Alfredo made a reservation at the travel agency to spend 4 days at the amusement park and visit a nearby city, but several days after making the reservation, on his way home, he noticed that something was wrong. When he opened the door to his house he saw what was happening. One of the main pipes had broken and the flat had flooded! After calling his insurance company and receiving a visit from the expert, he was informed that his insurance would only cover a small part of the damage.
Our protagonist had spent all his savings on the trip but did not want to luxembourg phone number data ancel it so as not to spoil the surprise for his children, so he decided that the best solution would be to apply for a quick loan to deal with the unexpected.
He ruled out going to a bank because he had had problems paying a loan in the past and had been included on the list of defaulters.
After searching on the Internet, he saw that on a well-known advertising portal there were people offering loans at very low interest rates. In addition, they indicated that no payment or arrangements were required in advance.
After contacting the lender via email, he asked for his phone number to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. The lender tells him that his name is Juan Pérez and that he is a Spanish immigrant in France, a country where he went with his family as a child in the 1960s. He also tells him that, after working hard and prospering in that country, he managed to have a small fortune, but seeing how badly his compatriots were suffering due to the economic crisis, he decided to help those in trouble by offering them loans at low interest rates so that they could overcome bad economic situations.
The lender asked him to send his personal details: name and surname, date of birth, place of residence and a photocopy of his ID. He told him that he would receive a response within three business days, but that same night, the lender told him that he met the requirements and that the following day he would send him the documentation for him to sign.
In the morning he received a contract with the conditions, in which he was granted €5,000 at an interest rate of 2.1%, and he decided to sign it. The lender told him that he also had to pay insurance to cover a possible default on the loan for an amount of €300. After reading it, Alfredo replied that the advertisement did not require any kind of advance payment, but Juan replied that it was a symbolic payment as an act of good will on the part of the borrower.
Alfredo agreed and Juan sent him instructions on how to do it. In them, he was told to go to an office of a well-known fast money transfer company and make the payment to an account located in Benin, a country located in West Africa in the name of Marianne Dupont. Once he had done this, he should send a photo of the receipt to Juan. A little strange that the transfer had to be made to another person and in another country, right? Even so, Alfredo made the payment and sent Juan a photo via WhatsApp of the receipt of the transfer to Juan.
Juan told him that everything was in order, but asked him to make a new payment of €200, this time in the name of another person, François Untiel, in order to receive the code for the account in which the money for the loan he had been promised was. Alfredo warned him that he was not going to make any more payments, he only wanted the money to be able to pay for the damage to his house. During the night, Alfredo received several threatening calls from telephone numbers with the +229 prefix, in which they told him that if the payment was not made, they would report him. Alfredo agreed to make the last payment. After paying, Juan tried to blackmail Alfredo again, demanding another payment.
No matter how overwhelmed we are, we must contrast the information and go to professionals.
Alfredo refused to make any more payments and decided to check out online how peer-to-peer loans and specialized websites actually work. He then realized that he had made the mistake of paying money in advance for the loan procedures. In addition, he discovered the scams that had already occurred by supposed foreign lenders.
By searching for the lender's name, she also found stories from other victims and how they fell for the scam, as well as the methods used.
Alfredo realized too late that if he had first checked the information with a simple Internet search, he would have avoided falling for the scam.
How our protagonist should have acted
The first thing our protagonist should have done is to apply for the loan from an official entity or a trusted company registered with the Bank of Spain. And check that this is a professional lender by checking that it is registered in the Register of Financial Intermediaries of the Spanish Agency for Consumption, Food Safety and Nutrition (AECOSAN).
He should also have been aware that when taking out a credit or loan with a financial institution, it is registered in the public file belonging to the Bank of Spain. If it is with a professional lender, this contract must be registered, either by means of a public deed before a notary or in the registry of entry of the administration of the autonomous community. In addition, in the event of discrepancies, Alfredo would have been legally protected under Spanish and community regulations.
