Paragon Finance

I am trying to determine if this is a scam or not. They sent me a loan application -- didn't ask for my SSN just my driver's license no.

They told me that I'll need to forward an advance fee of 1% of the loan -- first they told me to send it to Nigeria then they came back and said to send it to their home office in England. The address in England matches the address on their website. It's pretty sophisticated if it's a scam.

I'm really leary to send any money anywhere. Has anyone else heard of them?

Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 07:49:46 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED
To:

Dear Sir/Ma,

Looking for financial help? Do you need business expansion? I am Chris,a financial consultant from Paragon Finance Ltd. The company has helped many to realize their dreams, we've assisted lot of Christians and non Christians with loan and helped many in establishing businesses,churches,homes and today they are happy to be our clients.This company has vision to save people from doldrums of poverty and elevate people to a greater height. You too can enjoy these benefits.

These are things you need to know:
1. You must a faithful,loyal and trustworthy customer.
2. You are above 18years old.
3. You are the first named borrower on the agreement form.
4. We send you agreement form, you print ,fill and return for processing.
5. The loan duration is 1- 20 years.
6. You will make sure to pay back the loan when is due.
7. 4% loan interest.

You can contact me for further help on how to acquire loan application and fund without any delay.
We are ready to pray and help you because your well being is our concern.God bless you.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.

Hi novotnygm, welcome to Scamwarners.

I haven't looked into this yet but from the quick look I have had I am confident that its a scam.

Did you have any more emails from them, if so could you please post them as well, we dont need anything you sent, just the stuff from these scammers

Also, the website they are using as well if you dont mind, without seeing more information i cant tell you if the site is a fake or if they are simply using a real company to look more legitimate, it could be either

Meanwhile, please do not reply to any more of their emails and if you have any questions, please ask

As Ralph has already indicated, it is indeed a scam. The specific kinds of English mistakes put the author squarely in Africa.

But the simple fact is, any loan offer that involves you sending money is a scam. A "secured" loan means that you have sufficient property to cover the cost of the loan, and that you are essentially using that property as collateral. It does not mean that you are putting up cash in advance. When there is a fee associated with a loan, it is added to the loan amount and it increases your monthly payments!

I googled their name and address and found a website. I don't know if the website is legitimate or not. When I searched the website for the phone number listed below and came up with nothing. I didn't call the main number at Paragon.

Here are some more of the emails I've received from them:

From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Mon 5/24/10 6:42 PM



We are ready to work with you and fund you but you must be loyal and trustworthy. You need to let us know that you are willing and ready to make repayment of the loan when due.

We counted below terms very essential;

1.You must a faithful,loyal and trustworthy customer.
2.You are above 18years old.
3.You are the first named borrower on the agreement form.
4.We send you agreement form, you print ,fill and return for processing.
5.The loan duration is 1- 20 years.

Below is how repayment goes if you intend to acquire loan from us;

As a new client, you can acquire loan range between $5,000.00USD (five thousand dollars) and $300,000.00USD (Three hundred thousand dollars) but subsequent loan request maybe higher.

Below is example of what you need to know if a client acquire loan amount of $30,000.00USD

1. Re-payment starts after six months
2. monthly payment starts after the six months


Loan Amount (Principal): $30,000.00
Annual Interest Rate: 4%
Length/duration: 10years


Payment Summary
Number of Payments: 120
Monthly Payment: $303.74
Total Principal Paid: $30,000.00
Total Interest Paid: $6,448.25
Total Paid: $36,448.25

From the arithmetic above, monthly payment is $303.74USD, the interest rate is 4% and the duration (term) is 10 years. If you have more questions/enquiries do not hesitate to contact me. If you agree with the above instruction, do not hesitate to get back to me and Loan application form will be sent to you which you will fill and return for loan processing, you will be contacted as soon as your loan application is approved and you loan will be transferred to you without delay.

Look forward to reading from you soon.


Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.
Loan Application Form attached?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Tue 5/25/10 4:38 PM
To: hotmail.com
1 attachment
COMPLETE ...doc (175.0 KB)


Dear

Sorry for getting back to you late, I have been busy seeing to the transfer of loan to bonafide clients and I hope you will acquire your loan from us as well.

