ScamVictimsUnited.com

I applied for a personal loan from a listing on craigslist. I DID NOT give my SSN or birthdate, and I used a PO Box address where I get mostly junk mail. I was supposedly approved for the loan, pending some insurance fee I had to wire. Uh huh. I'm really going to do that. When I said I thought it was a scam, the loan company offered to send me a check instead. It's supposed to arrive this week, and I'm curious to see if anyone knows the absolute longest it takes for a check to clear or be proven counterfeit? If I don't touch the funds for at least four weeks, is it safe to do so after that if the bank shows the check has cleared? I know they will release the funds after 11 days, under US law, but that doesn't mean it's a good check. The loan company hasn't asked me to send any money back to them, and the payments are supposedly debited out once per year for five years. I have not given a bank account for them, and they haven't asked yet. The interest rate is outrageous, so I'm not sure if this is an atypical Nigerian scam, or just some glorified loansharks.

Has anyone heard of Christiana Jones & Sons Loan Organization, out of Lagos, Nigeria? When they told me I had to wire funds (which I didn't do), the bank that contacted me was Mega Banks, PLC. I can't find a listing of them, but I saw a few articles on various sites while researching that said the Nigerian banking system has undergone restructuring, and the lists aren't up-to-date. I imagine it's ultimately some kind of scam, but I can't figure out the angle yet. Does anyone have any experience with this scenario?

I can assure you I won't be paying any money upfront, and I won't use any funds until/unless the check clears. I'm depositing it into a complimentary, bank-provided savings account I don't use, because the interest rate isn't nearly as good as my Emigrant Direct account, so they couldn't empty the account if that's their goal.

I'm racking my brain for the scam angle, but can't quite see it. Could they actually be legitimate, ripoff interest rate lenders? I haven't given them enough info for an ID scam, I don't think. Any input? Also, does anyone have a resource I can use to prove or disprove the company's identity and their bank? Thanks!

It's definately a scam, don't bother depositing the check as it will come back as fraudulant "eventually". As far as clearing times, I've seen it go as far as a year! If it did come back as fraudulant during that time and you have withdrawn some of those funds, you also risk being arrested. I personally wouldn't do it.

Arrested? Geez. I didn't know that. It's definitely not worth it. Thanks!