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Hi Everyone!
As you can see, this is my first post, and please be gentle if I sound like an idiot or out of touch with things. I only wish I had known of this forum sooner ... maybe I would have learned a less expensive lesson.
On LinkedIn, there are several groups devoted to Merchant Cash Advance Leads, Lead Brokers/Sellers, etc. And as a new broker in the business, imagine my GLEE when I saw posts representing real-time leads, fresh MCA leads .... directly from major companies:
Kabbage
SnapCap
Nerdwallet
Lending Club
NAV
OnDeck
etc.
I have a 100 seat call center setup and when one of the lead sellers sent me headers showing very detailed info, I thought I had hit the gold mine ... the catch ... "since the data is so inexpensive (relatively) fresh and from the big players, you must pay by wire or bank deposit". They said they have this "deal" with these companies, and that they had access to over 100,000 fresh leads a week.
With them promoting on a credible site like "LinkedIn", and touting the companies listed above, how could I lose? Would someone be so stupid as to commit this kind of scam on LinkedIn ... using the names of major MCA players?
The short answer ... "Hell Yeah!"
One week into cold calling these "fresh" leads, I was met with the horror and reality that we had been ripped a new one. We got a host of responses:
"I never completed an app at __________ (fill in the blanks)"
"I'm gonna call the FBI .... someone must have stolen my data"
"___________ is scamming people and using my name to do it"
"He quit working here over 7 years ago"
"That business shut down in 05"
"I'm gonna report those guys and sue your asses for GDPR violations"
etc. ,etc. etc.
And then, we decided to run an IP Geo-Location test... and that is the final nail in the coffin. Not a single IP matched the city, state or region of the so called signup. The IP's were from India, China, Canada, Israel, Indonesia, Boeing Corp. Department of Defense, etc, etc.
A call to Kabbage, SnapCap, etc., confirmed. It is a total fraud and although they received calls from people threatening to sue them for "stealing their identities and other accusations, they had no idea what was going on ... till now.
So now, I am in one pickle of a mess. They are asking me to send them the data we bought, and suggesting that the FBI get involved. But they needed the details that brokers like me could share to help stop the fraud.
I understand that this is my first post, and that many may call me an idiot ... and that's fair. But how would you proceed with something like this?
After any brutal remarks on gullibility and such, what is the best course of action?
Thank You In Advance for any advice.
And again, I am so happy to have found this forum. I hope to be able to do business with here with legitimate providers and I apologize in advance for my first post being like this.
As you can see, this is my first post, and please be gentle if I sound like an idiot or out of touch with things. I only wish I had known of this forum sooner ... maybe I would have learned a less expensive lesson.
On LinkedIn, there are several groups devoted to Merchant Cash Advance Leads, Lead Brokers/Sellers, etc. And as a new broker in the business, imagine my GLEE when I saw posts representing real-time leads, fresh MCA leads .... directly from major companies:
Kabbage
SnapCap
Nerdwallet
Lending Club
NAV
OnDeck
etc.
I have a 100 seat call center setup and when one of the lead sellers sent me headers showing very detailed info, I thought I had hit the gold mine ... the catch ... "since the data is so inexpensive (relatively) fresh and from the big players, you must pay by wire or bank deposit". They said they have this "deal" with these companies, and that they had access to over 100,000 fresh leads a week.
With them promoting on a credible site like "LinkedIn", and touting the companies listed above, how could I lose? Would someone be so stupid as to commit this kind of scam on LinkedIn ... using the names of major MCA players?
The short answer ... "Hell Yeah!"
One week into cold calling these "fresh" leads, I was met with the horror and reality that we had been ripped a new one. We got a host of responses:
"I never completed an app at __________ (fill in the blanks)"
"I'm gonna call the FBI .... someone must have stolen my data"
"___________ is scamming people and using my name to do it"
"He quit working here over 7 years ago"
"That business shut down in 05"
"I'm gonna report those guys and sue your asses for GDPR violations"
etc. ,etc. etc.
And then, we decided to run an IP Geo-Location test... and that is the final nail in the coffin. Not a single IP matched the city, state or region of the so called signup. The IP's were from India, China, Canada, Israel, Indonesia, Boeing Corp. Department of Defense, etc, etc.
A call to Kabbage, SnapCap, etc., confirmed. It is a total fraud and although they received calls from people threatening to sue them for "stealing their identities and other accusations, they had no idea what was going on ... till now.
So now, I am in one pickle of a mess. They are asking me to send them the data we bought, and suggesting that the FBI get involved. But they needed the details that brokers like me could share to help stop the fraud.
I understand that this is my first post, and that many may call me an idiot ... and that's fair. But how would you proceed with something like this?
After any brutal remarks on gullibility and such, what is the best course of action?
Thank You In Advance for any advice.
And again, I am so happy to have found this forum. I hope to be able to do business with here with legitimate providers and I apologize in advance for my first post being like this.