Loan Application Form has been attached and forwarded to you. Make sure you fill the form correctly and return the form as soon as you can. You will be notified as soon as your loan application is received.

You should fill the application and leave space where is not applicable to you as "NA" (not applicable).

Make sure you indicate how you want to acquire the loan on your form, after verification and correction of your application (if there is any), you will be notified if you are approved and how to acquire the loan from us without delay.

Once again, we seek for your trust and loyalty that you will make repayment of the loan when due.

If you have any enquiry or question that can enhance your loan processing, do not hesitate to contact me and I am here to make sure everything works right for you until you acquire loan your loan from us.

I look forward to seeing your application form.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.



CONGRATULATIONS! LOAN APPLICATION APPROVED AND ENDORSED?
From: [email protected]
Sent: Thu 5/27/10 4:42 PM
To:
1 attachment
...JPG (94.8 KB)


Dear , Your application has approved and endorsed. The loan amount of $30,000.00USD has been approved by me and endorsed by the chairman board of directors, this you will acquire without further delay. Your loan approval number #17379079, you must make sure you know your approval number as this will also be referred to, if in future you want to acquire more loan or you want to introduce anyone to us. This will make it easy for us to open your file we have with us. You should contact your Loan Agent/Officer Mr Chris who has been assigned to be your loan officer until you acquire your loan. You should contact him with your approval number for your loan transfer; he has been given all authority to transfer your loan to you with other document to be completed in matter of time to make you a bonafide client. Make sure you follow his instructions and you will get the fund with his help till the loan is wired to you. He will let you know how to work on paperwork he will send to you. There are some clients that indulge in absconding with the money they acquire or won't have mind to repay the loan they acquire until we take a legal step against them, please don't treat us like that. Attached is the confirmation of your loan approval and endorsement by the board of directors. Contact your Loan Agent- Mr Chris to complete the transfer of your fund into your account. He has been working hard to make sure all clients working with him acquire their funds. Once you have completed the processing, he will forward your file to our company's bank to make sure your fund is transfer without delay. A copy of this message has been forwarded to your Loan Agent. You should notify me as soon as you get your loan. Congratulations!!! Mr. Frank CEO, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd. Phone: +44-703-594-7433. Fax: +1-267-590-5763


RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Fri 5/28/10 10:17 AM
To: com)
1 attachment
PARAGON A...bmp (659.7 KB)


Dear

Congratulations!!! Your loan has been approved, your loan approval number has been written down. I will need to submit your file to our company's bank that will transfer the loan to you but before I do.

You will need to:

- Fill the attestation form and submit it as soon as possible for you to become a bonafide client.
- You will need to give me the information you will use to receive the loan i.e. name of the receiver, address, city and country if other than the information I have here on your file.
- You should fax it or return it via email.

To make it easy for our clients and allow them to enjoy the benefit of the loan they acquire, we allow our client to make repayment when due but we need to be sure that you are ready and willing to do so.

You should get back to me as soon as possible with the attestation form.

Can you let us know when we can reach on phone as we will like to talk to you, we are creating customer friendly relations.

Look forward to reading from you soon

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.



RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Fri 5/28/10 6:21 PM
To:
Dear M,

I have received and printed out the attestation form you sent to me. I have added it to your file here and updated it on our clients database.

You will need to supply me the below information we will need to complete the transfer;

Name of the receiver;

Address of the receiver;

Test question and answer to be used;

Should get back to me with the above information cause our company's bank has requested for this. You should also read and reply to the previous e-mail I sent to you concerning loan point.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.


RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Fri 5/28/10 6:38 PM
To:

Dear

We have received the attestation form. During this loan processing/transfer, we urge you to keep your phone with you cause you can be called by one of our team to confirm the status of the loan transfer. We need to make sure there in no mistake or impersonation. Please read and reply to the previous message concerning loan point and we are ready to complete the transfer without delay.

Look forward to reading from you soon.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.



