tonight on "nightline," when a con-man calls. they claim they're cops or federal agents. >> you will be behind bars for six months. >> but they are making millions bullying americans to paying down debts they don't even owe. we follow the money in a "nightline" investigation. the great grizzly adventure. they are powerful. they are hungry. and they are a little cranky after a very long nap. we head into the hills outside yellowstone national park in search of america's most ferocious only any voer. and patti's playlist. songs like "because the night" made her the godmother of punk rock. tonight, patti smith tells us about the music that inspired a

l legend. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," june 7th, 2012. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. maybe you'd never fall for it, but imagine your mom or grandma, getting a call from a person who knows their name, address, social security number and demands they pay down a debt they don't remember owing or else. in that case, it's not hard to understand how a fake debt scam has stung hundreds of thousands of americans and raked in over $5 million, but tonight, abc's brian ross investigates. >> i am the guy who is going to end your life. >> reporter: it was calls like this one in the middle of the night -- >> if you refuse to answer the door to me, i guarantee you, i will wake up every neighbor in your entire [ bleep ] building. >> reporter: and this one, full of racist, profane threats.

>> go [ bleep ] back to africa or some [ bleep ]. >> reporter: and many, many others that led to the new laws and crackdowns designed to end such outrageous tactics. >> why don't you just go jump in front of a train? >> reporter: but authorities say that hasn't stopped this man and the people he works with from finding a new way to not only hound american consumers but to get them to pay millions of dollars in debts they don't even owe. phantom debt. i'm brian ross from abc news. i want to talk to you about the charges. can we talk to you for a second? can you explain what happened here? >> i have retained an attorney. no more comments, please. >> reporter: can you explain what happens? this is what he does not want to talk about. the phone calls that hundreds of thousands of americans have been getting. the callers, despite a heavy accent, claiming to be american police officers. >> my name is officer william johnson, i'm calling you from

ic-3, internet crime complaint center. >> reporter: the calls come at work and home, sometimes dozens an hour. >> you will be behind the bars for six months and once you go behind the bars, you will lose your job. once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water. >> he kept telling me this would be the worst nightmare of my life and i just couldn't get it out of my mind. it was horrible. >> reporter: the calls to cindy gervais of new orleans started long after she and her husband already paid off an online loan. but she was told, falsely, she still owed more. >> and that i was a no-good deadbeat and that -- i would have the worst -- i would spend the night in jail and my family wouldn't be able to get me out. >> reporter: though she sent them more than $1,800 to pay off a debt she did not owe. and the chairman of the federal trade commission says sin di s

not alone. >> we know these folks have collected at least $5 million from american consumers, that they made at least 2.5 million phone calls to 600,000 different numbers. >> reporter: authorities say the scammers are so believable, because they often have the victim's actual financial information. >> let me reveal the last four digits of your social. it's 9-2-8-1. >> reporter: it's information scammers buy from dishonest online loan brokers. >> that information is on the internet. and it's accessible to these scam artists. >> reporter: that's what mark of central florida sails happened to him, making him wonder, at first, that maybe he did still owe some money on an online loan, even though he didn't. >> and he had a lot of information. a lot of information, personal information. and i'm saying, you know, i'm going back, did i or didn't i? at that point, i didn't know what i did or not. >> reporter: he recorded some of the calls and says despite the heavy accent, he was worried the

callers were, in fact, police officers, threatening to arrest him. >> mark, this is officer jerry. >> he was telling me about how he's got warrants, he's going to be in the store, he's going to take me away. to the point where, you know, i didn't want to embarrass my family, didn't want to embarrass myself. >> reporter: so, he paid the debt he did not owe, almost $600. >> i got scared. >> someone tells you you are going to be arrested for not paying a debt, they're lying to you. there's no deabtors prison in te united states of america. >> reporter: the scammers are well beyond the reach of american law, in india, where abc news tracked some of the call centers to this city. >> because they are using what's known as voip, voice over internet protocol, it seems like they are calling from, within the united states, even though they are calling from a back office in india. >> reporter: we went to the doorle of one of the corporations, identified by u.s. authorities as involved in the scam.

