It was less than a month ago that I told you about the FTC refunding 505 million dollars to victims of payday loan company AMG’s loan scams, but today I am warning you about scams using those refunds as a hook to scam you. Payday loans is a term used to describe short term, high cost loans that generally are due at the borrower’s next payday. Often the lender requires a repayment by a post dated check for the full amount owed including all fees at the time the loan is made or authorization to electronically debit the funds from the borrower’s bank account when the borrower is paid his or her next wage payment. Some states do not permit payday loans and others highly regulate them. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won a judgment against AMG Services and Scott Tucker, its principal for making multiple illegal withdrawals from their customers’ bank accounts and charging hidden fees that dramatically inflated the amount their customers paid AMG. As a result of the judgment, the FTC collected from AMG and Tucker 505 million dollars which the FTC is now refunding to scammed customers.
If you were a victim of this scam, you may be eligible for a refund. For more information about this refund program, click on the FTC Scam Refunds tab at the top of the first page of http://www.scamicide.com. There are no fees involved with receiving a refund through this program. Anyone contacting you about this refund program who demands a fee or payment of any kind is a scammer. This was a scam we expected. Unexpected, however was a scam presently being perpetrated in which scammers are sending checks that appear to be AMG refund checks to people applying for phony jobs and instructing the targeted victims of the scam to deposit the check in their bank accounts, use some of the money to purchase supplies to be used as part of the job and to wire the balance of the check to the phony employer. The check is counterfeit and while you may initially receive temporary provisional credit for the check in your bank account, upon the check being discovered as being counterfeit, the credit will be removed from your account and you will have lost the money you wired to the scammer.
TIPS
Customers of AMG affiliated companies 500FastCash, Advantage Cash Services, Ameriloan, OneClickCash, Star Cash Processing, UnitedCashLoans and USFastCash who took out loans between January 2008 and January 2013 are eligible for the refunds. Checks are being mailed by the FTC. You do not need to apply for a refund. If you have questions about the refund program you can call 866-730-8147.
A common version of a payday loan requires you to pay an upfront fee before you receive your loan. Never pay in advance for a loan. Legitimate lenders only charge fees after you have been approved for and received your loan.
As for the scams connected to the AMG refunds, it is important to remember that you never have to pay any kind of fee to receive a refund from the FTC. As for the recent scam development, anyone that sends you a check for more than what you are owed for any reason and asks you to wire the money back to them is scamming you.
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