The act of pretending to be a legitimate company is called “cloning” and is when scammers imitate a legitimate, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised and regulated loan provider or credit broker, pretending to be a representative from that company. They then get in touch with a large pool of people through cold calling, emailing or SMS messages. The list of contacts is likely to have been purchased from data sellers. The scammers may also create fake websites so they can provide links to their targets. Graham, 68, from Kent, fell for one of these loan scams after scammers posed as a legitimate lender.
The real and FCA authorised loans company Little Loans was cloned by scammers told Express.co.uk that it believed that this scam had circulated over the last year and it was trying hard to make sure customers are aware of the scam.
At the time Graham was struggling financially after having been made redundant, he was forced to declare himself personally bankrupt after discovering debts from an ex-partner.
This then caused him to receive a bad credit rating and meant he was unable to take out a loan to try and help him get back onto his feet and pass over some money to his sons to help them out too. He researched and approached several places however nothing came to fruition.
He told Express.co.uk: “Out of the blue, I got this email one day from a company claiming to be ‘Little Loans’ saying that my personal loan application for a £3,000 loan had been accepted.
“I…
