Why Emails Offering You Loans Are Usually Fake
Assuming that you actually get here to this part, here's some reasons that the loan email you received is probably fake. I do want to emphasize that there are loan spam mails going around which may be from legitimate lenders. However:
1. Any loan offer that requests you pay any money in advance, is a scam, period! In a legitimate loan, all fees come out of the amount loaned. In other words, if you borrow $50,000 and the loan costs you $2,000, you get $48,000 though you still owe $50,000. You don't send $2,000 to the loan company! Again, any loan offer that requests you pay any money in advance, is a scam, period! Especially when the request is via money transfer or bank to bank wire. Read: Never Wire Money to Strangers
2. No real loan, bank or finance company ever uses a free email address including ones like @asia.com, @consultant.com, @financier.com, @diplomat.com Read: Free Official Looking Email Addresses or use telephone numbers that start with +44 70, +44 870 / +44 871 / +44 843 / +44 844 / +44 845, these numbers forward calls and scammers use them to pretend to be in the UK. Read: Telephone Numbers That Scammers Use!
3. No real loan, bank or finance company ever uses a telephone number that start with +44 70, +44 870 / +44 871 / +44 843 / +44 844 / +44 845, or +44 230, these numbers forward calls to any telephone number and scammers use them to pretend to be in the UK. Read: Telephone Numbers That Scammers Use!
3. No legitimate loan company does not have its own domain and website. Read Identifying Scammmers and Scam Websites!
4. No real loan company if they claim to be in a different country that you are! How would they come after you if you defaulted?
If you have read about how to identify a scam email (which is here) then in addition to things like bad grammar, poor spelling, even poorer punctuation, the use of free email servers, etc. these are some other things that make a loan scam format completely bogus.
What's the scam?
The scam in any loan format is an advanced fee fraud. The "loan lender" is going to charge you advanced fees in order for you to receive your loan which of course you will never receive because you're not dealing with a real loan company, just a scammer. In addition you can tell it's a scam if they are asking you for an advanced fee and they want you to send money by Western Union. That IS a scam. You might run across some "lender" who asks you to send money (an advanced fee) to a bank account but that just means a scammer/criminal with a bank account. Let us know the bank account and we can take care of that.
1. We offer loans at _____%.
Does that interest rate look too good to be true? Then it probably is. I think one of these loan scams offered money at 0.1% (no that isn't a typo). That would be a complete scam.
Companies or individuals make money in the loan business by borrowing money at an interest rate (say 3%) and then loaning it to other people and charging them an interest of 4% for example. A company loaning money at 0.1% would be borrowing money at 0.05% or something. Either that or they don't plan to be in business very long.
As of the date I am writing this, (Aug 29, 2008) here are some prime interest rates in major financial markets. These are the rates which central banks loan to other banks. That means the banks will pay at least 1% more for a loan that the rate which they borrow from the central bank.
USA: 2%
U.K.: 5%
Euro Zone: 4.25%
Canada: 3%
Japan: 0.5%
Switzerland: 2.75%
The point is this: the lower the interest rate, the more likely it is that you have a scam mail. The best thing to do with that email? Delete it and forget because it's a scam mail.
2. We offer unsecured loans.
Sorry, real loan lenders don't do that. Any business that loans money wants "collateral" which is something physical and tangible that they can take possession of if you don't pay the loan. If you buy a car the car is the collateral. If you get a mortgage on house the house is the collateral. No one is going to offer a large sum of cash without collateral. Only your family or friends may loan you money without collateral. Real companies don't. It's that simple. If your email says it's an unsecured loan then it's a scam mail and you can delete it.
3. We are a major international loan company.
Great. Then they probably have a webpage where you can read more about the company and the kinds of loans they make. Wait a minute--no webpage? It's not a real loan company, it's a scam email and you can delete it.
4. We offer loans up to $160,000,000.
Yeah, right. And unsecured too. I can't even imagine the kind of documentation you would need to borrow $160 million. Not to mention the collateral.
5. "We help stop Bad Credit History".
Your bad credit history is just beginning if you deal with these criminals.
6. "...no credit check up"
Yeah, right. Someone is going to loan you a million dollars without a credit check. Suuuuurrrreeeee. NOT! That's a scam email you have and you can delete it because it ain't real.
7. The loan lender is in Nigeria.
I'm sorry, what was the question? Oh yeah. If this lender has so much money why isn't he/they loaning that money in Nigeria? Isn't it needed there? Sure it is. What you have is an email from a scammer/criminal and you can safely delete it because it's not real.
8. We offer 50 year loans.
Sorry folks, not in the real world. Governments might extend credit to another government for that long but no one in their right mind is going to give you a fifty year loan. The actuary tables work against that for one thing. It's just too much of a risk for a real loan lender. You used to only get 30 years on a house mortgage. But if you get a 50 year loan offer you can be sure it's a scam so you can safely delete it.
