Loan Fraud: How Scammers Get Free Money In Your Name | Aura

Learn more about loan fraud: www.aura.com/learn/loan-fraud Welcome to the world of loan fraud, where business is booming. In 2020 alone, there were more than 200.000 reports of loan fraud in the United States. It can come in many forms. Someone could illegally use another person’s identity to take out any kind of loan. If this happens to you, it could ruin your credit and could prevent you from taking out loans yourself. Learn how loan frauds happen, what to do immediately after you realize you are a victim of one and how to prevent that from happening in the future. Loan fraud happens like any other form of identity theft, with the fraudster finding your personal information. Sometimes scammers can do this by phishing for information with scam calls and emails. Then there’s the use of malware. If you download it, scammers could gain access to your device. Hackers can also find your information and post it for sale on the dark web. If you want to find out if your information has made its way onto the dark web, there are ways to do that. For example, you can use the Aura Identity Guard Dark Web Scanner to see if hackers have access to any of your information. Try it here: scan.aura.com/ Once your information is in their hands, these scammers can do a lot of damage. They could also take out a few pay-day loans in your name and you could be left to pay them off. Worse, though, they could take out credit cards or car, home, student, and business loans that you will then be responsible for. If you have been the victim of loan fraud, here’s what to do: 1. Get your documents together. If you had any correspondence with the scammer, collect any screenshots, emails, and the like that you may have. 2. Submit a report. You can submit it to the FTC or to IdentityTheft.gov. You will also need to file a police report with your local law enforcement. 3. Contact the lenders, financial institutions, or government agencies that are involved. Report what happened and tell them you have filed a complaint. For example, if you’ve been billed for a fraudulent SBA or PPP loan, you can contact the SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. 4. You’ll also want to set up a credit freeze or fraud alert to prevent anyone stealing your identity from taking out any other loans. 5. Keep your data secure. Before you hand out your personal information, really think about who you’re giving it out to. Do you trust this person or organization with your information? Do you trust how they handle your data? This is important to know. Obviously, be extra cautious with things like your bank account numbers and social security number. Next, be proactive! Don’t leave identity theft to chance. Protect yourself and your data with cyber security. Find out what information is already compromised so that you can make changes. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:51 How loan fraud happens 1:56 How to recover from loan fraud 2:49 How to protect yourself from loan fraud Get expert advice and help recovering from scams by joining our Facebook group: bit.ly/466Bxy5 #loanfraud

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