Nov 25, 2012
These people are complete scam artists! Do not believe a word they say! They prey on people who need financial help! Here's the low down on what will happen:
1. They call and tell you your approved for a loan and you just make monthly payments and it'll help your credit score.
2. You have to pay then $300 for the first installment, but they'll pay that back to you. You have to get a green dot money pak to pay them. (They like it that way because once they take the money off of that, it's non refundable and untraceable).
3. Then the money will be wired to your account within 90 mins.
4. Well the $ never gets to your account, so then you call and they say that the FTC (federal trade commission) is holding the funds because taxes are owed on the loan before they'll release the funds. That also needs to be paid through a green dot money pak card. The taxes are $400 more dollars btw.
5. So now you're out $700 and waiting for the money to get wired to you checking acct.
6. Once again it never hits your account. You call the manager that you've been speaking with thru the whole process (who's been readily available the whole time) and he states that their EFT (electronic funds transfer) system is down and they need to now have a courier (who's supposedly a third party) to pick up the paper check from them and drive it to your house. It's another $300 for thy process and you again can only pay that thru a green dot money pack card. They won't pay for the service up front though, even though its their fault.
7. I then told them that I felt like this was a scam and I just wanted my $700 refunded to me. (Which was promised to me if I decided not to go thru with the loan). The man on the phone then states that if I ask him that again that he will get very angry and hang up on me. Then get mean and states that I'm offending him!
8. He then hangs up, only to call back an hour later an ask if I've calmed down and if I'd like to still finish this last process.
9. This is obviously a horrible scam that preys on people that are financially strapped and make poor decisions based on that. I fell for it. I'm an idiot. I'm now wanting to put this out there as a learning tool for myself and as a MAJOR WARNING for anyone out there thinking this might be a legitimate situation.
List of people to call:
I've called the police and filed a report.
called green dot money pak and reported fraud. Even though they won't refund your money right away, they have a fraud dept and know who took the money.
Call the FTC and report. That's the federal government and they are now working with law enforcement on this matter.
The FTC will also have you call the state commissioners board and file a report as well.
Last but not least, call your bank and close your account and start a new one. They have all your information!
One more thing... I also had a fraud alert place on my credit report.
I hope people read this before getting scammed like I did!