Private Lender Verification

[Isaac Ramirez]

Hello BP Members,

Has anyone worked with Colquitt-LLC? https://colquitt-llc.com/ 

It is a private lending company that does real estate transactions. Thoughts on working with this entity?

Thanks!

- Isaac Ramirez

[Kyle J.]

@Isaac Ramirez  I've never heard of this company before this post, but I can tell you they're not a real lending company.  Nothing more than straight up scammers.  Took me just a couple minutes to figure it out and I'll give you just a just a few tips (of the many I use) to vet companies like this so hopefully you can spot them in the future too.

First, pay attention to websites that contain a lot of errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc.  (And this company's website is full of them.)  That by itself is not enough to accuse someone of being a fraud.  However, it is a big red flag that someone may not be a native English speaker and the person really behind the website may be from outside the U.S.

Second, always read their "About Us" page.  Does what you read there, and on the rest of the website, make sense and does it pass the smell test?  Or does something seem "off" or smell fishy?  Trust your instincts!  You have no reason to trust these people (yet).  You've never even met them.  Want an example of what I'm talking about from this particular company's website that you're inquiring about?  Okay, here you go....

Here's the photo/bio of their company CEO who apparently goes by the name "John Colquitt":

Does anything jump out at you?  How about the fact that the guy who apparently is CEO of a company that, according to information further up on his "About Us" page, has financed everything from "single family deals up to ski resorts deals" and claimed to have financed more than $400 million in real estate loans, has a GMAIL email address?  Seriously, no company email address?  You're really supposed to submit your financial application and supporting documents to this guy at a GMAIL address?

And one last tip for you in case you're still not sure.  (And this one is a real pro tip because it almost always flushes out these scammers.)  Take a screenshot of anyone on their "About Us" page (just the photo part, not all the words) and then upload that photo to Google's reverse image search page and see what pops up.  Nine times out of ten, if they're a fake company, they just stole that person's image from some other site.  In fact, I did that for you on this company's CEO and found the original photo they took the photo they're using from:

It was posted on a Romance scam website associated with the name "Frank Jostein".  But wait, there's more....

Apparently he also goes by "Jose Carlos Gomes Ricci Oliveira".  And yet, there's even more....

His image was actually all over the place.  I think you get the idea.  He's a lot of things, but he's not the CEO of a lending company (at least not one that will ever fund your loan).

There are actually MANY things you can do to vet a company, and this list is by no means exhaustive.  It's just a few tips I wanted to share so that hopefully you, and others, can avoid getting scammed.  

Truth be told, you're actually better off meeting people in person rather than looking for money on the internet, which is a dangerous place full of strangers and scammers.  But I know people will continue dealing with sites like this regardless, so - when they do - at least now perhaps you might be a little better equipped to spot the scammers.

Best of luck to you.