employees told us they had no knowledge of any call senters and refused to let us inside. >> can you please switch off this? >> reporter: but federal authorities said the scam would not be possible without the help of american frontmen, including kirit patel of tracy, california. the ftc says patel set up the american cop rations that collected the money from consumers and then sent at least $4 million onto india. >> it is clear that patel was involved in this scam. absolutely. >> reporter: patel has admitted he set up the american corporation, but denied knowing anything about the phone scam run out of india, or the missing money from american victims. >> no comment, sir. >> reporter: what do you mean? do you have an apology? >> i have no comment. i have retained an attorney. >> reporter: where is the money? >> i have no comment. >> reporter: the federal trade commission has now frozen patel's bank account. and a criminal investigation is under way. but much of the money has already gone to india, well

beyond the reach of american law, where federal authorities say it may have ended up in the hands of an indian organized crime family. bill? >> big reminder that healthy skepticism can protect you sometimes. thanks to brian ross. and coming up next, well, they weigh 400 pounds, can crush a bowling ball with their teeth, but for some reason, that didn't stop us. we go looking for grizzlies in the wilds of montana, next.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> if you love wildlife, then you know we are living in a golden age of wildlife photography. here's a little proof. a massive gathering of giant rays off the coast of baja.

a glimpse of a skull rattling battle of big horn sheep or a pod of pink dolphins, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. national geographic's untamed america series also including a creature i have loved since child hood, but never thought i'd see in the wild -- until a recent trip to glorious montana. so, come along, as we go looking for grizzlies. the elk calf is just a few weeks old. born into the splendor of the yellowstone plateau. the only scenery its mother cares about is the brush that will hide a baby, too young to run. he hunkers down, stock still. but motionless quiet doesn't matter to the one animal that can smell him from three miles away. the mama grizzly is hungry and hunting for three. and the fate of that calf now comes down to a shift in the wind. the bear loses her scent but finds although. and lunch is served. one out of every three newborn

elk will be taken by grizzlies this spring. but by late june the calves are faster, the bears are fatter and grizzlies have to find something else to feed on, which explains this bashed wire cage. >> i haven't had a bear in the cabin since last year. i'm just kidding. >> reporter: will this really stop a motivated grizzly bear? >> no. >> reporter: casey anderson is a son of montana, a naturalist and filmmaker long obsessed with america's most fearsome omnivore. after rescuing a grizzly cub, the two bonded so strongly, brew does grew up to be the best man in his wedding. but big difference in temperament between a tame animal used to educate tourists. >> stay in this possession. don't make a noise. >> reporter: and the wild version. among the best places to find them these days, alaska, where they enjoy such a hearty surf and turf diet, including the

occasional beached whale, you can sometimes find them lotting in a food coma. but in the lower 48, the best belt is still yell localstone. >> back in the 1970s, old faithful had some real competition also the crowd favorite because back then, there were grandstands like this set up at the yell localstone dump. tourists would line up to watch the bears feast on their garbage. when rangers decided to cult off that free lunch, it was devastating. the animals forgot how to field themselves. thousands starved to debt and the grizzly became endangered. to get a sense of how they are faring today, casey will take us into the grizzly grounds just north of the park. after a quick lesson in self-defense. >> this is bear pepper spray. >> reporter: with a nose seven times more sensitive than a blood hound, a blast of nonlethal pepper spray sends them scampering. what about if i say, i don't know, ran, as fast as i could for the rental car? what would the bear do then? >> a grizzly bear runs as fast as a racehorse.

which is getting close to 40-mile-an-hour range. >> reporter: bear mace on our hips, we head into the hills. kay similar's crimes flicking from the horizon to the trail in search of clufs. >> looks like a yearling grizzly. >> reporter: are they just coming outhibernation? >> right now. >> reporter: are they cranky morning people? >> hungry. they just want to eat. they haven't eaten from -- they haven't urinated, defecated, eaten or had anything to drink for five to six months. >> reporter: that always makes me cranky. we pass claw marks on a fence post. >> left its mark right there. >> reporter: torn earth where bears have been digging for roots. and after cutting through the woods, casey connects with some old friends. >> for the last 12 years, i come to this exact spot and must be leaving crumbs but they always come and hang out with me.

