[From article]
Manhattan federal prosecutors have busted a multimillion -dollar debt-collection scam that preyed on more than 6,000 victims across the county by scaring them into making payments under the false threat of going to prison if they did not comply .
John Todd Williams and six others who worked for his Norcross, Georgia-based debt collection company were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a 36-page complaint unsealed Tuesday.
[. . .]
The complaint alleges Williams Scott & Associates staffers repeatedly called victims and claimed they were contracted to collect debt on behalf of the US Department of Justice, US Marshals Service and other federal or local law enforcement entities.
Victims were allegedly told to either pay up or a warrant would be issued for their arrest and their driver’s licenses would be suspended. In some cases, victims were supplied bogus documents with government seals.
The defendants ran the alleged scam from 2009 until the feds shut down the operation in May. The feds, in preparing their case, relied on phone wiretaps and evidence they uncovered at Williams Scott’s offices, including scripts telling workers how to trick victims.
One script said, “Give them 48 hours to pay then slam the phone in there [sic] face.”
http://nypost.com/2014/11/18/
Feds bust multimillion -dollar debt-collection scam
By Rich Calder
New York Post
November 18, 2014 | 11:41am
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