Mark Smith Payday Loan Scam - Mark Smith - John Butler - Max Gamble - AmeriCash Advance - Extortion - Payday Loan scam Nationwide, Nationwide
There are scam artist with heavy middle easter accent going around extorting money from people who've applied for pay loans.
Here are examples of what they say when they call you:
"I'm calling because I'm an officer of the law working at a law office. We need you to pay x amount of dollars in order to avoid going to jail"
"Hi, my name is Max Gamble and I'm calling because we need you to pay $900 to avoid us taking you to court for a debt you owe"
FYI: An officer of the law works at the police department & the FBI. Officers of the law don't work at law offices making phone calls to people about debts that they may or may not owe. Furthermore, a legitamate debt collector will initiated correspdonce by sending a formal letter in the mail. Sometimes they may not, but that's rare. No matter how they initiate contact with a debtor, if they are a legit debt collection agency, they will be able to tell you who the creditor is that they represent, also, they will be able to give you a legit phone number & address that is "verifiable" in connection with their company.
These scam artists never give specific information about the "creditor" that you supposedly owe this debt to. Instead they put and keep the focus on you and what might happen to you (in a bady way) if you don't pay them this money they claim you owe their client. They never divulge who their client is because this is a scam.
I filed with the FTC & I filed with the FBI
I called to check on the FBI report and apparently these folks in India have been going around doing this with other phone numbers scamming people.
Apparently the FBI is working on this and the direct link on their website to the "payday loan scam" is http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710/
They FBI is calling this an "extortion" scam related to people who applied for payday loans.
The FBI is investigating this because their is a front man living here in America (who is from India) - The money initially goes to him in his American account and then he feeds the money to his "operators" who are located in India.
ABC News link:
http://gma.yahoo.com/phantom-debt-collectors-india-harass-americans-demand-money-221109715--abc-news-topstories.html
Report them to the FBI because it's still under investigation and there has been lawsuits filed against the indian guy who is living here in America.
To file with the FBI: https://tips.fbi.gov/
To file with the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
They're still working on this case, but since the front man lives here in America and ABC went to his house and all the money initially goes to his account, this might be just the loophole that the FBI will need to get these folks stopped
Apparantly they've called well over 600,000 people and have made well over 5 million dollars from their scam. We need to stop them and since the front man resides in America, the victims should file a class action suit against this man and get back their money.
Some of the numbers they've used are:
213-289-3789
213-289-4422
323-570-4065
540 650 7602
585-641-4422
707-666-9613
7602694173
805-876-5159
814 326 9205
818-666-1697
Some of the names they've gone by:
John Smith
Terymi Mossage
Mark Smith
Max Campbell
Max Gamble (Attorney)
Ronnie Cooper
Steven Scott
William Johnson (Officer)
Company Names that they've gone by:
IC-3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center)
UNLD
Cash Advance America
AmeriCash
If there is any other info. anyone knows, please add it to his report and I will report it in when I communicate with the FBI about my pending case that I filed against these scam artists. Thanks!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
Dallas,Texas,
United States of America
Scam for advance payday
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, November 08, 2012
I received a telephone call this morning indicating I committed a fraud. That I was going to have arrest warrant issued. I said what for. The gentlemen had information about me and I was more stunned then anything I hung up. Upon first initial call I was worried so I contacted the company in which I received the loan and was informed that the person that contacted me was a scam artist and not to worry. They suggested that I call them back and play them as if I was going to make a payment, get as much information that I could. I contacted them once again and I asked who they were representing they declined to tell me. I then asked the so called attorney for his bar association number and the dummy gave me one and his name. He also asked me what I was going to do with that and I said public record... He told me failure to make payment he would give me a surprise in the next few hours. I said excuse me he said you heard me we will show up at your job and have you arrested, you better inform them now. At then to end my conversation I said I will be taking this information to the local police and filing a complaint. He said yeah you do that. I then took the Bar number and ran it for records. The attorney that he represented being was listed by that name and bar number , but the phone number was not the same, the area code was. I took it one step farther and contacted that attorney that i researched. Upon realizing that the attorney was not the same foreign voice I had received from previously, I began to explain that I received a call and that someone was using his bar number and his name. THe real attorney was fully aware of this situation had already filed with FBI and local police as well as the bar association. I gave the information I had such as a number and names given to me I said if you need anything else please feel free to contact me. The name that came up on my caller ID when they called my cell was Rio Linda 916-538-7239 names of people I spoke to were Max Gamble, and well as Marc Victor both claiming to be attorneys. The gentlemen was rude.. This is to inform everyone that when someone calls you and will not indicate who they represent, (Hang UP) and wont give any address (Hang Up) and tell you to go get a prepaid card for payment(Hang UP) you have to wonder. Don't hesitate to ask any and all questions. My first sign was they contacted me at 7:10 am and I'm in Texas and calling from a California number meaning this so called attorney was in his office at 5:10 am, yeah I don't think so. Don't hesitate to drill. Any attorney trying to collect money will give you any and all information needed. You will always receive a registered letter. Once I said this information to him FYI I have not heard back. BEWARE Related to the post below, Not sure why the phone numbers given are not being tracked by police and FBI.. They are California Number issued. Please pass this number on when you communicate with the FBI........ If you need more information let me know
thank you