Special Loans Services: Scam Alert

Another new loan scam name has appeared on the horizon today. Here's the report we received late last night:

My parents were a victim of this business.  They go by Special Loans Services  www.specialloansservices.com.  Everything looked so legitimate that my parents sent in the $1,000 they asked for and now are out the money.  Is there anything they can do, or place they can report these criminals to? They promised a $10,000 loan with a $1,000 collateral payment.

The scam website is currently up and running at SpecialLoanServices.com. Take a peek, but remember that these are bad guys. Here are more details:

Fake lender name: SpecialLoanServices
Fake lender website: www.specialloanservices.com. If you do a whois.net search for this URL, you'll see it was registered to a Candian address on January 19th. Big red flag.
Fake lender address: 30 N Michigan Ave Ste 980 - Chicago, IL 60602
Fake loan amount: $10,000
Requested payment: $1,000 collateral payment for a $10,000 "loan"

There's no way to get the lost money back after you've wire transferred it to a loan scammer. But you can - and should - report the crime to your local police department, the FTC, the FBI, the Canadian RECOL agency and your state attorney general.

If you think you might be working with a scam lender, email us the details BEFORE you send any money. We'll be glad to help you identify if the loan offer is legitimate.

Emily Peters – Credit.com's personal finance expert and former TransUnion credit bureau insider. Emily writes about credit reports, credit cards, loans and personal finance as the CreditBloggers.com editor.

Comments

I often see posting of this nature on Craigslist. Just FYI.

Brian

[Mary Feltmann]

Does anyone know about a company called Loan Union Financial? They said the web address is www.loanunion.net. They claimed to be associated with intel insurance company and need money for the insurance company to secure a personal loan.