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Online Applications & Phishing, what you need
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Online Mortgage Applications & "Phishing"
- What you need to know!
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Online Applications...
The premise is good -
companies that will help you find a mortgage lender just perfect
for your situation. What could be wrong with that?
Plenty! Some
lead generating companies will sell your information over and
over. Meaning you will be inundated with calls about your
loan request or worse, an ID thief gets the information, calls
and gets all the information they need to rob you and destroy
your credit.
MortgageTrap.org did a
test sample of four such companies that will help you find the
right lender. When the lenders called, some of the
information the had on our prospective applicant was totally
incorrect - including incorrect home value, property type and
loan amount.
Nearly four months
after our initial online application, we were still getting
phone calls with respect to our request. In total:
54 lenders called us - our information was sold 54 times.
How many actually of these were actual lenders and how many were
ID thieves? |
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Some
of these mortgage lead portal sites don't inform consumers that they are
collecting your information to provide to outside lenders, leading you
to believe that they are the lender - until you're blindsided by the
phone calls.
Sadly, there are
mortgage lead portal sites that require your social security number, as
we did encounter. Our refusal to supply a SSN prohibited us from
submitting the application.
The reputable sites that
are out there typically won't ask for such confidential
information. But too many still do as you can see by the email
that we received today - and we receive variations of this every single
day. This lead broker admits that their leads contain confidential
information - SSN and DOB!
Who is buying your
information?
Copy of Email we received today on our business account:
We offer Exclusive real-time
mortgage leads with completed 1003 forms including SSN
& DOB's that way you can close more deals faster and
more efficiently. Our
system emails the borrower automatically letting them
know you are the one who will be working their loan.
You
will make money with our leads. Learn More & Sign-Up for
a free account located at
https://www.getleadsfast.com/products/sales_leads/mortgage_leads/signup.php
http://www.getleadsfast.com
Emphasis added by
MortgageTrap.org |
Which leads us to the next
part of this article...
Mortgage Phishing...
Mortgage phishing
is the way scammers try and get your personal information such as social
security numbers, account numbers and dates of birth. Once they have
this vital information they can wreck havoc on your credit and finances.
Most mortgage phishing is in the form of emails.
Take for example this nice
collection of emails we've received in one day on a private email
account of one of our staff members. We know better than to
respond and now you do too!
Email #1:
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday,
July 02, 2007 6:58 AM
Subject:
extending loans simplified
Loan approval
department is trying to contact you
You have been pre-qualified
for a one-time program that will save you 35% off your
current payment.
You could get up to $297,000
for as low as never.
For a no obligation
consultation
http://justluixdareal.com
To secure low rate please
respond asap
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Email #2:
----- Original Message -----
From: Joesph
Coker dudleycash@enufjeans.com
Sent:
Monday, July 02, 2007 10:38 PM
Subject:
Refinance approved
Thank you for your loan
request, which we recieved yesterday.
We'd like to inform you that
we are accepting your application.
We are ready to give you a
$272,000 loan (Approved refinance) for a low month
payment. Approval process will take only 1 minute.
Please visit the confirmation link below and fill-out
our short 30 second form. http://glasseealthh.com
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Email #3:
----- Original Message -----
From:
Gretchen Pratt marcpigeon@thegolfsight.com
Sent:
Monday, July 02, 2007 2:58 PM
Subject:
Once You have completed this expression of interest your
information will be sent to our participating lenders
Thank you for your loan
request, which we recieved yesterday.
We'd like to inform you that
we are accepting your application.
We are ready to give you a
$272,000 loan (Approved refinance) for a low month
payment. Approval process will take only 1 minute.
Please visit the confirmation link below and fill-out
our short 30 second form. http://almodhealthh.com
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Email #4:
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Subject : Thanks, we are accepting
your refinance loan request
From :Manuel Keyes ctxaires@52tips.com
Your credit history does not matter to us!
If you OWN real estate and want IMMEDIATE cash to spend ANY way
you like, or simply want to LOWER your monthly payments by a
third or more, here is our best deal we can offer you TONIGHT
(hurry, this tender will expire THIS NIGHT):
$306,000+ loan
AND EVEN MORE: After further review, our lenders have set the
lowest entire payment! Hurry, when our deal is gone, it is
gone. Simply fill in this plain form... Do not worry about
approval, your credit will not disqualify you!
http://milliaiemiilia.com/ |
These emails will take you to
websites where private information is requested in order to "apply for
the loan" or to "continue the mortgage application that you're already
approved for".
They promise the world in some
of their emails:
-
"Refinance all your
debt and get thousands in cash in your hand at closing"
-
"Borrow up to your
home's appraised value regardless your credit!"
-
"Low
1% - 2% interest rate, even with bad credit!"
-
"Already
approved just complete the application and we'll close in just a
matter of days!"...
Individuals in dire straits,
weak credit or naive to the scoundrels out there will take the bait and
complete the application with the hopes of getting out of their current
situation.
There are millions of
emails for these mortgage scams sent out each month. Statistically, it
doesn't take a large response to make phishing a lucrative
business. Less than a third of the
email spam is sent from the United States, which makes taking
legal action more difficult.
Those doing the phishing
use false emails and fraudulent websites, redirecting your information
through several different countries, creating a difficult if not
impossible task for finding them and recovering your money. The websites
they use are impressive looking and often are clones of well-known banks
or mortgage institutions - colors and logos can be identical. Hijacking
trusted names gives the unsuspecting borrower a false sense of security.
Always remember: If
you didn't request it, something phishy is going on.
In
their efforts to rein in the issue, the
Federal Trade Commission has sued mortgage
loan spammers. In December 2004, the
FTC reached a
settlement with the principals of an online
operation, 30 Minute Mortgage Inc., that had
advertised 3.95% and 30-year mortgages,
hoping to obtain sensitive
information—including Social Security
numbers—from consumers for resale. According
to the FTC's
statement, "the settlements also bar the
defendants from using or benefiting from
personal information that was deceptively
collected from consumers."
A
recent report at techweb.com indicates that
Phishing scams are growing at a rate of 50%
per month, but at any given time there are
more fraud Web sites on the Internet than
there are Phishing Web sites. They went on
to report that while the typical life span
of a Phishing Web site is under three days,
fraud Web sites tend to stick around longer
(8.5 days) which allows them to get into
search engines, offering them some degree
of legitimacy.
What You Should
Do if tempted by such an offer...
-
Call the company (after doing a
check through the yellow pages or a
reverse lookup online). If there's no
phone number, stop, it's probably a
scam.
-
If there is no street address it's
probably not a legit company.
-
If you do locate a live person or
company, ask them to mail you the
application. Do not fill out an
application online.
-
Don't download any "application" they
send with the email, it could contain
spyware.
The most important thing you can do for any
mortgage "scam": Use Common Sense.
Never give private information to anyone
before checking them out first! Never
give out private information during an
online application unless you know it's a
reputable company.
And if you receive emails that appear to be
deceiving such as those shown above, report
them to the FTC and get these creeps shut
down!
http://www.ftc.gov/spam/
All members on this site have signed a
Residential Mortgage Advocate™ (RMA) commitment to be totally upfront about
their fees, rates and items they will need from you.
Been Scammed or Dealt with an Unethical Lender?
Contact Us or Report it to
Your State authorities.
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