Nine years ago, I wrote about business identity theft. The problem has not gone away. Earlier this week, California's Department of Business Oversight issued a warning about company that is impersonating itself as a licensed lender in order to perpetuate an advance loan fee scam.
An advance loan fee scam targets people with bad credit and promises (but does not deliver) loans in exchange for a fee. The Federal Trade Commission has identified the following "sure fire" signs of these scams: