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Welcome to i-fraud.org - the International Fraud Directory. This messageboard is designed for users to post reports of their international transactions that they feel have been fraudulent in some fashion. To post a claim, you must first register with us. This will help us monitor postings and communicate with you in the event of an error as well as protect your identity in association with your posting as your username will be posted as opposed to your actual name. Finally, we ask that you not include any specific names of people or organizations that you have found to be fraudulent, unless you can provide verifiable legal proof that you have been defrauded. This site is for discussion of situations and manners of international business that have been deemed fraudulent by your own definitions. Posting a name of a company will only cause the violator to change their name - but, if we make others aware of their method of defrauding people, we are more likely to become aware of the situation and remove ourselves before we get "in too deep." |
Posted by David T. on February 19, 2008, 9:46 am
Message modified by board administrator February 19, 2008, 4:40 pm
I was submitted an online loan application for what appeared to be a legitimate loan request. As a matter of fact, it seemed like a very realistic scenario.
The subject property was in Washington State and the borrower appeared to have good income, plently of assets and enough equity to do a cash-out refinance as requested. However, I needed more information.
I replied to (what I thought was) the borrower requesting additional information via email. I had tried calling, but the phone number listed on the application was disconnected. So, my primary request was to get a correct phone number so I could actually speak to the client. I even tried looking up the borrower's name in the white pages. Again, the numbers that I found were disconnected.
About a day later I received a call from a man with a very heavy accent (African, I believe). He claimed to be the "assistant" of the borrower and informed me the he was calling on her behalf. He said that she needed to get a loan for $500K right away. I told him that in order to proceed I must speak with her. He said that he would have her call me.
In the meantime, I did some research via Google (by typing in the borrower's name) - and, low and behold, was able to find a webpage that contained several hundreds of complete indentity information (full name, DOB, address, SSN, credit card numbers & paypal registration info). Essentially, based on the information I saw on this webapge - there was the potential to obtain the identity of any of these people very easily.
Needless to say, I was shocked at what I had seen. I immediately contacted the FBI's internaet fraud department and filed a claim, as well as informed our company's fraud & compliance department so that they could "flag" the associated information to deter the potential for any fraudulent lending.
The following day, I did receive a call from another person claiming to be the borrower herself (again, with a very heavy accent). She again stated that she needed a loan for $500K - but, she was unable to provide me with any additional information that was not "included" on the webpage that I had seen. So, I informed her that I was not able to do a loan for her without much more detailed information and documentation. I also, told her about the information I had seen on the internet and that I had reported it to the FBI. She immediately hung up the phone (not surprising...)
I again reported the claim to the FBI and ceased all communication with the borrower. I to date I have never received any communication back from the FBI. But, I have had another inquiry from the same people requesting a loan (at least requested from the same email address - with a different identity).
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