I had the same experience as the above poster except I was contacted originally by Mary Bennett. I was contacted by her on December 2nd. I was told she would look for a private lender for me and that it could take a few days. On December 6th, she contacted me and stated she had "found" a private lender for a loan of $5000. She faxed me some very legitimate looking documents with convincing letterhead and explained I needed to pay for my own credit insurance due to my credit score. She told me to send the 10% credit insurance deposit to Ian Jeffrey in Markham Ontario Canada, via Western Union. I sent $493 via Western Union just as requested. I was told I would receive the money on December 9th.
On December 9th, Mary Bennett contacted me again and said the private lender had decided to get out of the process of providing $5000 loans and instead wanted to offer me a $10,000 loan. She faxed over new legitimate looking documents and stated all that was required this time was the 10% deposit for the credit insurance, which was now over $1000 (Since I had already paid $493 I was told to send $600 more). I refused to sign any documents without doing further research since I had never heard of a lender changing their mind upon completed paperwork. I spent the weekend researching the company and loan scams and concluded I had been scammed. I emailed Mary Bennett December 12th and told her I was not accepting this new loan and to refund my original deposit. I also told her I had contacted the Attorney General's office of NYC and was advised up front fees for any loan were illegal. She responded with an email stating she would process my refund and that what the private lender was asking for WAS legal.
I called December 16th to check on the status of my refund. A computerized voice told me that the mailbox was full. I decided to check out the company via WHOIS and found out that their web address is registered to Canada and was not put in place until October. Total scam.
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