Rebecca Hensley wasn’t looking for much. She needed a small personal loan to pay for school expenses and to cover some bills.
“I wanted to go back to school, just do a couple classes for my work and just some personal stuff,” said Hensley.
She filled out a form seeking a loan for $1,000 and started receiving offers.
“This is the first thing I got,” Hensley showed Scripps News Baltimore Mallory Sofastaii a text message, supposedly from Advance America, outlining the terms of the loan.
She had borrowed from Advance America in the past, so she trusted she'd have a similar experience. The person claiming to be with the lending company instead offered her $1,800 and then requested her bank username and password.
“And I'm like, ‘No, you don't need that.’ Because if you have my checking account, you can just route me the money whether it's a check or through direct deposit or whatever, so I'm like, that doesn't sound right, so I hung up the phone and I quit,” said Hensley.
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But the texts kept coming. The sender claimed they needed the login to link her account to their bank portal, and it's a requirement by the Federal Trade Commission.
“I was doing too many things at once. I was tired because I, you know, I've been working and just, you know, just trying to do too much. So, I think that didn't help the situation. So, I just started, okay, I'll fill it out,” Hensley recalled.
And she saw her bank account balance increase. The imposter then convinced her to give them access to her Cash app.
“They’re like, well, add this debit card, because this is going to be your debit card where the $1,800 is going to go,” said Hensley.
She questioned that too since the funds were already in her account. She was told that was a temporary credit. The money needed to be sent from her bank to her Cash app and then put on a Green Dot card, which the scammer immediately drained.
“I logged into my bank account to find out they disputed two transactions that were legitimate. One was from my student loan,” said Hensley. “I had no idea that's what they were doing. I had no clue that that's how they got the money.”
She called her bank, but they couldn't stop anything. The bank then reversed the provisional credits from the fraudulent dispute and Hensley was in the red $1,800.
“I was looking for only $1,000 and now I'm in the hole even deeper than I was before,” said Hensley.
She wishes she stopped to request and research the loan agreement, but recognizes she moved too quickly, and fears others will do the same.
“I was desperate because the class was closing and I needed to pay for it, and I wanted to get a little extra money to pay for the certification,” said Hensley. “Whatever he was doing, tactics, words, emotions, whatever he was doing on the phone, he manipulated me and pulled the wool right over my eyes. And it was just unfortunate that I fell for it.”
Sofastaii contacted Hensley’s bank. They agreed to replace the stolen funds due to a customer service issue and maintained that her claim is not covered under fraud protection.
Advance America is aware that scammers are using their name to defraud individuals and warns loan seekers on their website that legitimate lenders will never approve a loan prior to an application or require money upfront.
Another cost of loan fraud is identity theft. Scammers request personal information under the pretense that it's needed to approve you for a loan and instead take your information to open up loans in your name.
To find a licensed lender in your state, click here.
Click here to see the other 12 Scams of Christmas.
This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at Scripps News Baltimore.