>> reporter: can i try that with a grizzly bear? and then, after wandering through an open meadow, we see them. >> that's a grizzly bear there, bill. first one. going to take my safety trigger off. just stay still. >> reporter: the wind is in our favor, yeah. >> right now it is. now if he sees us or smells us he'll run away. >> reporter: casey says these are two of under 600 grizzlies surviving here, no longer critically endangered, but still threatened. in the past century, eight people have been killed by grizzlies up here. but half of those came in the last two years. this is gruesome, but does a grizzly feed on a human victim orp just -- >> usually not. >> reporter: kills them and goes away? >> usually no feeding. but the second death last year, they did eat. which made it unique. they euthanized that bear.

>> reporter: thankfully, these two are more interested in digging for roots than chasing reporters. >> 99% of people that live in montana will go their entire life without seeing a grizzly bear. >> reporter: and we got two in a couple hours. it was such fun. thanks to kay sis. "untamed americas" begins sunday june 10th. just ahead, she became a punk rock icon with songs like "because the night." now patti smith items us what tunes inspired here. as a culinary manager i make sure our guests have an over the top experience. being hands on is key! i make sure every plate looks just right. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's four course seafood feast, just $14.99. start with soup, salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits followed by your choice of one of 7 entrees. like new coconut and pineapple shrimp or shrimp and scallops alfredo. then finish with something sweet. all four courses just $14.99. [ reza ] it's so much food for such a good value.

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patti smith. she is the singer song-writer high poet of punk who just added last year national book award winner to her list of accomplishments. her ras by voice has inspired

generations of rock musicians and now, she tells us all about the songs that shaped her own. ♪ because the night ♪ because the night ♪ belongs to love ♪ because the night >> music is such a universal language. being in a rock and roll band, i only speak english but i can go to any country in the world and communicate with people through rock and roll. it's fantastic. ♪ music was always part of my childhood. i discovers opera on my own, through the radio and i was, like, 7, 8 years old when i was smitten by puccni. i was so sick, my mother thought i wouldn't pull through and she used all of her tip money to buy

me a box set of madame butter fly. she thought it would inspire me to get better -- and it did. yeah, i'm better. ♪ you know that it would be untrue ♪ ♪ you know that >> the first doors song i ever heard was "light my fire." you know, i was barely 21. and i saw jim morrison at the film maurice and of course, i loved the doors but seeing them live, i experienced this very strange feeling, watching him, i felt almost, no emotion, because people were going crazy and i just felt this absolute clarity that i could do that. and, you know, i was just some skinny girl from south jersey working in a bookstore. i have no idea why i felt that. but in the end, you know, i'm no jim morrison, but i did wind up on stage with a rock and roll band.

♪ whenever i'm with him ♪ something inside "heat wave" is a great one. and that was robert's favorite. our room was too small to have a third person in there dancing, but yeah, we danced all the time. robert was very confident in himself as an artist and he believed in me and instilled within me at a very young age confidence in myself. and i still draw from that. ♪ after the death of my husband, i had to go back to work to take care of my children and, it was difficult for me, after 16 years, to go back on tour again. and we were on tour with dob bibob dylan. it made it easier and my husband loved bob dylan, so, i felt that

he would like that. "dark eyes," i always felt, was one of his more beautiful songs. and singing that with bob every night really was one of the most mystically beautiful experiences of being on stage. ♪ look at mother nature on the run ♪ >> my children, jackson, jesse and i, did the last song on the album, which is neil young's "after the gold rush." we did it live. very simple. that's how i wanted it. jesse is a composer and she plays very beautiful piano. and jackson is a master guitar player. like his father. they are far superior to me as musicians but i have a few tricks up my sleeve. ♪ people have the power ♪ people have the power >> patti's new album is in stores now. thanks to her. and thank you foat