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Canadian Scammers Claim Maine Connection
Law enforcement agencies and consumer advocates fear that foreign scam artists are using a fictitious location to add credibility to their illicit loan broker operation.
Government agencies in Maine have been receiving telephone calls from consumers located all over the country asking questions about the Canadian loan company, which falsely claims to have an office in this state.
The calls are the result of advertisements placed in newspapers in a number of states, offering “Personal Loans” with “No Advance Fees.” The Canadian company utilizes the name “Mett-Life,” probably in an effort to benefit from the reputation of the similarly named, worldwide insurance company.
Consumers who call the toll-free number listed in the ad quickly receive an “acceptance letter” indicating that they have been approved for unsecured loans ranging from $15,000 to $60,000. Despite the company’s earlier “no advance fee” pledge, consumers are instructed to obtain a money order for $500 to $1500 “for insurance purposes.” They are directed to deliver the money and the signed documents to a Canadian post office box by private, overnight courier service.
If the consumers call the company to express concerns about sending money out of the country, they are told not to worry, because the company has an office at 2553 Western Avenue, Augusta, Maine.
“There is no such address,” reports Lenny Gover of the U.S. Postal Service in Augusta.
Some consumers have called state agencies, including the Office of Consumer Credit Regulation, the Securities Division and the Bureau of Insurance, to ask if they should send money. Regulators tell these consumers not to send any funds, because the company is unlicensed and unregulated, and because its methods are identical to those used by many advance fee loan scams.
Other consumers, however, call after sending funds and waiting in vain for the promised loans. It is likely that consumers have already lost tens of thousands of dollars. Maine officials have received calls from consumers in Ohio, North Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Michigan. Consumers have told officials that once they deliver the required fee, they never receive a loan nor do they hear from the company again.
Canadian authorities, concerned by the number of scams operating from their country, have vigorously prosecuted perpetrators when they have been caught. However, most such operations are difficult to pin down, because they use a combination of mail drops, call forwarding and courier services.
“Time and again, we will locate an address and go in, only to find a vacant apartment, and perhaps a fellow hired to forward overnight packages from one address to another, who claims to know nothing about what's going on,” said Laurier Quesnel of “Project Colt”, a combined anti-scam law enforcement effort of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Montreal City Police and the U.S. Customs Service.
“It’s difficult to prosecute a fraud case against someone who’s just forwarding packages”, he added.