Is this lender scamming me?

[Autumn Alexander]

So it's my first time getting a loan of any kind. And I want to make sure no one is trying to take advantage of me or scam me. I met a private lender on LinkedIn.

We exchanged drivers license and he shared his Articles of Incorporation with me. (I also googled it, and it's an active LLC.)

I wired him the origination fee of $1700 and he sent me this email this morning:

"The loan has been originated and documented and all process from my end has been completed for funding. A new policy has been implemented so my attorney and the bank has made it clear that the next thing before funding can be fully carried out is to have the loan insured in your name, the reason for the loan insurance is to protect you against any future lapses or default from your end to make repayment on time, the loan insurance policy need to be obtained in order to get funds across to you and the fee to have the loan insured is $3000 and the process will be completed before 24 hours.

You need to make this payment today so we can finalize the loan later today.

I await your response ASAP so we can proceed with the loan transaction.

Note: The insurance fee is 100% refunded at the point of funding and you are expected to receive the insurance fee to be added to the loan amount at the point of funding (a total sum of $178,000.00 as against $175,000.00."

I dont know much about loans..

Is loan insurance normal? Is this how this process works?

[Kyle J.]

100% scam.  Stop now before you lose any more money.  A real lender would not send you their drivers license (the one you got was not for the person you're dealing with).  The $1,700 "origination fee" you paid is gone.  Don't pay origination fees up front to a private lender.  "Loan insurance" is another scam.  It's not a real thing and if you pay that $3,000 that'll be gone too.  Lastly, don't wire money to a "lender".  Have any fees collected at closing by whatever legitimate title/escrow company is handling your closing.