new scam

Thankfully I am very cautious so I do a lot of checking before I do
anything. But, like many others, I was looking online for a small loan
and was contacted by someone that I was approved. Even though the
company didn't sound familiar, you look at so many different places,
you kind of forget the name of all the companies you've looked at. The
next day they called to say I was approved BUT I had to pay an upfront
security deposit of 4 months payment. (sound familiar?). Besides the
fact that I can't find any legitimate information on the company, there
were a few things that alerted me - the person who answers the
recording of the 800 phone number they gave me for the "whole company"
is the same as the loan person. And, it "might" have made sense to put
a security deposit down for a loan as collateral, but the way the
contract was worded, it wasn't as collateral. You put down the deposit
of 4 months, and then you don't have to make a payment until the 5th
month so basically you are making a payment of 4 months upfront. People
probably look at this and think "great! I won't have to make another
payment for 4 months!" (my initial reaction) But as I thought about it,
this made no sense to me! How does paying 4 months in advance guarantee
you will pay back the loan! It would have made better sense that they
"hold onto that amount" throughout the course of the loan as actual
collateral but to use that as the first 4 months payment wasn't
actually collateral. If the purpose was to have a "security" in case I
didn't pay the loan back, after the 4 months were up, they no longer
had a security deposit - It made NO SENSE!

They are:
Burlington Financial Group
102-38 Eastwood Drive
South Burlinggton, VT 05403
1-888-314-1950

The fax cover sheet was by the PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN of the company -
James McDaniels, which was another clue - it seemed very odd that the
President would be signing the fax cover sheet! He's also the one that
signed the contract, but I'm a graphic artist so I recognize every
little detail - the signatures on both pages were a computer generated
signature, not an actual signature. Don't you think an actual signature
is required to sign a loan document!! These people are idiots, but in
my initial moment of being relieved to have the extra money I needed, I
was actually considering it, so I can see how people get suckered into
it!

That is just crazy! How do these people get away with this stuff? Did you ever find out anything about this "James McDaniels" guy and his so called 'financial group'?

I read that some of the other ones were based in canada but this one looks like it's in VT (close but no cigar). It seems a crying shame if this guy is still in business and ripping people off. Please tell me that he was arrested and is rotting in a jail cell somewhere.

I was contacted by Burlington today and was approved for a loan. When I went to search them I saw this. I called them back, Paul was his name and questioned him. He told me the person who stated this had put fraudulent information on the application when they checked it, the loan was cancelled. He told me to check with the BBB which I did which I could not find anything. I think this is a scam and if anyone has anymore info I would like to hear it.

Paul from Burlington called me today too... I own my own business and wanted a personal loan to open a retail store. When I told him my income sources he told me that it was not required to provide proof of all my income. I thought that was a little odd. I googled the name of the company and I am soooooo glad i came across this information. Thank you to everyone for sharing.

This is a great conversation.

Big thanks to everyone who keeps sending us information on new loans scams. We're definitely getting the word out and helping stop new victims from losing money.

Remember: this type of loan scammer will often tell you to research their business name online or with the BBB. They do this because they know fully well that their "company" - usually only set-up a few days ago - is too new to have negative records. This is part of why they change their names so quickly.

just as a follow up to the situation, the phone number that this guy called me from was 416-958-0000 and the name on the caller id was planet test on. but Paul Hubbard from the Burlington Financial Group gave me the 888-314-1950 ex 277 number to call him back at.

I'm SO HAPPY people saw this before they got involved with them! The guy called me back and I asked him questions and he just skirted the answers. I looked up his website domaine name and it was only created on Feb. 21, 2009. Yet - his website says that the firm has been around for 20 years! He never really addressed that question - when I asked why they have been in business for 20 years and are not listed with the BBB, his only answer was that they have MANY MANY clients. I told him that I asked my attorney about this loan and paying a fee upfront and my attorney said it was illegal. His response was that I wasn't obligated to take this loan! Even after all THAT, he didn't stop - he even had the nerve to ask me what else can he do for me! hahahaha - I don't think these people are really on the ball!

Two new fake lender names to keep on your radar:

Global Assurance Financial - I know I've seen their fake website (http://www.globalassurancefin.com) before with a different business name and their fax number is also used by known-scam-lender Hartford Imperial Trust. Don't trust that that BBB seal, their website was only created last month (http://www.whois.net/whois_newdg2.cgi?d=globalassurancefin&tld=com).

