The "good luck as this situation unfolds" line and the vanilla-sounding alias names for the reps strongly suggest a South Asian fake debt collector. If you really want to know how they've found you and Gramma and the neighbor's pet ferret, think back to when you or someone related gave away a pile of sensitive data to strangers through an online application form.
To be clear, this is extortion dressed as debt collection. The agents' horrid threats are empty and their conduct is illegal. As early as possible it's critical to determine if your collector is domestic or yet another South Asian faker. The former you can sue into submission; the latter tend to be out of reach.
My notes from October 2011 on payday loan and "hot check" collectors are linked below.
http://800notes.com/forum/ta-429fb24ec2162e3/ ... -numbers-here-2
See also this FTC alert: "Fake Debt Collectors"
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0258-fake-debt-collectors
(former title: ''Who's Calling? That Debt Collector Could Be a Fake'')
The following will be useful if you have a US domestic collector calling, and will in general help you sniff out the frauds:
official FTC guidance and staff opinions on the FDCPA, PDF copy of the Act
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm
CFPB Q&A on debt collection practices
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search ... bt%20Collection
Received a call tonight from this number stated that I need to have my attorney call them back on a pay day loan that I took out and never paid. I informed them I never took out a pay day loan however they have my ss# and the name of my employer. I was told that I will be arrested tomorrow, I told them great you can pick me up from the County's Sheriff Office where I have worked the last 10 years; they hung up.
I also got a voice message from a "John Steven" this afternoon who wanted information on my attorney to mail legal papers to him and also give him a call back without fail. The message was left by someone male with an Indian accent. I called the number back and a lady who also had an Indian accent answered the phone and spoke to me so fast that I could hardly understand what she was saying. All I could get out of her was that her company was sending the Sheriff to arrest me at my place of work because of an unpaid Payday loan. She had the name of my workplace but when I insisted on more info on the loan she hung up and when I called back she would hang up on me without talking to me.
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.
The FTC has indicted one of its ringleaders for criminal fraud: