Warning on suspected loan scam
Vulnerable families have lost money to a scammer impersonating a local loans company.
Police are investigating complaints from loan seekers who have been left out of pocket after applying for personal loans online.
And banker Cobus Ferreira is horrified families have suffered from the misuse of his company’s name.
Would-be borrowers believed they were dealing with a real company called CTM Loans, which is registered to Ferreira, and paid ‘‘insurance premiums’’ when they were told it was a condition of getting loans.
They never got their loans, and believe the money they handed over is now lost.
Ferreira, who set up CTM Loans but now works for Kiwibank as a business banker, is praying police catch the man with the Indian-sounding accent who is using his company’s name to get money from low-income families.
Greytown resident Samantha Blair found an ad for CTM loans online, and went to the police after losing $895 in two payments for ‘‘insurance’’ and ‘‘taxes’’.
‘‘I want this guy caught and to suffer for what he has done to victims,’’ she said. ‘‘We are all from low-income families. We are struggling as it is.
‘‘It has devastated me mentally. I am going through a bit of a breakdown, but my family has come in to help, and have given me money for Christmas.
‘‘I have got back on my feet because of my family and friends.’’
A second would-be borrower from Tauranga, who asked not to be named, lost $524.
Like Blair, she was sent a supposed contract for the $6000 loan she wanted to take her family to a big reunion up North.
The signature does not match that of the real Ferreira.
The Tauranga victim said she confronted the man with the Indiansounding accent on the phone – he was calling himself Harrison Hills, she said – and accused him of being a crook.
Blair also confronted the man on the phone, and has handed a recording to police. In the recording the man promised to have her loan to her the next day. The money was never paid over, she said.
Nelson-based police inspector James Green confirmed he was looking into a complaint, though the investigation may expand as more victims come forward.
But it is a third woman, Natali Cora, who has lost just over $1300, who may hold the key to how the man she spoke to is operating within the banking system with impunity.
After she had paid the ‘‘insurance premium’’, her account received a $622 deposit, and the man told her to send it via Western Union to a ‘‘Lalit Sirohi’’ in India.
By the time she received the $622 she was certain she had been scammed, and so did not send the money, fearing she was being used as a money laundering mule.
She now believes the man had convinced another loan seeker to deposit an ‘‘insurance premium’’ in her account.
It was a cash deposit, so she does not even know whose money it is.
All three women also went to Financial Services Complaints (FSCL), which hears complaints against lenders who are members of its scheme.
FSCL chief executive Susan Taylor said: ‘‘It appears to be a scam, and unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do.
‘‘I am concerned that if a warning isn’t put out there, more people could fall victim.’’
Taylor contacted Ferreira and it quickly became clear he was not involved.
He said the first he heard that someone was claiming to be from CTM Loans was when he got a call from Green.
‘‘I’m so frustrated. I can’t believe that somebody would do this,’’ Ferreira said.
‘‘This is obviously my reputation. I have got business clients. I work hard to show them they can trust me with their financial information.’’