Hard money lender verification

[Tim Samples]

Hey team!

I am looking to set up a hard money loan. Has anyone used Joseph Walter at Walter Built llc.?  Pops into Facebook groups.   I am concerned, I do not see much for reference out there, but I'm ready to roll.  

Any other referrals greatly appreciated!

[Kyle J.]

@Tim Samples Never heard of him or that company, but just did a little research for you and here's what I found. If you go to his Facebook page, you can see that he lists his name as "Joseph Walter" and his title as "President/Owner at Walter Built LLC". However, when you pull up the official information with the State of Nevada where his business is registered, you can see that there is a company named "Walter Built LLC" there, but there's no mention of a "Joseph Walter". Rather, the managing member is listed as "Walter J Wolanske". Does that seem odd? Seems like a red flag to me.

Also, if you read the (few) posts closely he has on his Facebook page, they seem as if they're not written well or by someone whose English is their first language.  (Example: "You own little resort at home" instead of "Your own little resort at home".)  Perhaps that might not be a big deal, except when I look for other clues, I see that the ONE and ONLY person who commented on his photo was some young guy named "Shamim Hossain" in Bangladesh who said "NICE":

Makes you wonder how these two would have crossed paths if this was a real profile.  Not likely they'd be running in the same circles.  Anyway, red flag number two. 

Lastly, I've posted about this numerous before, but it's risky doing business with strangers on the internet.  However, I realize some people still will as evidenced by these posts and countless others like them. So, before you do business with anyone on the internet, you should at a minimum learn how to do some basic sleuthing.  I've also posted about how to do that before, and won't be re-posting it all now.   However, here's an actionable tip you can use right now....do a simple Google reverse image search on their website/Facebook photos.  And see what you find. 

I'll give you an example.  On this guy's webpage, he brags about how he's done $200M+ in successful deals, and posts pictures like the following one as if it's an example of a successful flip he's done:

However, when I reverse image search this photo, I found that he just copied this image from Pinterest:

How about one more example....he again posts a series of photos for what looks like a multi-million dollar house with the hashtags to insinuate that it's yet another successful flip project:

However, I also found the source of these photos (again using reverse image search) and discovered he just took these photos directly from a MLS listing in Coral Cables, Florida (Miami-Dade County):

What's more interesting, the property is a custom-built home, built just a mere 10 or so years ago and has never been "flipped" (nor does it need to be....looks amazing inside).  

Anyway, I think you get the point.  Do your due diligence because there are a lot of scammers out there just trying to take your money.  Don't just take what they post as truth.  Does what they post even make sense?  Dig into it further and see what you can find out.  And ultimately if you remember nothing else, remember this...real private lenders are NOT "popping into Facebook groups" trying to get strangers to borrow their money.  I promise you that.