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My wife and I were desperate for cash (with poor credit) and applied for a few online "pay day" loans in July of 2008. Someone must have found my information on the internet, they contacted me and told me they could get me a loan for $5000 thru a 'private lender'.
My wife and I discussed this and decided we should move forward. I contacted the "loan officer" the next day, the name she gave me was Pamela Steeles and the contact number for her company 'Amerilife Financial Group' was [protected].
She informed me that since my credit was poor, she would need $787.50 to be wired to the 'lender' up front for the first couple months payments (covering Aug - Sept). I did not have that kind of cash available until I got paid the following week, Pamela got pushy and told me this was a one time chance at this private lender, I was kind of apprehensive, but we really needed the cash, so we decided to borrow the money from a relative.
My wife even contacted the so-called company and had a tough time getting someone in 'customer service' to give her a valid website, we found it, in addition to the documents Pamela sent us previously made this seem like a valid company.
She told me to wire the money using Money Gram instead of Western Union (maybe WU is onto the scam?) She wanted me to contact her from the line in Walmart, she would 'walk me thru the process', she also insisted I use the 'red form' at Money Gram (not sure why this was either)
We went to a Walmart near our house and used Money Gram to wire the money to a person in Ajax, Canada (Pamela claimed this was the lender) by the name of Lance F Letrelle.
Pamela stayed on the phone with me up until the money was wired, she needed the confirmation number, she said we would have our $5000 loan sent to our checking account the following day by 2pm, it never came and now we realize we were scammed, we just don't want this to happen to anybody else in the same situation as us.
We now are out almost $800 (on top of owing our relative the money he lent us), please be aware of scams like this that prey on people with bad credit that can't get loans anyplace else.
The fax number Pamela gave me was [protected], she said she was unable to email anything to me, the more I think about this, the more foolish and pissed off I feel, because I fell for it, and because people like this exist. The address on the faxed paperwork was:
Amerilife Financial Group
405-8400 Normandale Lake Blvd
Bloomington, MN 55437
Just a follow-up to this on-going story, I was contacted today by a "Sr Loan Officer" from Amerilife Financial Group, his name was Ken Miller, he called my home phone and left a message. The incoming number was "unavailable" (big surprise there), he left the same number [protected] X-512, I contacted him later in the day.
He said he understood I had not received my loan yet, I told him that was correct, he said due to my 'poor credit' he needed another $787.50 for me to receive my $5K, I told him I was onto him and his companies scam, I have contacted the FBI, the BBB and also the FCC, I lost my temper big time and by the time I looked down at my phone, he was gone.
I hope this helps somebody else
Now I'm glad I didn't have the money at the time the loan was offered to me, because otherwise I would have sent it without question before finding out that it was a rotten scam.
I guess they blocked my number since initial contact because now when dialed I get a message that says "goodbye" and hangs up. Hahaha.
I'm going to find a way to scam the scammers. LOL!
It's time for judgment and tribulation!
I also was contacted. I did not give them any $, but I did give my social, etc.. I knew I'd better make sure this wasn't a scam. I of course did the online search, BBB, etc. Nothing..So, then I decided to call the phone # after hours - hmm... surprise just a generic message saying "no route"... I needed the $ bad, so I still hoped. I did a reverse look up on the address, fax & phone #. Again, nothing! HERE'S THE GOOD PART! I contacted a real financial company in the office building next door. She said there is NO SUCH company or they would know. This was why I decided to contact them. Smart Companies know who their nearby competition is. She was able to give me the building manager's name & phone # to the address Ameriffe lists. I haven't received a return call & honestly I am far too busy to undertake the project myself. HERE IS THE #[protected].
Maybe some people who lost money would have a better stake in taking it on. I think this is a disgusting scam & needs to be brought down. I will lend a hand if anyonelse wants to come together & try to actually stop this from happening.
I am so glad I found this! I was contacted by Amerilife Financial Group and told the exact same thing. That b/c of my credit scored I was considered a risk and that if I sent them $787.50 which would be like my good faith payment I would then receive $5000 in my bank account w/in 24 hrs. So I said basically to get $5000 I have to pay you, and I told them I didn't have $787 if I did I wouldn't need a loan, they then told me the account would still be active for 2weeks if I changed my mind. So I have been trying to research company and find out if legit and when I googled it could find nothing. Finally I found this! Thank goodness I did not buy into this scam! Remember if you have to pay money before you can get money then it is more than likely a scam! I hope someone busts these people b/c I am sure they have hurt many, many desperate people in need of money, and some may not be as lucky as me and not realize that something just dosen't add up!
I just recieved the same informaition from Ken Miller! My instinct kept telling me it was a scam but I was so desperate for a loan that I wanted to believe other wise. After about four failed attempts to get the information online and to pull up a web site I googled the phone number and this Popped up! When I recieved the information it didn"t look professional at all and the name of the company was changed to Merilife Lending Services. These people should be prosecuted!
I had the same issue. I had did a money gram with their help at walmart as stated above but when I called to let my agent know my 9, 000. did not go into my acct that night, he said, "oh it didnt, thats weird" and transfered me to the acct rep which at the time I knew I was set up in a scam. I spoke with Ken Brown and he said I needed to send another 1, 000. for insurance for the 9, 000. to another place in Apex Canada. I told him that I knew his company was a scam and he said I was welcome to my refund of 1134.00 minus the 35%. But I know I wont even see that.