{"id":599,"date":"2022-06-18T13:22:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T18:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agcus.net\/?p=599"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T01:13:27","slug":"spotting-an-advance-fee-commercial-loan-scammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/?p=599","title":{"rendered":"Spotting An Advance Fee Commercial Loan Scammer"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Every year hundreds of commercial property owners get conned out of millions of dollars by advance fee scammers.<\/p>\n<p>An <em><strong>advance fee scammer<\/strong><\/em> is a criminal pretending to be a commercial mortgage lender. \u00a0He will issue a very fancy-looking conditional commitment letter, which will call for some <strong>huge<\/strong> &#8220;good faith deposit&#8221; or &#8220;third-party report fee&#8221;. \u00a0Once he gets the deposit, he will disappear with your dough and stop returning phone \u00a0calls.<\/p>\n<p>These advance fees could be anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000. \u00a0We are talking about serious money.<\/p>\n<p>How can desperate commercial property owners be so foolish? \u00a0Forty-five years ago, I worked at an old-time finance company, where we made personal loans, secured by cars, vacuums, and <strong><em>sticks<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; the personal property (furniture, TV&#8217;s, etc.) &#8211; of working people.<\/p>\n<p>My old branch manger, my very first boss, taught me a very important lesson about con men. &#8220;If you are in a room with one-hundred people, pick out the one person who you are absolutely sure is <em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em> the con man. \u00a0He will be your con man.&#8221; \u00a0Con men are very, very good.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Okay, but how can a commercial property owner or commercial loan broker spot one of these advance fee scammers? \u00a0Here are some techniques:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are the rates that this commercial lender is offering very low or very high. \u00a0If your deal has been turned down by three of four other lenders, and yet this &#8220;commercial lender&#8221; is offering you a very low rate and low points, there is a superb chance that this &#8220;commercial lender&#8221; is just a con man.<\/li>\n<li>On the other hand, if the interest rate and the points are brutally high, this commercial lender might legitimately want to make a commercial loan to you. \u00a0He&#8217;ll fund your loan, when nobody else will, because he is desperate for borrowers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Take a close look at this lender&#8217;s website. \u00a0The first thing to look for is an actual physical address, as opposed to just a P.O. Box. \u00a0In order for a process server to serve a complaint at the start of a lawsuit, he needs to able to find the defendant. \u00a0If the con man refuses to provide a street address, it is because he is ducking other process servers. \u00a0If he has no street address, you should run for the exit!<\/li>\n<li>Look up the lender&#8217;s address on Google Maps. \u00a0You should see a picture of the property. \u00a0Is it some gleaming office tower or just a little rental house? \u00a0If a commercial lender has the dough to make multi-million-dollar commercial loans, he should have a pretty nice-looking office.<\/li>\n<li>Does a receptionist or the loan officer answer the phone every time you call, or are you always forced to leave your name and number for the loan officer to call back? \u00a0Any legitimate commercial lender, who has the dough to lend millions of dollars, can afford a receptionist. \u00a0If you have to leave a phone number each time, it suggests the con man may be screening his calls from prior, pissed-off marks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Please grasp this critically important concept. \u00a0<strong>In order to make multi-million-dollar commercial loans, the lender needs dough to lend.