Complaint Review: Jess Warren

This has been going on for months.

I posted an ad on Craig's list looking for a private lender to help our business obtain some cash to get us along until our line of credit comes through. To date I've gotten about two dozen replies, but this one was interesting; he actually seemed like an honest person from the start.

He said that he worked for a small bank in Ecuador that had recently been given subsidy by the government to establish loans out of the country for the purpose of bringing interest payments back to Ecuador in order to build up their small banking system. Since I'm kind of aware of things like this, I believed it could be possible.

So I sent the requested email of information (my application) and waited about an hour before I checked my email. He had sent me three emails in that one hour time frame. The first email said "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE BEEN APPROVED!"...

The second email said "Here are your loan terms"...The third said "Here are your instructions"...

So I read the third one first before reading his approval letter. The instructions were simple enough, I was to wire $250 by Western Union to Quido, Ecuador to an individual by the name of Okosun Solomon. This was to be my "collateral" for the loan and would be fully refundable once I completed repayment. That threw up a little red flag but I had heard of people asking for ridiculous sums of money from scammers so I figured $250 wasn't really that bad.

Looking back, I now know why the amount was so small.

Anyways, I sent the $250 after about three days of arguing with my "little voice of reason...(my girlfriend)" about whether or not I should do it. I got an email stating the wire had been received and I would receive my funds in about 2 hours.

.....Five hours later....NOTHING!

So I went to bed upset and woke up the next day to an email explaining that the government tax board of Ecuador had put a stop to the wire transfer and I would have to pay an additional $330 for the "tax force" to release my wire transfer.

After going back and forth several dozen times over the next two weeks about this, me saying no, him pleading with me from every possible angle (and sending me a supposed "Iron-clad guarantee"
), I lost my senses and sent the $330...Again, wire received on his end...five hours later....NOTHING!

Next day, I get an email from the bank he said he worked for. This time a different individual is requesting $550 be sent to the "I.M.F." in order to prove that I have no intention of defrauding them and I am not a terrorist.

I sent him the most hateful email I've ever sent in my life and to this day he is still sending me these calm patient emails asking politely for the additional funds. I've not received my loan and I'm out $580 to date. I'm not exactly dying for money, I just wanted a little cushion to do some extra holiday marketing before I get my line of credit in February.

Let me share this with you as you're reading this (as I've recently discovered this myself):

If anyone asks for money up front ***(by Western Union specifically)***for any kind of loan, don't do it. I'm not an expert here but I read that these scams are set up for one reason...

Terrorists have small cells of people all over the world who are well versed in banking and finance. They reply to people's requests for funding from locations outside the United States because the U.S. can't do much to track them down. They always request funds be sent by Western Union because Western Union doesn't require an account or any kind of "tracking" to be done once a transfer is complete. If you wire money and they successfully pick it up, your money is gone.

The terrorist cells then pay a small "finder's fee" out of the money you sent to the person who collected the money and put in the man hours doing all the emails and phone calls. They send the rest to their "upline" bosses and it goes towards wonderful things like training suicide pilots and building bombs to kill US.

I've only read this information online, I'm not saying it's 100% truth. Im simply saying I'm not happy with what happened to me and I would like it if people wouldn't let it happen to them also. If someone you don't know (or have never met in person, or lives outside the U.S.) asks you to send them money by Western Union, don't do it. It's a scam.

As for the request I put on Craig's list...I'll say I've learned my lesson. I won't be using that website for fundraising any more.