Please do not get caught in this scam. Do not send money to Capital Trust Financial, it is not a real loan company. I was contacted by a man named Ron Black who said he was from Capital Trust Financial. He promised me a $6,000 loan, if I followed his instructions and signed and faxed back the loan agreement.
After I did so, I was not given my money, instead, I was told that the lending company they had found for me required that I sent a security payment to cover the first 6 months payments, which was a total of $844.26. I did what he told me, I went to the local Walmart and sent my $845 payment to the name and address he gave me. I was to send my payment through the Money Gram to a woman named Barbara Fernando in Garden Hill, Manitoba located in Canada. I actually sent $845 and had to pay a fee, so my total was $897, which Ron told me would all be credited back to my account and my payments would not start until October.
When I did not receive my money after this, I tried to call back, but only got through to his voicemail and never received a call back. The next day, I was called by a man named Jeff (unfortunately, I never got his last name), who said he was from customer service and he had just got out of a meeting over my account and the lending company had decided I needed to send another $845 payment in order to secure my loan.
At that time, I was skeptical so I was straight forward and asked if this was a scam, which Jeff assured me it was not. Just as a precaution, or so I thought, I asked him to send me some sort of letter or something to guarantee that if I sent another payment, I would receive my loan funds. He faxed me a letter that guaranteed I would receive my money no later than 3 hours after my payment was confirmed, and it is signed by Brian Robertson, CEO of Capital Trust Financial.
Luckily, I had friends and family who could lend me this money, because I obviously didn't have it if I was in need of a loan in the first place. I sent another payment and paid the Money Gram fee for another total of $897.
Again, I did not receive my money into my bank account, and it was another day before I ever got through to talk to anyone at customer service when I called the 1-877-507-1383 number. Finally, I was able to talk to Jeff again, and he told me that Capital Trust Financial was in a legal bind with the lending company because they had backed out of the agreement.
I was told they had another $10,000 loan I could get if I sent another $845 payment, which I refused. Jeff said I could cancel my account and my 2 payments, totalling $1,794, would be directly deposited into my checking account according to the lending companies billing cycle, which he told me would be March 6. I argued with him that if the lending company backed out, then our contract was void and there was no reason I had to wait until March 6 to get my money back.
Jeff would not offer me any other solution, so I asked for a number of someone of higher ranking that I could contact. He gave me the address I have entered for Capital Trust Financial. He told me that all he could give me was the mailing address for the CEO of Capital Trust Financial, Brian Robertson. He gave me the address; 263 Prefero Blvd., 9th Floor, Stanford, Connecticut, 06901.
I waited until March 6, and when my money was not refunded, I tried to call back. At first, no one would call me back even when I left countless messages, and chose the option to be urgently paged at my home number. Then, I even tried Ron Black's extension to see if he could help me, but his name on his recording had been erased. I tried again today, March 8, to contact Jeff or someone at customer service, but when I call the same 1-877-507-1383 number, I get a female recorded voice that just says, "Thank you, goodbye, " and then I am disconnected.
I couldn't believe this company had just vanished, so I tried to find some information online and I came across this site and saw that someone else had recently reported this same scam! I am a first year teacher and my fiance is still attending college, so we were struggling to get by on my income alone, so that is why we needed a loan.
To make matters worse, I have been very sick during the past month and have had to see a stomach specialist many times and have changed medications at least four times, because they found that I have Gastroparesis, which basically means my digestive system is paralyzed and not digesting my food, so it makes me very ill.
Due to my health problems, I missed more than the allowed number of days at my school corporation, so I was not paid for the days I missed over the past two weeks, so financial matters have become even more of an issue, and now my rent and all my bills are past due, and I cannot afford any more medications or to pay the doctor bills I've acquired recently.
I hope that this warning will keep someone else from making the same mistake and getting caught up in this scam. I have never had something like this happen, so I don't know where to turn or if there is anyway to ever see my money again, but at least others will hear my story. I just hope people are aware of this scam before it is too late.
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