Home loan scam alert

ASIC has warned that scammers are targeting people for bogus home loans and charging up to $5400 in upfront payments to get the loan for them.

These unknown broker impersonators have unsuspecting consumers in their sights.

ASIC has called for consumers to look for the “classic warning sign” of a loan scam, treating any requests for upfront fees or insurance costs as suspicious, and to pursue loans through the correct channels.​

“Consumers should always take steps to make sure they are dealing with a legitimate business by only dealing with those they can reach through publicly available contact details, rather than accepting unsolicited offers of credit from lenders”, said Mr Kell from ASIC.

ASIC said the impersonators appear to be operating overseas, often using a replica website and mimicking the facade of Australian companies and Australian Credit Licence holders usually with altered contact details. After a loan enquiry is lodged online, the consumers receive a phone call or email from the scammers advising them they qualify for the loan, or are eligible for an increased amount.

A fake loan contract is then supplied with fake details of a genuine Australian Company Number or Australian Credit Licence number, with upfront insurance or fees demanded before the loan can be provided.

Some of these upfront deposits have been as high as $5,400 per consumer, and following these payments, the consumers never hear back from the scammers.

The other thing is that these scammers may also have much of your personal i8nfornation at this stage and can cause you further grief by using your identity.

ASIC is generally unable to pursue matters of this nature where scammers are operating overseas but encourages affected individuals to report these matters in any case to determine effective jurisdiction.​​

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