Has anybody ever heard of Frank Walker? Says he is a private lender.

Question

A guy named Frank Walker showed up in my Facebook messenger asking if I needed a loan to finance my deals. I said, not at the moment. He then asked me if I could text him my email address so he could send me his funding requirements for review. I did. He even attached a bank statement that had $13 million in his account as "proof of funds." Even then, I still asked, how do I verify you are who you say you are? Can we get on a call? I give him my number (google voice), he texts me and the number comes up as Prem Singh & Sons. I call and first he doesn't answer so I double dial and he's this guy with a heavy accent but his profile says he lives in Texas but from Switzerland. He tells me on the phone that he's originally from Poland but all the time, he sounds like he's from the middle east. I then ask him why my caller ID comes up as Prem and he says, "Prem Singh is a lender who works with our funding team." I go to his Facebook page and also notice that it says he works for Keller Williams so I ask him if he does in fact work for KW because about seven Frank Walkers pop up on realtor.com but none of them have profile photos or are in Texas. He says, "I do, but I don't want to do business with people with doubt" to which I replied, "You want people who don't do their due diligence? You don't exactly sound like somebody I want to do business with either sir, have a nice day." Then I hang up.

I know I just typed you an essay but I said all that just to say this: Be careful with these people who pop up in your messages claiming to be private lenders and asking for upfront loan origination fees. I thought the whole exchange was odd since I told him from the beginning I wasn't even looking for funding at this time but he definitely wasn't legitimate. My question to anybody here is, do private lenders typically have a website or any way to verify who they are? Or is it, because they are "private" money lenders, there is no public records to refer to? Please break it down for me. Thanks.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

you obviously got hit by a spammer there are thousands of them trolling the Private lender pages looking for victims that are not familiar with how private lending works. NO lender is going to send you copy of their bank account.. they might have to prove up to a seller or the sellers agent but never send it to you right out of the gate.. and all the other things you discovered its just an off shore scammer trying to scam those that dont know what they dont know. AND it works other wise they would not keep doing it.

so A true private lender is someone you personally know or have met who has money in their IRA or other cash but lending is not their business they just make a few loans a year to those close to them. that is a true private lender.

Any other lender that has a website or advertises or is on facebook is a Hard MONEY LENDER HML started to market themselves as Private Money lenders about a decade ago on the guise that folks will think there rates are cheaper and they are easier to work with.. They are brokers or have their own credit lines or are placing money for true private lenders. ( I used to hae a company that did this I had 250 private lenders that did loans for my clients and I was a HML.

But these folks were all in some other business and predominately used their IRA or company 401k to invest in our loans we were brokering. You have to be careful its not that these guys can beat you out of an upfront fee of 500 to 5000. but you have spent the time to find a deal you put up EM it maybe non refundable and when these guys just vanish without a trace your out what you paid them you lost your EM your money on inspections and most important THE DEAL that was going to make you big bucks.

I get these guys approaching me all the time with PM s here on Bigger pockets.. Every so called lender even if they advertise on BP need to be checked BP does not verify the validity of any of these lenders. there have been some horrible lenders on the BP preferred lender list over the years and there are threads about them.

If you really want to dig into this watch the American Greed episode on Remington financial and google Ingrid Robinson loan fraud due diligence fraud she has a great website on it and she was the victim of Remington. And Frankly I almost was a Remington victim.. But something just did not add up with those guys ( and they were AZ based and slick as all get out) But to easy to approve me just send 10k for due diligence.

Jeff S. · Answer

Wouldn't it be nice if you could tell the difference between legitimate lenders and scammers just by what they call themselves, @Jerry Ferrell? Don’t get hung up. Legally, there’s no distinction between a private lender and a hard money lender. That bothers some on this board. It’s better to recognize that they all provide non-conventional loans. Honestly, you should have just stopped at Facebook.

There’s nothing quite like receiving an unsolicited online message, random proof of funds, complicated background story, sketchy work locations, and a foreign accent to scream scam any more loudly. Other than these, what was your first clue, Jerry? Good on you for using some common sense and intuition.

“… do private lenders typically have a website or any way to verify who they are? Or is it, because they are "private" money lenders, there is no public records to refer to?”

Well, a website doesn’t verify identity. On the contrary, business identity theft is as real and as difficult to detect as it is to stop. I know this firsthand. We had a scammer create a very professional looking website using our company’s real name, my real name, and our real home address. The scammer used what was likely a Google Voice number and pretended to be me when answering the phone.

A lot of people got ripped off for a lot of upfront fees. I found this out when several people skipped traced me, found my real phone number, and asked about their loan. The whole situation was more complicated, but I learned the same Google Voice number appeared on several websites representing other legit lenders. Unless you knew me personally, there was no way to know it wasn’t the real me you were speaking to. You can read about it here. Click through the links, too.

Similarly, whether you want to call the lender private or hard money, all mortgages and deeds of trust will be recorded. Looking them up will confirm the lender exists and is real. This doesn’t mean the person you are speaking to actually represents that company.

I know everyone likes the convenience of the web, and they are tired of hearing it, but this really is a business based on relationships, not online anonymity. You learned a good lesson here, Jerry, and it’s great you shared it. My best advice is to meet your lenders face-to-face at real estate clubs, conferences, or other professional events. If they’ve been around for a while, the club organizers or others in the room will know them. Prepare a list of informed questions that you can ask potential lenders and go to lunch. Get to know who are doing business with and never pay an upfront fee. Much easier and safer.

Kirk Brogan · Answer

Yup they started up again, Walker group of investments, trolling linked in for new accounts.

They basically sent me the same bait. I did provide my number and said you can set up a call to discuss. I'm in Canada, they are in San Fran.

Within a week his Linked in is gone and I have been solicited by multiple numbers. Never set up the call.

Be diligent out there gang!!! We've all worked too hard for these scum bags to be attacking us!! Unfortunately as we are growing and reaching new territories we can take invites and calls what seems as warm market outreach.

In the higher rate world we are in, its easy to look at alternative options. Do your research and lets support each other in awareness of misguided people.

Robin Simon · Answer

only somewhat related but BiggerPockets really needs to acknowledge a new category of lender that falls in the Non-QM space (any mortgage thats not qualifying under the Agency QM rules - including DSCR lenders but also many established non-bank lenders that focus on pretty standard mortgage products that are part of the established Secondary Market and Finance Infastructure). Its definitely distinct from Hard Money in many many ways. Unfortunately, BP still has these options for example - so many of these Non-QM lenders need to use the "Private Lender" label - even though it gets associated with scammers like in the above

Jay Lisa · Answer

Thanks for asking this question. I have had the same experience with him. I tried to find some information about the guy, but there is nothing. He has been on FB since 2016, but really did not post much until June, 23 when he added a dozen photos of what is supposed to be him with famous people. I searched his image and came up with this. He is a fraud!

Has anybody ever heard of Frank Walker? Says he is a private lender.

Has anybody ever heard of Frank Walker? Says he is a private lender.

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