Complaint Review: Fast Cash/Cash Net

 About 2 weeks ago my fiance was being bombarded with tons of emails from Fast Cash/CashNetUSA saying that he had been "pre-approved for a loan up to $7,000". I suppose after some time, the people running this thing noticed that he was ignoring them so they proceeded to call him persistently. I mean, he was receiving at least 20 calls from different numbers within a matter of minutes. No exagerration. Fed up, he decided to answer the phone and on the other end was a man by the name of Nash Brown who obiviously came from somewhere in the middle east. As soon as my fiance had answered the phone, Mr. Brown told him that he had been preapproved for a loan of any amount under $7,000.

My fiance said he wanted $3,000. Mr. Brown proceeded to explain to him that in order to receive the $3,000, he would have to send "ten percent" or $300 to him via GreenDot MoneyPak card which is found in any Walmart or other corner store. Mr. Brown had explained to him that the $300 was to "verify funds" and that the money would not be touched. My fiance was skeptical (duh) but he complied and put $300 on the MoneyPak card and gave Mr. Brown the pin number. Next thing he knew, the loan amount went up to $3,300 in total. Mr. Brown had explained that the $300 from the money pak card had been "added to the loan amount" which is basically a way of saying "I took your money!". He then explained that in order to receive the $3,300, my fiance would have to send an additional $240 to pay the "FTC" or "Federal Trade Commision" -whatever that is. This is when my fiance had finally clued me in on what was going on. So I personally spoke with Mr. Brown and asked him twice, "After we give you the $240 will there be anything else we have to give you before we see the money in out checking account?" He assured me that "No, there will be no other fees or charges to you. Once we receive the $240 you will see a deposit of $3,300 in your checkings account in no more than 15-20 minutes." Reluctant, I said "Okay" and we proceeded to buy another GreenDot MoneyPak card.

After we'd given Mr. Brown the pin number for the $240 he called us back 15minutes later saying that the EFT (electronic funds transfer) was unsuccessful due to my fiance's "bad credit"...my first thought was "What the heck does credit have to do with transferring funds to a checking account?" Nonetheless, Mr. Brown explained that he could send the $3,300 through Western Union. Okay cool..right? WRONG! THis guy noiw tells us that we have to send another $250 to pay the Western Union fee!!!! At this point I commenced to cursing him out. My fiance and I were stuck and didn't know what to do now that we had lost $540 and still hadn't received our "loan". So we went to his bank and told the lady what happened and automatically she told us it was a scam. She explained to us that "any time a company asks you to send them money in order for you to receive money, run." That being said, my fiance and I went to the local police stationed and filed a report.

Honestly, I doubt that we will ever get our $540 back, but it would help my emotions heal a bit knowing that I helped at least one person avoid these awful people. I really hope that someday these people are put behind bars for what they're doing.

HINTS:

Look out for internet loans that don't have local offices in your area. DON'T accept ANYTHING from them. Make sure to apply for loans in an office with good, old-fashioned pens and paper. Never accept money from people who don't have contracts for you to sign or who don't require documentation such as a picture I.D. or SSN. ALWAYS follow your gut. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it! And remember: Never accept money from companies who require you to send them money over the phone or the internet. Everything should be done face to face with pen and paper to be safe (my opinion).

Thank you for reading and I hope this was helpful in some way!