal Affairs and Investigations and were located at 1150 11th Ave, San Francisco, Ca. The woman claimed that she was an attorney and gave me her bar association number as 98253 which is listed on the California Bar Association site under a different name. I called her back and informed her I was recording our conversation and she gave me a number of 987523 which is not listed in the Bar Association's web. My daughter was then contact by someone claiming to be with the state police - the caller ID number was blocked.
I intend to contact the State of California Attorney General and the San Francisco police to report this fraud.
My daughter received a phone call yesterday claiming she owed 500 dollars for a payday type loan. If she didn't pay it they would issue a warrent for her arrest. Since she had taken some loans of that type several years ago she was afraid it might be true so she paid by a green dot card about 300 or 350 dollars. They said that was ok and would stop the warrent. They called back today and told her the company wanted the whole amount plus fines of 1600 dollars. She would receive her money back (I bet) in two days but she needed to pay the 1600 today or she would be arrested. They gave her the call back number of 415-484-5967. She called back the number and was told the same thing. (yesterday it was James today when she called back James gave her to his manager Mark) I told her she could kiss her 300 good by but to call the police and report the scam. They also had her email number and bank account number.
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 from unscrupulous websites like the one you may have filled out an application with, 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.
ABC News released an investigative report on this scam in June. The FTC has indicted one of its ringleaders for criminal fraud: