Is It a Helping or Slight of Hand?The scam is simple: Go online, apply for a loan, and regardless of your credit history, you are
guaranteed to have money in your pocket IF you can cough up a hefty upfront fee (often time 25% - 50% of the loan) . . . and oh, by the way, wire the “collateral” or “processing fee” to Canada. When the company has very little interest in your credit score and is more interested in scoring what little cash you have, then watch out, it’s a scam.
But how do we at BBB know this is a scam (outside the obvious triggers outlined above)? Let me show really fast how, after getting three complaints within one week about Sinclair Loan Center, your BBB determined this was a fraudulent company and had their website shut down.
- Bogus Address: the company’s website listed 6600 York Road, St. 200 Baltimore. We send mail, it is returned; we call the Property Manager of the building and they have no tenant by this name; we actually drive by and visit the property ourselves. Not too high tech, but step number one.
- Contact Info: Attempts to call the company or send emails did not result in communications with anyone – at all. A legitimate business will always prominently display their contact address, phone, and email – and before you do business with them, you want to make sure they work! If an online business is new to you, take the time to call them, send emails, and see how responsive they are before you respond to them with your money!
- Registration: This lender was not (no advance fee lenders ever are) registered by MD Dept. of Licensing & Labor Regulations. Any legit bank, loan, mortgage, or other financial business will be registered with the State – check ‘em out!
- Website Content: We cut/paste some of the verbiage from the website such as the testimonials or the “right bar” marketing mumbo jumbo – inserted it in google, and guess what, the same information can be found on mapletreefunding.com website! These guys don’t take the time to write their own marketing words – they steal it, just like your money!
- Website Registration: And finally, by going to whois.net, we found the scam website, sinclairloancenter.com was registered by proxy through a company Oneandone on December 9, 2008. BBB’s first complaint on Sinclair Loan Center was January 6. By this time, we were able to share with the registration service the facts we had that the company was bogus, and they agreed to shut down the website – which in essence puts the business out of business . . . . at least for a while. And of course, always check with BBB to determine the company’s rating and our level of confidence that you are doing business with one you can trust.
Through an Internet search, we discovered that the bogus business website had over 4,500 hits. Just think, if only 5% of those seeking a loan actually fell for this scam and wired $500 to Canada, that helping hand over the border made a quick $112,500. Not bad for doing absolutely nothing except setting up a website (or copying an old one onto a new domain), answering an email, and taking a trip to the local wire transfer service provider to pick up your cash!
Have you tracked down your own scam? What sleuthing techniques did you use? Hope to hear from you! Talk soon -
Angie
