I don't know where to begin... I guess I will just start. My partner was looking for a loan to help us pay some of your debts off so we can have a less to pay each month in bills and to buy both his and my children christmas presents and so I could go get my daughter (whom resides in another state) to spend Christmas with us. When we were first contacted by a Angela Brown she had told him he was approved for a $7,000.00 loan, but they wanted him to put their insurnace on it just in case he had lost his job down the road. He told her I had permission to handle any of the paperwork for him since he could not get away from work to send them the money or fax the paperwork. She told him he need to send the insurance money of $900.00 plus we would pay a fee that would be reimbursed of $79.00. She said, Western Union to an Ann-Marie Corlett in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, and to call her back when I had sent it and give her the control number and it would be in our bank account within 3 to 6 hrs. Well, that didn't happen. I called back the next morning and had trouble getting through, but still kept trying and finally got someone. I spoke to Angela and asked her what was going on and she said that the loan company that would finance us wanted $695.00 down payment for something on his credit report, I didn't think that was right, so I told her I would talk to him about it first. I told him what she said and he called her back and she told him that the money was for a brokers fee and to send it the same way as before. Of course, we're desperate to have this money and borrowed money from my family to send this. I had my suspisions and started looking for their web address and found it. I tried e-mail the g-mail address they had on there and it did not work. So I started looking in yellowpages.com and whitepages.com for them and could not find them instead I found a different company doing the reverse search and I called that company. The lady told me she got a lot of calls for them, but they have never resided in that building ever. She flat out told me she thinks its a scam and she even went on their web page and saw the address and said it's wrong. I told my partner about it and he contacted them again because they had not deposited the money like they said by 8:00p.m. in the evening. They gave an excuss that someone had messed up the paper work...and for the inconvience they were uping the loan to $10,000, but a bit later we were contacted by a Brooke Chambers saying that we need to pay a $500.00 broker's fee. I was getting tired and told her that I felt like we were getting scammed and she said, "No mam, we have been a trademarked company for almost 10 years and we assure you that no one is scamming you mam." Though I handed the phone to my partner (on speaker phone) and somehow someway he was sucked by telling him that this was the last thing to pay and all finalizations go through her and it would be in our account in 1 hour after calling back with the contol number. Mind all this is Western Union to an Ann-Marie Corlett in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. I was not happy with his decision, but I told him it was his call. We borrowed more money from family and friends to get this done. Well, that never happened... now it's getting close for me to leave to pick up my daughter and christmas is just a couple of day away and no funds in our account or in our pockets. We kept trying to call and call and call and eventually we got someone...a Gregg Smith. He said Brooke had left early for the holidays and that we needed to pay a closing cost of $500.00. I was extremely upset and I went off and told him this was all crap and I would contact my lawyer and my partner's lawyer and the FBI for investigation and he asked me "investigation on what?" I replied "FRAUD!!!" He insisted that there was no need to go to that extreme. Then my partner wanted to talk to him and told him we would call him back. We contacted one lawyer and he said to get a guarantee and then we could file charges if nothing had followed through. Well, we got the guarantee from Mr. Gregg Smith, that it would definately be in the account within 45 minutes after receiving the control code. I'm already fed up, I don't want to go through with this, but my partner said we should. Again, here we go... borrowing more money from friends and family to get this done. Well, I got a call from my partner about 2hrs later saying I need to go to Western Union and cancel the transaction and get that $500.00 back right that instant. He had gotten into it with the lady (Jennifer) he had spoke to saying that the the lenders wanted more money or they would back out. He demanded the refund and she said it would be in our account by Wednesday (after Christmas). Well, we have not received the refund and I have tired calling their number and all I got was "Your Universal Office account has been temporarily placed on hold, please contact customer service." I recall... all the other times I've called it always toned with 'EasyTel'. Well, we are still out a total of $2277.00 and our account is in the hole over $600.00 because of this mess. I have kept all the receipts and the documents they faxed to the UPS Store for the loan. My partner just filed a complaint on IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center) on the FBI website. We don't know what to do or how to go about this whole situation, but I think this might help. Some have also given us advice to contact the authorities and the media in Canada, New Jersey, and locally. You know these people aren't just ruining our lives and the people who helped us to try to get this loan, but our kids too. We've both been an emotional wreck over this. How are we going to feed our children properly and catch up with our bills? I want them caught, shutdown, and thrown in prison!!!!!!
Maria
Springdale, Arkansas
U.S.A.