By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — A woman who received a phone offer for a $16,000 loan from Cash Net USA was ultimately swindled out of $3,100 in “fees” when the loan check turned out to be bogus.
The victim, who reported the fraud June 3, said on May 25 she received the loan offer, which was supposed to be direct-deposited to her bank account. She was then instructed to use $3,100 of the money to purchase eBay gift cards to cover “loan fees” and forward the gift card numbers to the con artist.
When the woman later tried to access the loan cash using her bank account debit card, she learned from bank officials that the Cash Net USA check was invalid, and that the bank was charging her overdraft fees.
The victim was advised to retain all correspondence and bank statements relevant to the case, and was provided with a case number.