Consumer Law, Warranties Promissory Note (Potential Fraud Case) Part 1

[TravellingMan]

Promissory Note (Potential Identity Theft/Fraud Case) Part 1

In late June of 2002, I was approached by my former colleague and friend who presented me with a business opportunity. The opportunity, as explained by my friend, would enable me to build my credit history and earn some money at the same time. He informed me that he had a friend who helps associates of hers, who work at different financial lending institutions, meet their lending goals so that they can earn bonuses and promotions. What she does is have people give her their complete name, date of birth and social security # and gives it to her associate, who is the Branch Manager of a financial lending institution in CA, to see if they are eligible to take out a loan. If they aren't, she tells them to find someone who has good credit that can cosign for them and to communicate with her when they find someone who will. If they are, she then has the person take out loans and then sign them over to her. She in turn provides the person with a signed promissory note agreement and subsequently a money wire, which comes from the bonuses that her associates are given for doing the loans. Because I am interested in buying home within the next two years, I thought this would be a great opportunity to better my credit history. Their appeared to be no risk involved because of the trust I had in my friend's better judgment, as he affirmed to me that he had already taken advantage of this opportunity with his female friend. He informed me that I would have to provide him with my complete name, date of birth, and social security # in order to proceed. I provided him with the information he requested of me. A few days went by and I was informed that I had been qualified to take out loans and that I had to go with my friend and his female friend to take out each of these loans. Over a period of approximately a week, I met with my friend and his female friend, who transported me to several financial lending institutions, where I would walk in with my friend, complete already prepared documentation, sign promissory notes and receive checks that I would then sign the back of, write my Driver License information on the back of, and then hand them over to his female friend. At the completion of the final loan, his female friend provided me with a signed promissory note agreement (see attached) and informed me that $7,500 would be wired to me, from the bonuses her associates received, within a period of 2 weeks. She informed me that once I received it, I was supposed to keep $2,000, withdraw $5,500 and give that to my friend who would split it with her and two other people. I asked her why, and she said that was how she paid my friend for referring me, the two other people for referring my friend, and how she received her bonus. She also encouraged me to refer friends of mine to her that had good credit and that I in turn could earn money for those that I referred to her who took advantage of the opportunity as I had. Some time surpassed and my friend informed me that the $7,500 was wired to my checking account. I complied with his female friend's instructions. I went to my bank with my friend, withdrew $5,500 in cash, and handed it over to my friend. My friend signed a paper as record of having received the $5,500 from me and informed me that he would make sure that his female friend, and his two friends received their share of the bonuses. A day, or two went by and he communicated to me that he kept $2,500 for himself and gave an envelope with $3,000 to one of his two friends, who kept $2,000 and gave his female friend $1,000 per the agreement they had. As time surpassed, I eventually received my loan invoices for the 1st payment for most of the loans. I communicated with my friend and arranged a time to give them to him, so that he could give them to his female friend, who according to the signed promissory note agreement was supposed to make payments on them. Time surpassed and the date in which each of those loans were supposed to be paid by passed. I learned of this by the several phone calls and letters I received from different financial lenders questioning me as to why they had not yet received my payments. I immediately contacted my friend and asked him why my payments had not been paid and he informed me that he didn't know and that he would find out and have his female friend take care of them. More time passed, I again asked my friend why my payments had not been made and he said that he had spoken to his female friend and that she said would take care of them. He said that his female friend had said for me to calm down, not to worry, that she has 30 days from the date they were due to make a payment before any of them would be recorded on my credit report as late payments or defaults. More time surpassed, and without any payments having been made, I went to the place of employment of one of his female friend's associates, who I happened to mutually know of, and acquired a contact number for his female friend. I communicated with his female friend and she informed me that the reason why she hadn't made any payments on my loans was because my friend never provided her with any of my loan invoices. I communicated with my friend and he informed me that he was too busy and hadn't had an opportunity to provide them to her, but that he would meet with me, give them back to me for me to provide them to her with. I subsequently met with my friend, picked up my loan invoices and then communicated with his female friend to arrange a time where we could meet so that I could give them to her. A meeting was set. I met with her and provided them to her. She said that she would see to it that each financial lending institution listed on the invoices would receive the payment that is due. Time surpassed and none of the financial lenders had yet received their 1st payment. I communicated with his female friend and asked her why she had not made the payments as she said she would. She made excuse after excuse as to why she didn't have an opportunity to make a payment on each of my loans. I asked her if she would complete checks for each loan payment, place them in the appropriate payment envelopes and meet with me, so that I could pick up the envelopes and physically drop off the payments myself. After a lengthy discussion, she agreed. We soon thereafter met and I picked up the envelopes with what I believed to be the appropriate payments enclosed. She did not include the payment for one of the financial lending institutions and informed me that she would make a double payment with them since she had to meet with her associate the Branch Manager to have him run credit reports on people who had given her their contact info to see if they qualify to participate in the opportunity. I asked her "How can he run people's credit reports without their permission." She said "He runs the credit report of the people I bring him, that are interested in the opportunity, and if they don't qualify or participate in the opportunity he has the inquiry deleted from their report through a contact that he has." I walked away from that meeting with speculation about her and the opportunity I had elected to participate in. I was concerned that it was a scam. As such, right after I met with her, I took each payment to its' appropriate office to turn in. Unfortunately, many of them were closed, so I placed the appropriate payment under the door of each appropriate office. I mentioned to my friend my concern regarding the opportunity and he said that I was too sensitive and that I needed to just loosen up and not worry. He said that she had already given me the 1st payments and that if this was a scam she wouldn't have done that, she would have just ran away with the money I signed over to her. He again reaffirmed that he had already taken advantage of this opportunity with his female friend and that everything went smoothly. Time surpassed and each of the 1st payments that I had placed under the office doors was recorded and subsequently cleared. His female friend made a payment of $400 to the loan that I took out at the particular financial lending institution and her associate, the Branch Manager, subsequently recorded it as the 1st and 2nd payments with any overage applying to the next payment. My concern for this opportunity being a scam disappeared and my trust was restored.

