SCAM: Advance Fee Loans

Advance fee loans are a popular scam. Quite simple to understand, a person seeking a loan is promised that a suitable loan will be found, but a fee must be sent first. The loan shark receives the fee and the loan application is denied - end of story. To better understand the advance fee loan scam, I suggest you read this article.

When a person or a family is struggling to pay their bills and manage their debt load, they become particularly vulnerable to certain types of predators. Of course every predator makes it his business to know his prey. Of great benefit to the predator is the fact that people who are looking for a solution to desperate financial times can easily be led to believe something that they otherwise might not. When people are looking for a solution to a problem, and they think they have found it, they tend to believe what they want to believe.

So who is this predator I am talking about? Although his name is not known, his advance fee loans are. This is a scam that is well known and consumers need not fall for it. It is interesting that several sources I looked at have identified a majority of these loan offers being made by Canadians into the U.S. A tip from the Canadian authorities is to ask yourself a question, "If I am having trouble getting loan approval in the U.S., why would I expect a Canadian firm to loan me the money?"

The predator's mode of operation is well known. He merely posts adds in legitimate media sources such as classified sections of daily and weekly newspapers and magazines. The loans also are promoted through direct mail, radio, telemarketers and cable TV spots. Toll free numbers (800, 866, 877) are common but you might keep your eye open for these Canadian extensions: 416, 646, 905, or 705. The fact that the ad is in a legitimate media outlet does not guarantee that the ad is trustworthy. [Whether this should be the case would be an interesting discussion in itself.]