Advance America
Complaint 122017 Details

I had applied for a payday loan online and had been accepted by other companies. Last week, someone called me from "GE Moneybank" and said i was approved for a personal loan in the amount of $2000. They had all my information including address, phone #, banking info. and social security #. I don't know how they got all that info unless one of the places i had applied to in the past had given my info to them or what. They said to go buy a "green dot prepaid card" and put my first payment on there and to call back and they would verify i did that and then put the $2000 on there and give me a pin #. So i did unfortunately. I called back and they said it is friday so they were working on it and to call back. I did and they hung up on me. I called green dot and filed a complaint but they called me back on monday the 4th and said they could not retrieve the funds and that someone else had activated the card and spent the money. So, since they couldnt recover the money, they told me that the case is closed and that i have been a victim of fraud. So, on tuesday the 5th, the peple from "Ge Moneybank" called and said they had my pin and that they were a legitamate company because i questioned what happened and why does green dot say you already spent my money. They tried to say yes they took money for the payment. So, she gave me a pin #. I went to try and see if it worked and of course it didn't. I called them back and she said i selected wrong, supposed to select "savings" button not the "credit" button like i chose. So, now supposedely the card was stopped according to them because i used it wrong and now the card was stopped or flagged for wrong use. She then asked me to go purchase another card and put another $100 on it and call her back and then she would have a new pin for me and that all the money would be back on there, the $2000 loan, $200 payment, and $100 payment. I said no of course and asked for a refund of my original $200. She said there is a $80 cancellation fee. I asked how to i pay for the $80 cancellation fee and she said put it on another "green dot card". That is where i said nevermind, you are obviously scamming me. She assured me she wasn't and gave me another name "Advance America",1-813-667-0514, 2003 Warrinton way, Tampa, Florida, 33619. I called tampa sherriffs dept. and found out it is a residence not a business and was ordered to file a report with IC3.gov and put fraud alerts on credit and close my bank account. I have successfully filed fraud alerts but everytime i try and file on the IC3.gov website it always says their website is taking too long to load, so try again and i do without success. Last, I am a single 38 year old disabled father of one 13 year old boy and am on social security disability.