New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has obtained court orders barring the three principals of a Western New York debt-collection operation from having involvement in such businesses, and secured restitution for victims by the companies' scare tactics.

Tobias Boyland, Kayla Pritchett and Dorian Wills, according to Cuomo's office, were principals of at least nine area debt-collection companies. Cuomo's office successfully shut down their operation last year.

Boyland, a convicted felon, Pritchett, and Wills ran numerous debt-collecting companies that operated out of at least four locations in the Buffalo area. The agencies operated under several names across the Buffalo area, including Central Resource Management, Final Claims Asset Locators, Final Control Asset Locators, Interchange Payment Solutions, Next Step Services, Portfolio Asset Assurance, Silverbay Services and Teleport.

In addition to being barred from working in debt collection, the AG said $275,000 will be returned to victims who had been intimidated into paying debts that, in many instances, were not even owed.

The investigation tracked hundreds of consumer complaints filed with law-enforcement agencies across the country. The AG's office found that Boyland's employees violated state and federal laws by routinely posing as law-enforcement officials and then threatening to arrest and throw consumers in jail unless they made arrangements to pay the company immediately. These employees also falsely informed consumers that they were being sued in civil court.

The collectors demanded payment for nonexistent debts, attempted to collect payments for debts that had already passed the statute of limitations, or substantially inflated the amount owed on an actual debt. Also, the operation used technology to disguise its addresses and telephone numbers.

In September 2009, 12 employees of the companies were arrested and charged with grand larceny as part of a criminal probe.