i got a call from this number today and they left a message sayin there was a leagal calim against me and that it was going to result in a warrant for my arrest. when i called back i got the same lasy who had called me and she was saying that i had a case against me that i owe 5000 dollars.and she transfer me to anotyher man when i said to her that i have never recived any money from thsi cash advance place.then he tells me its not 5000 i had a loan for 500 and 300.they have all my personal information and that bothers me alot.and he told me if i didnt pay at least half of what i owe by friday they would send for the warrant.all he keppt saying is that he really wanted to help me.they also said they had tried to call me and left me messages before and even emailed me but i never recived anything.
I Also got calls from these numbers also plus these numbers 508-445-4473 and 866-887-7773 And they also claimed i had a cash advance ... But i was Upset that they had all my Information ..I contacted the social security office and let them know and also let them hear the voice mails they so i could apply for a new social security number ..also i changed all my accounts and put passwords on them with just random letters and numbers and they are long...I just thank god that my financial instution knows me on am personal basis.. so these people could never get into my account .... but everyone be Advised that this is all just a scam .. a few months back i applied to be a walmart secret shopper and it was a scam they sent me a check of 1,800 through Fed-Ex and i took it to my local police station the check was not real . and the police kept it .. so i believe that is how they are gettin information ..this place wanted me to cash the check spend 2 hundred of it then send the remainder back through western union .. well western union has blacklisted this man its all a fraud be careful guys
This Kevin Parker called my employer and told them it was a family emergency. When I got to the phone expecting the worst I find out it's this guy and ask him never to call me at work again. He replies " you will be in jail in 24 hours sir." I reply " they ain't getting no fresh meat hoss I done 5 years in prison," he promptly hangs up. Now he has called my wifes phone as Officer Kevin Parker from the legal investigation dept....spooky title. So now I'm using google voice to disguise my number and call them periodically pretending to be INS, BBB, and pig salesman,
I also recieved a call today from this number, the caller said his name was Tim Wagner he said I had a case pending against me and that I owed 1,827.00 to be exact to cash advance, he wanted to know why I haven't answered his E-mails, or letters and that I also had a warrant out for my arrest, he said he was from oakly law firm, and that if I do not pay I could spend 6 months in jail. I was like this is crazy, so I gave him my Lawyers number, guess I won't be hearing fom him again!!! Don't fall for this scam pretty scary what people are doing out there.
I just received a call from these people with a very heavy accent. Said his name was Officer Balridge from legal investigations dept. Time sensitive said if they did not receive a return call from me all they could do was was wish me the best of luck as this situation unfolded on me. These people need to be stopped somehow from scaming money out of people.
Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money
By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012
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 was 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.
"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."
Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.
Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.
"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."
"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."
William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially
"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."
Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.
"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.
Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."
"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."
Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.
If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.
Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.
"There's no place in society for these people," he said.