Fraudulent loan advertisements are luring people into wiring money to bogus creditors, and the international scams are now using Rhode Island addresses to bilk cash from consumers.
Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch warned consumers earlier this month to beware of ads for “advance-fee” loans that request upfront insurance payments to secure financing.
“Complaints logged with this office’s Consumer Protection Unit reveal a pattern of unlawful schemes cooked up by unscrupulous people taking advantage of citizens seeking to secure loans,” Lynch said in an Aug. 2 statement.
“What people have to know is that once they’ve wired the money, they’ve lost it,” Lynch added.
The attorney general’s office has received complaints from two consumers who replied to a recent ad in the classified section of The Providence Journal that offered “Cash for Debts,” and, without a company name, provided a toll-free phone number. One consumer wired the phony lender $2,400 via Western Union, though the second loan seeker recognized the ploy before sending money.
The con artists behind these loan scams are able to conceal their identities by instructing consumers to wire advance payments through Western Union to an individual rather than a business, and also by telling consumers to use a password code with their wire transfers, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC says the loan scammers have used stolen letterhead from legitimate companies to dupe consumers. And they have used consumers’ personal information to commit identity theft.
Trade officials warn that the loan scams reach their victims through about every medium available – Internet, radio, TV, newspaper, fax, telephone directories and direct mail.
Unsuspecting consumers nationwide are falling prey to loan scams that use Rhode Island addresses, according to the attorney general’s office.
A company calling itself “Community First Financial Consultants,” which used an address on Providence’s South Angell Street, recently placed ads in California and Louisiana newspapers.
Though no such business exists at the local address, the attorney general’s office confirmed.
Nevertheless, a California resident sent the faux company $700 to an address in Ontario, Canada. However, a Louisiana resident reportedly contacted the attorney general’s office before wiring a $750 advance payment.
Another company using a Bristol address and the name “Clean Credit International” defrauded a South Carolina resident, responding to an ad in a Houston newspaper, who sent the crooks two separate payments of $6,040, according to Lynch’s office.