Assuming that you actually get here to this part, here's some reasons that the loan email you received is probably fake. I do want to emphasize that there are loan spam mails going around which may be from legitimate lenders. However:
1. Any loan offer that requests you pay any money in advance, is a scam, period! In a legitimate loan, all fees come out of the amount loaned. In other words, if you borrow $50,000 and the loan costs you $2,000, you get $48,000 though you still owe $50,000. You don't send $2,000 to the loan company! Again, any loan offer that requests you pay any money in advance, is a scam, period! Especially when the request is via money transfer or bank to bank wire. Read: Never Wire Money to Strangers
2. No real loan, bank or finance company ever uses a free email address including ones like @asia.com, @consultant.com, @financier.com, @diplomat.com Read: Free Official Looking Email Addresses or use telephone numbers that start with +44 70, +44 870 / +44 871 / +44 843 / +44 844 / +44 845, these numbers forward calls and scammers use them to pretend to be in the UK. Read: Telephone Numbers That Scammers Use!
3. No real loan, bank or finance company ever uses a telephone number that start with +44 70, +44 870 / +44 871 / +44 843 / +44 844 / +44 845, or +44 230, these numbers forward calls to any telephone number and scammers use them to pretend to be in the UK. Read: Telephone Numbers That Scammers Use!
3. No legitimate loan company does not have its own domain and website. Read Identifying Scammmers and Scam Websites!
4. No real loan company if they claim to be in a different country that you are! How would they come after you if you defaulted?
If you have read about how to identify a scam email (which is here) then in addition to things like bad grammar, poor spelling, even poorer punctuation, the use of free email servers, etc. these are some other things that make a loan scam format completely bogus.
What's the scam?
The scam in any loan format is an advanced fee fraud. The "loan lender" is going to charge you advanced fees in order for you to receive your loan which of course you will never receive because you're not dealing with a real loan company, just a scammer. In addition you can tell it's a scam if they are asking you for an advanced fee and they want you to send money by Western Union. That IS a scam. You might run across some "lender" who asks you to send money (an advanced fee) to a bank account but that just means a scammer/criminal with a bank account. Let us know the bank account and we can take care of that.
1. We offer loans at _____%.
Does that interest rate look too good to be true? Then it probably is. I think one of these loan scams offered money at 0.1% (no that isn't a typo). That would be a complete scam.
Companies or individuals make money in the loan business by borrowing money at an interest rate (say 3%) and then loaning it to other people and charging them an interest of 4% for example. A company loaning money at 0.1% would be borrowing money at 0.05% or something. Either that or they don't plan to be in business very long.
As of the date I am writing this, (Aug 29, 2008) here are some prime interest rates in major financial markets. These are the rates which central banks loan to other banks. That means the banks will pay at least 1% more for a loan that the rate which they borrow from the central bank.
USA: 2%
U.K.: 5%
Euro Zone: 4.25%
Canada: 3%
Japan: 0.5%
Switzerland: 2.75%
The point is this: the lower the interest rate, the more likely it is that you have a scam mail. The best thing to do with that email? Delete it and forget because it's a scam mail.
2. We offer unsecured loans.
Sorry, real loan lenders don't do that. Any business that loans money wants "collateral" which is something physical and tangible that they can take possession of if you don't pay the loan. If you buy a car the car is the collateral. If you get a mortgage on house the house is the collateral. No one is going to offer a large sum of cash without collateral. Only your family or friends may loan you money without collateral. Real companies don't. It's that simple. If your email says it's an unsecured loan then it's a scam mail and you can delete it.
3. We are a major international loan company.
Great. Then they probably have a webpage where you can read more about the company and the kinds of loans they make. Wait a minute--no webpage? It's not a real loan company, it's a scam email and you can delete it.
4. We offer loans up to $160,000,000.
Yeah, right. And unsecured too. I can't even imagine the kind of documentation you would need to borrow $160 million. Not to mention the collateral.
5. "We help stop Bad Credit History".
Your bad credit history is just beginning if you deal with these criminals.
6. "...no credit check up"
Yeah, right. Someone is going to loan you a million dollars without a credit check. Suuuuurrrreeeee. NOT! That's a scam email you have and you can delete it because it ain't real.
7. The loan lender is in Nigeria.
I'm sorry, what was the question? Oh yeah. If this lender has so much money why isn't he/they loaning that money in Nigeria? Isn't it needed there? Sure it is. What you have is an email from a scammer/criminal and you can safely delete it because it's not real.
8. We offer 50 year loans.
Sorry folks, not in the real world. Governments might extend credit to another government for that long but no one in their right mind is going to give you a fifty year loan. The actuary tables work against that for one thing. It's just too much of a risk for a real loan lender. You used to only get 30 years on a house mortgage. But if you get a 50 year loan offer you can be sure it's a scam so you can safely delete it.
after reading your scam review I have decided not to go ahead with the harrydavisfinanceagency@gmail.com because they want me to western union them 95.00 dollars to some location I think in Nigeria wich is odd to begin with I thought they were a poor country? Im wondering about christianwomen.trustfundsAgmail.com and marksmithloan@outlook.com too.I didn't think there could be any outfit that would loan me 5000.00 dollars with no credit check and at3% intrest rate. I was warry but it helps me to build up a positive resistance to these kinds of temptations and especially reading your information about fraud. thanks Dale Now I wonder How I can rid myself of all those daily phone calls from your loan has been approved guys and gals from who knows where !!!!
ReplyDeleteThey are all scams! No real loan company uses a free email address! No real loan company asks you for any advance fees Ever! Any fee for the loan is supposed to be deducted from the amount loaned!
Delete