Who called from 7722097540

Shane Watson from United Investigation Dept., State of Florida, called saying that they are investigating a lawsuit filed by one of my friends against me.  Shane was clearly Indian or Arabic with a thick accent, and likely does not have an Irish bone in his body, unless it was from occupying troops in the Far East.  His company called me twice before investigating other allegations made by my same friend. Stupid. I notified the FBI.

It's a scam, and all their threats are false and illegal.  The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money.

Here are a few news reports and government advisories warning consumers about this scam:

ABC News:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1
West Virginia Attorney General:  http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
WTAE TV4, Pittsburgh:  http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
Florida Commissioner of Consumer Services:  http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html

This is a very active group of scammers, many of whom are calling from India (and probably other countries) and are in cahoots with a group of American pay day loan scammers. Typical of many financial scams of this variety, they usually demand payment via Western Union or MoneyGram or credit card. They use any number of phony names such as US National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau, US Legal Investigation Bureau, US Federal Bank, Sonic Bank, Hopkins Law Office, Christian Nicholas & Associates, CashNet, Financial Crime Prevention, National Crimes Division, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit, David Morgan & Assoicates and many more.  These criminals also use many phone numbers from many area codes; they're probably using caller-id spoofing software and/or VoIP to disguise their real location.

These scammers attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false and illegal threats, and alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. Their trademark is to use meaningless legalese gobbylgook phrases like "We are downloading warrants against you" or "We are filing an affidavit against you."  Other trademark phrases include threatening the consumer with ridiculous phrases such as "If you don't pay then only God can help you" or "If you don't call me back then I can only wish you good luck."

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, or demanding your lawyer's name so they can sue you, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal to them to threaten such a thing.) And since these foreign dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  (Debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.)

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (
http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 )  There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  [email protected]  
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone. And if the crooks claim to be law enforcement or lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, be sure to include that information in your report.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a *small* sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-336-553-3965
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-909-6789
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444

OMG, I got a phone call from a guy with a heavy indian accent about a month and a half ago telling me I owed for a PAYDAY LOAN I took out in 2006.  He said his name is SHANE WATSON.  Just like you, he scared me with his first phone call.  But, I, like a dummy wanted to get this matter taken care of, and started sending money via WESTERN UNION to a person named  ANITA NAGENGAST in INDIO, CA.  He also said I had committed check fraud and would suffer legal consequences.  So, I finally and stupidly obviously after reading your blogs, made my last payment, he supposedly varified the funds and now he's saying I gave him the wrong MTC # and I'm playing games.  He called me at work today and we got into a yelling match on the phone saying I was playing games and messing with the law.  I still haven't received any paperwork from this guy.  I wish I would've researched this lady's name before I sent him any money.  I feel soooooo stupid and frustrated.  I wish there was a way to get everything back that I paid and prosecute Mr. SHANE WATSON.

The phone# he's calling from is 818-495-2412

I just got another call from the supposed to be detective Shane Watson..... He left the same number this time 772-209-7540 but he said that I need to contact him ASAP.... SoI can send the money ASAP.... Well NEVER will that Happen. But he called from a number but the whole phone number did not show up all it said was 052-448-704... thats weird but you know the scam artist are they will do anything. Please do not send them any money.

Yesterday I received the same call in regard to a bank account that I had a balance of $950.00. I called to the bank I had originally opened and the amount is $386.00.   The call was from SHANE WATSON, from a number that doesn't show as a usual number in my caller ID 0 524 487-04. and his return number is 772-209-7540. I was to send in a moneygram payment to an Anita Nagengast in Indio, CA. He knew my social and claimed I was breaking laws and comitting check fraud and theft by deception.  I asked why I couldn't send a "bill payment" moneygram, instead of directly to Anita as a personal sent payment, and he said she was the manager there, that is how they accept payments. I asked him to e-mail me proof of this bill, and he sent a regulary typed e-mail with several mis-spelled words to me with an attachment stating payday loan company.  Everything doesn't add up.  Thanks for all that comments, because I almost sent a payment to them.