Beware of Payday Loan Scam

Waterford Police are asking people to be aware of a payday loan scam that left one victim in Waterford about $1,600 in the hole. According to police, the Waterford man received a call saying he'd been pre-approved for a $3,000 pay day loan.

The man, who is unemployed, gave the caller his personal information. He was then told that he would have to provide $295 to secure the loan and that to do this, he needed to go to CVS pharmacy and buy a GreenDot Money Pack Card, which is a pre-paid debit card, for that amount. The caller then asked that he provide the numbers from the scratch off bar on the back of the card. 

Even that wasn't enough. The victim was told he needed to provide yet more money to get the loan and the caller sent him back to CVS three more times to buy Greendot money cards worth $295, $500, and $500. After receiving cash from the fourth card, the victim said, the man who had initially called him stopped answering the phone.

Waterford Police say the resident who alerted to them about this scam wasn't the only victim. In fact, after researching the number the original call came from, 786-600-1146, police found numerous complaints about this scam connected to this particular phone number.

"The scam begins when a person goes to a payday loan website looking for quick cash loan and is subsequently called by numerous fake "loan companies" posing as legit companies like paydayloan.com," Waterford Police noted on the department's Facebook page. "The information the victim puts online to the fake payday loan website is immediately sold as a "lead" to financial institutions who have paid for them in advance."

Please keep in mind that legitimate loan companies don't ask borrowers to send them money. A good rule of thumb is to never give out personal information to anyone over the phone or online, unless you have initiated the contact and know to whom you are speaking and have verified that the organization is legitimate.