Claimed they were from a company called Americredit. But gave another number
+1 877-994-9119.They are apparently a finance company specializing in auto loans.

Called looking for a reference for relatives... found out they are a collection agency.

They call relatives / contacts that may know someone they have partial information on in order to gain personal information to create fraudulent loans. Essentially they are a company that specializes in theft / fraud attempting to steal money from people. Do not return their calls. I'd recommend contacting your phone company to have any numbers they call you on, blocked.

They call me at least 2 or 3 times a day and leave me messages. They started calling friends of mine saying they were looking for references. Isn't this against the law?

Claimed they were from a company called Americredit. But gave another number +1 877-994-9119.They are apparently a finance company specializing in auto loans.