FINAL STEP- Kindly read and understand all the points mentioned in this message?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Sat 5/29/10 10:10 AM
To:

Dear

Sorry for getting back to you at this hour, I have been on the journey since yesterday, we just arrived here now and I have informed headquarters about this development of your loan transfer.

I left London with five other workers/agents to represent the company during the trial of some clients that acquired loan from us and refused to make repayment and some want to abscond with our fund but we’ve taken a legal step.

I have all the file of the clients I'm working with here and I shall forward all completed application to my boss and bank for immediate transfer of fund to our clients. Our company's bank will make the transfer of the loan to you immediately your loan point is received and I will update the bank as the processing is progressing, cause our company's bank will only make transfer to bonafide clients. I want to assure you that as soon as the fee is received I will forward it to company's account and the loan will be transferred to you as soon as poosible. You should notify me as soon as you send the fee so as to put your name on the list of clients that will acquire loan and update our bank.

Below is the next step and I wanted to assure you that your transfer will be completed as soon as this step is completed;

Name of Receiver: W)

Address: PA8
United States

a

Kindly note that the loan will be transferred 3 times (same moment/day) cause of the amount involved but all information will be forwarded to you and you will be able to acquire the loan from any western union outlet in your community.

The next step in acquiring the loan, I am hereby updating you on the processing of wiring the loan to you and I want you to read the below information and reply now so as to report to our company's bank in making the transfer available to you. Below is the information our company will use in wiring the loan to you;

Loan is also known as consignment during transfer and as you want to acquire loan from us kindly know that is very necessary for you to make repayment, you will payback the loan at the end of the agreed term (year).


However before the loan can be transferred to you, there will be need for you to know our loan point as our company is ready to transfer the fund, why there is loan point?

Loan Point is usually varies by different lender, depending whether (Loan Origination Fees Charge by a lender or broker connected with originating a loan originated the loan in the prime or the sub prime market), different from discount points which are used to buy down the rate of interest. Loan Points are a fee charged to a borrower by lending institutions for the privilege of obtaining a loan. Lending institutions use loan origination fees to generate income via lending activities. A point is simply one percent of the total loan amount. Loan origination fee usually varies. See more info on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origination_fee.

The loan will be transferred to you will need to know that there is need for origination fee (The origination fee is a fee that is paid to the bank or your loan broker for his or her services in originating the loan) Origination fee charges in mortgages are usually a point of your loan amount. This fee is the fee paid to the company originating your loan to cover their costs associated with creating, processing, and closing your mortgage. If confused you can see this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(mortgage).

To make it easy for our client we charge 1% point of loan amount
and therefore for the loan amount of $30,000.00USD

30,000/1 X 1/100 = 300


From the above arithmetic, it shows that loan point is 300USD, our origination fee is very low compare to other financial companies because we want all our clients to enjoy the benefit of acquiring loan from us and we need to easy the pain of those struggling financially, that is why we have thousands of clients.


I want to assure you that as soon as the fee is received I will forward it to company's account and the loan will be transferred to you within 24 hours. Look forward to hearing from you.

Your smile is our concern.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.


RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Sat 5/29/10 10:43 AM
To: M

Dear

Our company likes to create customer friendly relations (before and after you acquire the loan), I want to assure you that you will acquire the loan once we finalize the last step (which was sent to you). We have many client (referee) who can tell you more about our us and our service.

I hope to hear from you when you respond to the previous e-mail I sent to you. I hope to talk to you to make sure we complete the loan transfer and see you acquire your loan from us.

Look forward to reading from you soon.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.


RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Mon 5/31/10 7:07 AM
To:

Dear

I hope we can complete the loan transfer tomorrow once the loan point is received, I have notified my boss about this development and our company's bank will not hesitate to transfer the loan to you. We would have transferred the loan now if we have authority to remove or deduct the loan point approved loan but it is against the rules and regulations to remove or deduct from approved loan but I want to assure you that as soon as the loan point is received, your loan will be transferred without delay.

As I said in the previous e-mail, I left London with five other workers/agents to represent the company during the trial of some clients that acquired loan from us and refused to make repayment and some want to abscond with our fund but we’ve taken a legal step.

