I was recently victim of a scam thinking I was going through a private money lender out of Orlando, Fl. Just posting this so others can be aware and don't fall victim as I did. The company policies and everything seemed legit until I was asked a few questions after hours through email that just didn't seem right. Please, please if something seems too good to be true, please do your research. It is so much better now to find and verify than it was when I was younger. The private lender's name is John Donellan. And I actually believe he is using someone else name. However he and this company had the email, company and everything to back it up. For a little bit. Until it just didn't sound right. Have a great day today to all, be blessed.

Thank you, I will. Thank you.

yup when you google him he is on connected investors.. that site has a lot of issues with lender scams.

private lenders are not on the internet.. companies are on the internet.. start there.

there are plenty of HML in FLA that are for real.. Lendingone being a good one.

if your looking for too good to be true rates then you are going to run into scammer after scammer.. just the way it is.

they prey on those that think private lenders should be happy to lend to private folks at less than HML rates .. just not reality.

Private lenders for those types of rates are friends and family and or those you become friends with at your local meetups or REIAs.

Thank you for the great advice. Also, what was sad is I met this contact through one if my REIA meetings.

I'm beginning my search for HML in Illinois, so I appreciate you sharing this @Alicia Lee-Hawkins   @Jay Hinrichs ' wisdom is spot on again of course! :)

how did you determine they are dishonest

Google the phone number and or the email. Names are easy to fake and come up with a lot of noise.... but the phone number will give it away.

Everything about this person seemed to be just fine ( i looked him up online) but the address wasn't good,  which I confirmed with USPS, but he slipped when he asked me for money up front, to be deposited in a particular bank after hours.

Originally posted by @Alicia Lee-Hawkins :

Everything about this person seemed to be just fine ( i looked him up online) but the address wasn't good,  which I confirmed with USPS, but he slipped when he asked me for money up front, to be deposited in a particular bank after hours.

 Sounds like a pretty good indication of intentions.