Alpha Finance Affinity Resource Mary Smith Offered a loan of $7,500, but required an upfront amount of $540 sent via Western Union to an individual by the name of Gary Mondesir Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
These individuals sent me an email that contained a financial loan agreement that they had "approved" me for a $7,500 loan with payments starting in September for 4 years. My credit is not that great and I was looking for a loan to get caught up in my bills and apparently this is who they prey on. On Friday, 4/26/11 I was asked to go to Western Union and wire $540.00 to a Gary Mondesir in New York and call Ms. Mary Smith back with the MTCN number from Western Union. I did that at approximately 8:30 a.m. (she answered that call and all calls prior to this) and told me that I would be receiving the funds in my account by 2:00 CST. No funds have been received. I have called several times, sometimes 2 to 3 times per day and Ms. Smith doesn't answer my calls. One time I had my son call and she answered and I grabbed the phone and asked where my money was and she hung up on me. I also send emails to the company every chance I get and have not received a response via email, phone, etc. I am requesting my $540.00 back and have asked them to just send me a check. I have reported this to the IC3, FTC and Attorney General' Office.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Karen
Hickory Hills,Illinois,
United States of America
Thank you
#4Author of original report
Sun, May 15, 2011
Thank you for your comments and knowledge. One of the main reasons I'm putting this all out there is to hopefully prevent someone from making the same mistake I did. Hindsight being 20/20, I now know more about this non-company then ever. When I did research prior to being duped, I didn't find any negative feedback at all. Hopefully I can help someone else from going through this.
VinnyZ66
United States of AmericaSorry.
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, May 13, 2011
You were scammed. There was no loan nor will there ever be a loan from these people. Plus, you won't get your money back. It is gone. As soon as you gave them that Western Union number, the $540 can be claimed by anyone in the world.
This is called an "Advance Fee Scam".
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
Not a company.
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, May 13, 2011
Apparently, these scammers are pretty good because everyone who reports this scam here is always convinced that they have been wronged by a loan company. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality, a group of online scammers persuaded you to send $540 to them in a way that is untraceable. You don't know who they are, so the Attorney General and IC3 are not going to do anything. The "company" name, rep names and all of the documents are made up. Sorry, but it's unlikely that you'll ever see that money again. It is likely that the scammers may contact you and try to get you to send more money. They usually get their victims more than once.
The two big tipoff that this was a scam were 1) It would be against the law for a lender to require a large upfront payment on a personall loan. And 2) no legitimate business requires you to transfer money via Western Union or Moneygram. Only scammers do that because it's the only way they can get your money without leaving a paper trail.
The FTC maintains a webpage about this scam here :
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel16.shtm