<\/strong>\u00a0 So many people forget this! \u00a0A life company gets its dough to lend from life insurance premiums. \u00a0Commercial banks, credit unions, and Federal savings banks (former S&amp;L&#8217;s) get their dough to lend from their depositors. \u00a0Real estate investment trusts (REIT&#8217;s) get their initial capital to lend by selling shares in their corporation. \u00a0(They then borrow from banks to achieve additional leverage.) \u00a0Hard money mortgage funds have depositors (although these hard money funds are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur.) \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/info.c-loans.com\/e2t\/c\/*W6j34dP2ty09JW1fVxkd5n5qnt0\/*W3tFrND6cYG7kW502TNC6Jc6Zp0\/5\/f18dQhb0S5fs8XJbV6W95HXth85fh_3W22S1NQ59hM6kW1H9yf23rTl3bW5q9cPw8yym7NW5yMmVB1kkGcDW5s8YD71qMMPsW8tznT71nPLDMVTGjjz8w1VzBW1lbmPY8rzDwjVQfFnV5wL96rW8sZ4WS67b7w6W7hYCG43N1LjyW79CH551SdKWJW72RzfR1TcntwW1njMtB6H5TF3W2LGsc952YlfxW3_8mpl9fgwMTW4gFbJq5mFWy_W4Q6dWv2K51BrW1DWmGB5lyb4cW4zdZQ557mTkHN7spTWRs7CsQW2dJjFT2f4pkFW31TWff4BZp3yW4RlDHj2qvP2kW4c_kw_2QsFcNW8TBdxP7qg8YkW1z41gp9fgQgmW1D4njF7p3C-_W3MYt4k7nxfPmW54qWs34PxC8jW448jnB3vdwx6W6ZpT5d49MgQ4W3shJGF4QDgwJVWWcDd7n8yQrW9fHFbL5_5dntV_N41c6x-wDjW2B9vkp44WkrsW32wFFH1NsfDKSjFK5GjvyQ102\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-hs-link-id=\"0\">Blackburne &amp; Sons<\/a>, my own hard money shop, gets it dough by assembling a different syndicate of wealthy private investors on every loan. \u00a0There are always savvy investors willing to make prudent loans during a crash, as long as the rate is a little higher and the LTV is a little lower.<\/li>\n<li>So ask your con man straight out. \u00a0Where do you get your dough to lend? \u00a0In most cases, the con man will mumble something about &#8220;various investors&#8221; or the fact that he doesn&#8217;t reveal his sources. \u00a0Uh, huh&#8230; sure. \u00a0<em>Miserable butt-wipe!<\/em> \u00a0Heavens I love owning my own company. \u00a0I get to say stuff like that. \u00a0Haha! \u00a0That expression, &#8220;various investors&#8221;, is a red flag for either a con man or a commercial loan broker masquerading as a commercial lender.<\/li>\n<li>Looking at the lender&#8217;s website again, can you find an Investor tab? \u00a0I find that very, very reassuring. \u00a0REIT&#8217;s and mortgage funds have shareholders and depositors who provide the capital to lend. \u00a0Is entry into the Investor tab even protected by a password requirement? \u00a0If so, I am feeling even warmer and happier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is there a Loan Servicing Department tab. \u00a0Such a tab really, really warms the cockles of my heart. \u00a0It suggests that this commercial lender actually services its own loans. \u00a0That is a huge, positive indicator.<\/li>\n<li>Is there a News Releases or Press Releases tab on his web site. \u00a0Do the press releases look legitimate? \u00a0If so, I am feeling better.<\/li>\n<li>Is there a tombstone section on his web site? \u00a0Many legitimate commercial lenders have such closing announcements; but it&#8217;s always possible that a really smart con man might have created such a fake section to seduce you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Life companies are the only class of commercial lenders who have <em><strong>correspondents<\/strong><\/em> to originate and service their loans in certain areas, like Chicago or Los Angeles. \u00a0Every other legitimate class of commercial lenders services its own loans.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0So ask your con man, do you service your own loans? \u00a0If not, <em><strong>run<\/strong><\/em> for the exit.<\/li>\n<li>How narrow is your commercial lender&#8217;s lending niche or area? \u00a0If he tells you that he only makes commercial loans, between $1 million and $7 million, on convenience stores in the Northeast, that sounds very legitimate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On the other hand, if he makes loans from $100,000 to $50 million, on <em><strong>any<\/strong><\/em> kind of commercial property, located <em><strong>anywhere<\/strong><\/em> in the country, at best he is just a commercial loan broker masquerading as a lender. \u00a0If the deposit is huge, he is surely a con man.<\/li>\n<li>Google the company name of the commercial lender, along with that of the loan officer, the company president, and the company owner. \u00a0Lots of juicy stuff will often show up about con men.<\/li>\n<li>But here&#8217;s the thing: \u00a0If you looked up this article on the internet, you already know the answer. \u00a0Your commercial lender is too good to be true. \u00a0He is too sweet of a talker. \u00a0Your subconscious mind has picked up some clues. \u00a0<strong>Trust such warning signs!<\/strong> \u00a0Your commercial lender is a con man &#8211; an advance fee scammer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year hundreds of commercial property owners get conned out of millions of dollars by advance fee scammers. An advance&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[256,5,257,258],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-financial-insights","category-latest-news","tag-advance","tag-commercial","tag-scammer","tag-spotting","entry","double"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17632,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/17632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/TAR\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}