In a nutshell, we were looking for a business bridge loan to take care of some business expenses and we turned to several aggregate banking networks to make this happen since traditional banks are not an option at this point in time of our young business. We came across Rapid Pay Finances through their fraudulent staged website QuickLoanTech.com
What we learned is these people are predators who operate with the intent of conning innocent victims out of their information and money, just because they think people who are strapped for cash are stupid and desperate. This "company" has taken the time to present an almost convincing front by creating a business website with a local Tampa, Fl address (which by the way is the address to a Wells Fargo bank)
Here is how the con works (We have included our email exchanges and their responses/docs so you know what to look for)
1. Applied through QuickLoanTech.com (Fraudulent site to make you feel this is legitimate) There is no credit check, a basic application where you submit your information which includes your banking (which should have been our first red flag.)
2. A Fellow named "Frank" with an Australian or Indian accent called our number immediately to "verify" our info. He asked for the last 4 of social (which is a second red flag, since there is no credit check and we never added our social to the website. Frank said it was to "soft verify", but what are you verifying if you don't have the number to reference in the first place.
3. Frank, David, Matthew (they sound like they are all the same person, disguising their voice) Congratulated us on our loan approval, and said with our income we can apply for a larger loan at a 18% rate over 24 months. That all sounded too good to be true. When we questioned Frank, he cited Dodd Frank and other financial laws that made it possible for them to be competitive in this emerging banking market. He threw around legitimate banking terminology which had some ring of truth. We continued to entertain Frank. He then said he would send over the loan docs to be signed so the funds could be deposited into our account within 30 minutes.
What we learned is these people are predators who operate with the intent of conning innocent victims out of their information and money, just because they think people who are strapped for cash are stupid and desperate. This "company" has taken the time to present an almost convincing front by creating a business website with a local Tampa, Fl address (which by the way is the address to a Wells Fargo bank)
Here is how the con works (We have included our email exchanges and their responses/docs so you know what to look for)
1. Applied through QuickLoanTech.com (Fraudulent site to make you feel this is legitimate) There is no credit check, a basic application where you submit your information. Seems normal at this point. He called from this # +1 786-490-6147
2. A Fellow named "Frank" with an Australian or Indian accent called our number immediately to "verify" our info. He asked for the last 4 of social (which is a second red flag, since there is no credit check and we never added our social security # to the application because it is no credit check. Frank said he needed it to "soft verify" our info, but what are you verifying if you don't have the number to reference in the first place? We questioned Frank on the company's location, at which time he said the company address would be listed on the loan docs. Further vetting showed a 5 star BBB rating for Rapid Financial Services, LLC, HOWEVER - DON'T BE FOOLED - this is NOT the same company and they are NOT affiliated with these scammers whatsoever. Frank said he needed our paystub to verify income, and our bank info (account and routing#) to fund our account. email comes from [email protected] a legitimate company will have a domain based email, not a basic email like this
3. We received a call back from Frank, David, Matthew (they sound like they are all the same person, disguising their voice) Congratulating us on our loan approval, and said with our income we can apply for a larger loan at a 18% rate over 24 months. That all sounded too good to be true. When we questioned Frank, he cited Dodd Frank and other financial laws that made it possible for them to be competitive in this emerging banking market. He threw around legitimate banking terminology which had some ring of truth. We continued to entertain Frank. He then said he would send over the loan docs to be signed so the funds could be deposited into our account within 30 minutes, and he would call back once the money is released
4. After sending the docs, and not receiving the funds in the 30 minute time frame we called Frank back at the number. Frank at that time informs us that "there is a problem" with our application. We never received any call about a problem, so this was already seeming fishy and uncuth. Frank said that we had to purchase a $250 Rapid Pay card from any one of our local drug stores, buy bread or any little item, we were then to fax the company the receipt so they can release the funds..... THIS IS ABSURD!!!!
5. We immediately challenged the nonsensical request and let Frank know that he and his fake company are SCAMMERS! we requested our docs to be destroyed (Thank God they didn't get our social) and put an additional layer of security on our account to monitor illegal activity. Frank, David, Matthew, Whoever these guys are, folded like a cheap suit under our scrutiny to the point where their true scammy colors came out, and we were cursed out by them for doing our diligence.
We know times may be challenging, but THESE PREDATORS ARE OUT HERE. BEWARE.