See part 2 for the rest of the story.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Travelling Man's Post Part 2:

If you haven't, please review Part 1 first before reading this part.

Time surpassed, I received my loan invoices for the 2nd payments for most of the loans except for one in which I received my 1st payment invoice. I communicated with his female friend to schedule a time when we could meet, so that I could give her my loan invoices. On more than one occasion, she made excuse after excuse as to why she couldn't meet with me, stating that she didn't have to make a payment on time, but only had to make a payment within 30 days from the actual loan payment being due and for me not worry and to stop harassing her about making payments on my loans, that she would meet with me when she felt like it and had time and that she would contact me, and for me not to contact her. About 15 days from the date of my loan payments being due went by and I called her exclaiming that I needed to meet with her to give her my loan invoices, so that she could right checks to make payments on each of the loans that were outstanding. After a lengthy discussion filled with excuses by her, she conformed and we scheduled a time to meet so that she could pick up my loan invoices. She said that she would need some time to get back to me with the payments, that she was awfully busy and had medical and financial issues going on in her life. I automatically drew concern that in fact this situation was a scam and that she was prolonging making payments to my loans, so that she could either leave the area or change her contact info. I immediately contacted my friend and informed him of this and he said that I needed to calm down, relax and stop worrying. He said that his female friend is just that type of person with tons of drama, who likes to gossip and just having fun by making me be concerned. He said that if this were a scam, his female friend would have already been gone and that if anything went bad he would make sure all of my loans were paid off and for me not to worry. I maintained my patience and awaited his female friend to contact me, so that I could make arrangements with her to pick up the envelopes with the payments enclosed so that I could drop them off at the appropriate offices. His female friend finally contacted me and we established a time in which we would meet. On the morning in which we were supposed to meet, Tuesday, September 24, 2002, I called his female friend and informed her that I was stuck in traffic and was unable to meet with her at the time we had set because of traffic and my need to be at work on time. She was understanding and informed me that she would meet with me later that day and that all I had to do was call her. I called her later that day and she informed me that she wouldn't be able to meet me, and that she would have to reschedule a meeting with me. I informed her that one of my loans was going assume a 30-day late if it wasn't paid by September 28, 2002. I also informed her, that I received my bank statement and noticed that the money wired to my account was a cash advance from a credit card company. I told her that I never authorized the setup of such an account with that particular credit card company and that I never authorized a cash advance by that particular credit card company to my checking account for $7,500 and that she lied to me by telling me that the money wired was from the bonuses received by her associates that worked at these financial lending institutions. She said that she set that account up on my behalf. I told her that I never signed for that account, nor agreed to it, and that she had committed fraud. I threatened to file a police report and press charges against her, and her associate, the Branch Manager, and anyone else involved if she didn't payoff all of my loans. I told her that this is a scam and that acts of this nature are punishable crimes. I said that I was going to report her, her associate, the Branch Manager, and anyone else involved if she didn't payoff all of my loans. She asked me not to cause any trouble and affirmed me that she would pay off all of my loans by September 28, 2002. As security, she provided me with her personal information, which included her social security #, date of birth, account # and routing #, and informed me that if she didn't payoff the loans by September 28, 2002, that I had her permission to pay each of the loans off by electronic check over the phone. On the morning of September 28, 2002, I called each financial lending institution that I had taken a loan out with along with the credit card company, that his female friend had without my authorization set up an account for me through and had an unauthorized $7,500 cash advance wired to my checking account from, and inquired on the payoff status of each of them. I was able to reach a majority of them via automation systems and of those that I reached none of them had been paid off. Without hesitation, I immediately proceeded according to the instructions I had been given by his female friend and attempted to pay each of my loans off with the information given to me by her, by electronic check over the phone. I was only able to pay off two of loans on that day as the other financial lending institutions were closed, since I had called outside of their operating hours. On the morning of Monday, September 30, 2002, I called up the remaining financial lending institutions and attempted to payoff the other outstanding loans with the information given to me by his female friend, by electronic check over the phone. I was only able to pay off three of the loans and the credit card company cash advance on that day. There were two financial lending institutions that informed me that I was unable to pay off my loans via electronic check over the phone. I communicated with his female friend on Tuesday, October 1, 2002, and she threatened me over the phone stating that she would have me hurt and that she would have someone come after me if I didn't give her back the money that was electronically used to pay off a majority of my loans and the credit card company account, that she fraudulently opened and had a cash advance wired to my checking account from. She said that I could alternatively bring her someone else to do a loan for $30,000 and prevent the before mentioned from happening to me. I asked her about my two outstanding loans and how they would be paid and she said for me not to worry about those two that they should be the least of my concerns. Concerned with her threat and the entire situation as a whole, I notified my friend My friend and informed him of what had taken place. I asked him for his advice on what I should do about the situation. He informed me that she was just bluffing and that I had nothing to worry about. He said that she would be stupid to press charges against me because she was guilty from the start. As for her having something happen to me, he said that she was just trying to scare me. I decided to sit on the situation and think about it over the night. When I arrived at work the following morning on Wednesday, October 2, 2002, his female friend called me and said that she filed a police report and informed me that I was in big trouble, that I had without her permission accessed her account, and that she was now able to turn the tables on me and press charges accounting for fraudulent access to her account, according to what her attorney told her. She said that she would forget about the whole thing if I would give her back $30,000, or bring her someone else to do a loan for $30,000. I told her that I could not commit to anything and would need to seek Legal Counsel before acting on this situation. She said that she was going to then proceed with pressing charges against me. I asked her if she had already and she said no she hadn't, but would if I didn't accommodate her request.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Travelling Man's Post Part 3: If you haven't, please review Part 1 and Part 2 first before reading this part.

