U.S. authorities report they have broken up a phone scam in which callers in India posed as debt collectors to bilk millions of dollars out of more than 10,000 U.S. residents.
Officials say callers used threats of arrest or the loss of their jobs, and that the first-of-its-kind investigation may have only uncovered the tip of the iceberg.
The investigation revealed that from 2010 to 2012, $5 million was paid in 17,000 transactions to accounts controlled by the alleged fraudsters. The targets included people who applied for loans by punching personal details into a payday site but whose applications were rejected, Federal Trade Commission official Steven Baker said.
Furthermore, more than 20 million calls may have been placed over the past two years, with collectors demanding between $300 and $2,000 per call.
[ANNOUNCEMENT]
March 11, 2012
A network tv producer is investigating online payday loan scams where victims are constantly harassed by callers with foreign accents impersonating American lawyers or law enforcement who threaten them with arrest or judgments.
Specifically they are looking into American Credit Crunchers shut down by the FTC.
In the Credit Crunchers case, calls were made from Ahmedabad, India. Does anyone know how these call centers operate, and whether or not this case is just the tip of the iceberg?
If you have information you're willing to share, please contact the producer offline at
[email protected]. We have checked Teri out and she is legit. She is also interested in getting any audiotapes of the threatening calls that were recorded at the time.
http://800notes.com/news/international-bogus- ... om-us-residents