We came to this country to sue some clients who acquired fund and refused to make repayment something we don't wish you do to us. I want to assure you that your loan will be made available to you as soon as the loan point is received. I have all the file of the clients I'm working with here and I shall forward all completed application to my boss and bank for immediate transfer of fund to our clients. Our company's bank will make the transfer of the loan to you immediately your loan point is received and I will update the bank as the processing is progressing, cause our company's bank will only make transfer to bonafide clients. I want to assure you that as soon as the fee is received I will forward it to company's account and the loan will be transferred to you as soon as poosible. You should notify me as soon as you send the fee so as to put your name on the list of clients that will acquire loan and update our bank. I know a trial will convince you and you will be able to tell you others about us and they too will acquire their loan from us. There is promising handshake I am giving you, you will get the loan without delay.

You should send the money through my secretary who will be available to get the fee as I will be in court with our company's lawyer and other workers and as soon as the fee is received, the money will be transferred to our company's account as we only workers have access to this.

Here is the information you will need to send the fee: Name: Desmond Jude. City: Victoria Island. State: Lagos. Country: Nigeria. Post Code: 23401

I want to assure you that as soon as the fee is received I will forward it to company's account and the loan will be transferred to you within 24 hours. You should forward the information once you get the fee sent and I want to assure you that there won't be any delay.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Your smile is our concern.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.


RE: READ AND GET BACK TO ME, SPAM E-MAIL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Mon 5/31/10 1:11 PM
To:
1 attachment
PARAGON C...doc (265.5 KB)


Dear

We came to this country to sue some clients who acquired fund and refused to make repayment something we don't wish you do to us. I want to assure you that your loan will be made available to you as soon as the loan point is received. I have all the file of the clients I'm working with here and I shall forward all completed application to my boss and bank for immediate transfer of fund to our clients. Our company's bank will make the transfer of the loan to you immediately your loan point is received and I will update the bank as the processing is progressing, cause our company's bank will only make transfer to bonafide clients.

I want to assure you that as soon as the fee is received I will forward it to company's account and the loan will be transferred to you as soon as possible. You should notify me as soon as you send the fee so as to put your name on the list of clients that will acquire loan and update our bank. I know a trial will convince you and you will be able to tell you others about us and they too will acquire their loan from us. There is promising handshake I am giving you, you will get the loan without delay.

You should send the fee via western union using the information I sent to you in the previous e-mail. To avoid any mistake, here is the information again;

Name: Desmond Jude.
City: Victoria Island.
State: Lagos.
Country: Nigeria.
Post Code: 23401.

Information above is what you need to use. The loan you are about to acquire is $30,000.00USD at 4% interest with repayments of approximately $303.74USD per month for 120 months and repayment starts after 6 months. I have sent you loan amortization in one of the previous messages I sent to you. I have attached a document with this message which you will need to return now.

I am giving you 100% that you will acquire the loan from us without delay. To find more about us, below is the list of some references you can contact to know more about us;


1) Ms Elaine Andrew ([email protected]) acquired loan from this company you can contact her and verify much things about us through this address.

2) Mr Duke he acquired loan this week he can tell you how we helped him back to his normal state.You can contact him now through--- [email protected]

3) Mr Thomson - ([email protected]).

I want to assure you that a trial will convince you. If you have any question, do not hesitate to contact me.

Look forward to reading from you soon.

Chris
Agent, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd.


YOUR APPROVED FUND?
From: [email protected]
Sent: Tue 6/01/10 11:36 PM
To: n

Dear I learnt from your loan officer that you have withdrawn your loan application, are you being skeptical about the transfer? Considering if you will acquire the fund after paying the loan point? Your loan agent is on his way back to London with five other workers (they went to Nigeria to represent the company in the court of law). I urge you if you want to continue with the loan transfer, you don't need to send the loan point to Nigeria any more but to London cause he (Mr Chris) is on his way to London now and should be landing any moment from now. If you should let me know if you still want to complete the transfer and if yes, below is the information you will need; Name: Chris Anderson Address: St. Catherine Court, Herbert Road SolihullWest Midlands. City: London Country: United Kingdom Post Code: B91 3QE When he gets here, he will get the fee and make sure your fund is transferred by our company's bank. Let me know your decision. Look forward to reading from you. Mr. Frank CEO, Paragon Personal Finance Ltd Phone: +44-703-594-7433. Fax: +1-267-590-5763.
© 2010 Microsoft Privacy Terms of use

edited victim info out, or it will be picked up and used by more scammers and spammers. I also recommend a username change--you can pm Jillian for that. - Dotti