I communicated with my uncle, who's an attorney, and explained to him the situation. He advised me to password protect all of my personal accounts. Those that cannot be password protected should be closed and new accounts established. He further suggested that I place fraud security alerts with all 3 major credit bureaus. He next suggested that I communicate with all of the financial lending institutions that I was able to pay off by electronic check and have them provide me with letters stating that their respective loans were completely paid off and that it wasn't just a booking entry, but that the electronic checks had cleared. He next suggested that I verify that the attorney that my friend's female friend was claiming as being her own was a legitimate attorney and was employed by the firm she stated he was employed at. Lastly, he suggested that after I completed the before mentioned tasks that I should go and file a police report on my friend's female friend for threatening me and request that an investigation of fraud be ensued. On Thursday, October 3, 2002, I fulfilled all of the instructions that I was given by my uncle to include filing a police report, however the police officer who took the report said that it wasn't identity theft because I willingly gave my information to My friend and knew that it was going to be used to get me the loans that I took out regardless of who used it. She said that it appears that all of the loans with the exception of the credit card account were taken out legitimately and that I was foolish for signing checks over to someone I didn't know. She said it would be difficult to prove that I didn't open up that account considering that I had took out the other loans and signed them over to my friend's female friend and that I should think about the situation as a whole before I press charges of fraud and identity theft. She said that she would file a report for me on an annoying threatening phone call and that she would give me time to think and research the situation further before pressing charges of identity theft and fraud. I agreed. She suggested that I attempt to record my friend's female friend admission on tape to all of the facts as stated in my discussion with her (which are mentioned above). I asked her if I was aloud to do that and she said that as long as one person on the call knows its being recorded that's all that matters. She further suggested that I go to the office of my friend's female friend's associate, the Branch Manager, and explain to him the situation and see what he could do. She suggested that in speaking with him I explain to him what might occur whereas he was concerned if this case had to go to court, and how it might affect his job. She suggested that I consult legal counsel before proceeding with her suggestions as she was only a police officer and an attorney would probably know more. I communicated with my uncle afterwards, and he agreed with the police officer's suggestions. I advised him that I was very concerned because I didn't know much about her associate, the Branch Manager, and didn't want to risk personal injury by going to his office. He said that if he was going to do something, he probably wouldn't do it at his office and that it would probably be in my best interest to communicate with him the details of this situation and explain to him the ramifications of his actions and encourage him to rectify this situation by communicating with my friend's female friend. On Friday, October 4, 2002, my friend's female friend contacted me on three separate occasions. She informed me that I had until Monday to compromise; otherwise she would proceed with her legal actions against me. I told her that I would get back to her and that I had to consult my Legal Counsel before acting.

What is your opinion on the situation I am facing? What do you think I should do? What can I do? Please advise. Thank you.