Sunridge Capital Group - This one has really burst on to the scene this week. I hadn't received any reports about them, until getting six emails starting on Monday. Their website was also just created at the end of February (http://www.whois.net/whois_newdg2.cgi?d=sunridgecapital&tld=net).

I left a message for Paul to call me back. I told him on the voicemail about the possibility of this being a scam and to call me back and I never heard from him again. INTERESTING

PARKLANE LENDING GROUP or PARKLANE FINANCIAL
701-350 Fairfield Ave (phony address)
Bridgeport, CT
06604
877-272-3082 Ext 201 Shawn Roberts, Loan Agent
Local landline 203-612-3035

Number doesn't show on ID

I was contacted about being approved for a $65000 loan which I was receiving from "private lenders" because the banks turned me down. Because I'm high risk I need to give the first 3 months up front. He really pushes the wire transfer. He faxed the loan contract then called to confirm that they made it. Also he informed me that the number on the cover sheet was incorrect, I should call the number that I was given on the phone by him. After I got home I saw the Credit.com news letter about loan scams and knew that this was one. I even went and had Lawyer friends look it over and search them. I decided to call for the address to send a payment and got the voice mail. To my surprise I did get a call back even though I mentioned my Attorneys are looking over the contract. So after asking for the address he told me about wire transfer being safest for this transaction, and that they have been in business for 14 years. (whois.net say otherwise) Still no address. I asked again and was told that the initial payment doesn't go to the office but to the foreign funders all over the world. I then asked what the website was again, which he quickly gave me.

I have not given this thief any money and thank credit.com for the heads up and research tools.

WHOIS information for: parklanelending.com:
[whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com]
Registration Service Provided By: ROSEPARK TELECOM INC.
Contact: +000.0000000

Domain Name: PARKLANELENDING.COM

Registrant:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676

Creation Date: 21-Feb-2009
Expiration Date: 21-Feb-2010

Domain servers in listed order:
rosepark.mars.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.earth.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.venus.orderbox-dns.com
rosepark.mercury.orderbox-dns.com

Administrative Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676

Technical Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676

Billing Contact:
PrivacyProtect.org
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
P.O. Box 97
Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Moergestel
null,5066 ZH
NL
Tel. +45.36946676

Status:ACTIVE

PRIVACYPROTECT.ORG is providing privacy protection services to this domain name to
protect the owner from spam and phishing attacks. PrivacyProtect.org is not
responsible for any of the activities associated with this domain name. If you wish
to report any abuse concerning the usage of this domain name, you may do so at
http://privacyprotect.org/contact. We have a stringent abuse policy and any
complaint will be actioned within a short period of time.

The data in this whois database is provided to you for information purposes only,
that is, to assist you in obtaining information about or related
to a domain name registration record. We make this information available "as is",
and do not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a whois query, you agree that you will
use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to:
(1) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that stress
or load this whois database system providing you this information; or
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I forget to mention this was on March 4, 2009.

I forget to mention this was on March 4, 2009.

that's very interesting because that's the same web information for Burlington financial (different domain name, obviously) - created on the same EXACT date and everything.

OMG!!!!! WHAT'S WORSE - THE WEBSITE FOR PARKLANE LENDING IS THE SAME AS BURLINGTON FINANCIAL - LOOK IT UP!!!! parklanelending.com and burlingtonfinancial.com

Message for the staff here:

"PublicDomainRegistry" shows up frequently as a host for spammers.

Do you know how to search this kind of thing out?

It's probably pointless using their contact information, but you might want to include some information here about how to recognize bad sites by checking whether their ISP is on a blacklist/blocklist.

Here's a start: http://www.google.com/search?q=publicdomainregistry+blocklist+blacklist

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 03/09/2009

We just got a tip on another loan scammer: The Lending Associates.

They call themselves "San Diego's Leading Hard Money and Bridge Loan Lender" and have two fairly official looking websites. www.lendingassociates.net and thelendingassociates.net. One site can't be looked up with Whois.net and the other was only registered at the end of February using DomainsByProxy to hide their real information.

Rip-off report has a couple recent listings for the scammer.