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Scammer or Victim? What do you think?
I received 3 emails and a voice mail from a woman on the West Coast - I can't decide if she needed help or was trying to scam me for money -
The emails came from my website and two other networking sites, and she left me a voice mail on my 800 number. I should tell you she was emailing at 1:30AM Eastern, which was 10:30PM Pacific.
Her last name was "Buys" - which to me screams "Scam". Below is the edited text of one of her emails:
"Hello!
You are at the same address as "hardmoney lenders". I am worried that I have been scammed by them and I'm hoping I'm wrong. I was working with <name of person she spoke to> and I STUPIDLY wired over $1200 to an <name of another person> in Ontario, Canada. That also cost me $132. The loan money is nowhere to be found and <name of first person> seems to have vanished as well.I'm at the point of sending multiple angry voicemails - I have been freaking out because that's the last of my money. I also have filed a complaint with the atty general of MA and CA and have an attorney of my own waiting to help me.
I hate to get litigious and angry. But they've stopped calling back and some man who called after <name of first person> disappeared was evasive and talked in circles.
Are you with that company? Can you fix this and either get me my deposit back or somehow get a good faith showing of the loan, i.e. $1200 in my account TOMORROW and not some "yes he's on the way to the bank" run around?
Please help. I'm really worried. "
She then included her phone number and contact info. I just knew it was a scam. Then I listened to her voice mail, and thought maybe she wasn't scamming me, she was just frantic. I returned her call at 8:30AM Eastern, woke her up (she had said it was ok to call anytime of the night when she left her phone number) and listened:
She wanted me to get her money back for her. She thought I sounded legit and hoped I would contact the company who was at the same address as I was. REALLY?
It's all over my website that I lend in New Hampshire and Massachusetts only. I do first position mortgages only, never personal loans. And there is no other hard money company or even another mortgage company at my business address.
I explained to her that there was no way to help her. If the Attorney General's office or her attorney contacted me, I'd be happy to tell them as much as I know, which is pretty much nothing. Anyone can scrape an address off a website. I refrained from asking why she hadn't done all this research BEFORE she sent the $1200. She then asked me if I was concerned that someone else was using my address. Concerned, yes. Can I do anything? I don't think so.
So what do you think? Was she scamming me, or just frantic?
PS: Please don't post your personal address on your website. This is a good example of why not!!
Comments (1)
I was suspect when said she spent $132 to wire $1200. I know banks nickle and dime people, but that sounds excessive. Sounds like a scam, albeit a weird one.
Carlos Flores, over 13 years ago