100% African scammer. Absolutely no doubt about it. I particularly love the part about people who "indulge in absconding"

Some key points on this scam:

-As I stated before, fees on a real loan from a legitimate lender are not paid in advance! They are paid with the receipt of the money.
-Lenders also do not send the money to you via western union.
-Also as stated before, a "secured" loan means that you have put up some kind of property to guarantee the loan, and the lender can seize the property if the loan has not been repaid. Before offering you a loan, the lender would be assessing that property and verifying your ownership of it to ensure that it is sufficient to cover the necessary amount. There would also be specific documents related to the property to sign. This "lender" has done none of that, because the only money changing hands in this transaction is yours--going straight to the scammer.
-NO legitimate lender issues a loan for that amount without some kind of credit review, period, even those willing to lend to "high risk" individuals. Your SSN would have been required for a credit report too.
-The website for Paragon appears to be legitimate. Note, however, that (a) the phone number he gave you does not match the number on the website; (b) the website instructs you to call, not email (because they don't do online loans!) and (c) the email addresses being used in this scam are free emails (yahoo and consultant.com, which is a free email from mail.com). Even the cheapest website hosting plan comes with email boxes. Someone legitimately connected to that site would have an email that ends in @paragon-group.co.uk In other words, this scammer is not connected to real Paragon company in any way!
-As I said above, the atrocious English and type of mistakes put this person squarely in Africa. It should be a serious red flag either way, though, as this is supposedly a UK company and you should expect much better English on their important documents/emails (and a loan approval would be a form letter, which should be well-written).
-44-70 numbers are NOT UK numbers. They are premium rate redirect numbers, that are actually forwarded to the phone of the owner's choice. Most often they are used by African scammers pretending to be in UK, and are actually forwarded to a cellphone in Africa. If this was a legitimate UK company, it would have legitimate UK numbers.
-

To make it easy for our clients and allow them to enjoy the benefit of the loan they acquire, we allow our client to make repayment when due

What the heck does this mean?
-notice that the "references" are all free email addresses. Basically, the scammer has created 3 bogus addresses and will reply from them pretending to be clients.
-He changed the transfer to UK, because he thought maybe you were spooked by the mention of Nigeria. He is not and never has been in UK.
-A legitimate lending company also doesn't chase customers who decide not to follow through!
-BTW the current average rate for a personal loan is around 12%. The ridiculously low 4% is another big red flag.

Please cease all contact with this scammer now. Do not point him here, as this will only help to educate him to scam better. Simply stop responding to any emails or phone calls.

I have stopped all communication with him as soon as he asked me to send money in advance to Nigeria. I told them I was no longer interested in the loan. I received emails from both email addresses asking me to reconsider but I've ignored them.

They did call me on my cell phone one time. They were not English. They were very hard to understand and I finally told the man that I could not understand him. I asked for his phone number and he was reluctant to give it to me. He said he would call me back.

I know England is 6 hours ahead of us. He called me on a Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. I didn't think any bank in England would be open those hours so another red flag.

I've stopped all communication with them. Thanks for all the information.

I absolutely will not send them to your site. Thanks!

Just thought I'd update you --- I received this today (x 4)

Shame to your credit!!!?
From: Paragon Finance Ltd ([email protected])
Sent: Thu 6/17/10 11:10 AM
To: xxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com

One of our clients reported to us about your ;

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9285

You thought we want to scam you????

This is a shame to your credit.

Good job!

Although we generally discourage telling scammers they are listed here, the email most likely means that another potential victim searched for them, found the info here, and (hopefully) refused to send money based on your report!