NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities in New York say they've brought criminal charges against seven people in a debt collection scam run out of Georgia.

Prosecutors planned a news conference Tuesday afternoon to describe how the Atlanta-based company bullied people in all 50 states from 2009 through last April.

They say the company threatened arrests to collect more than $4 million from over 6,000 victims.

According to a criminal complaint, debt collection business employees sometimes claimed they worked for, or were in contact with, the Justice Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and sheriffs' departments.

It said victims were told they would be arrested if they did not call back or pay specified amounts immediately.