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Advance Fee Loan - Business Line of Credit Scam

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Advance Fee Loan - Business Line of Credit Scam Reports & Reviews (17)

- Newport Beach, CA, USA • May 11, 2025
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Case History:

01/16/2025 : A line of credit was approved by Everbright Financials for $275,000

01/21/2025 : Issue detected in my loan approval file and that needs to be fixed immediately and email sent by Brayn Martinez (the Underwriter)

01/21/2025: I spoke to the underwriter and he told me that , since our business credit score is low, we need to boost the business credit score. He referred to a MCA loan company(Better Funding Group) to get a loan of $15,000 and pay off $22,485 ASAP. So that would boost our business credit score.

01/23/2025 Signed a contract with Better Funding Group(BFG) for an MCA loan and they deducted $1124 from our Bank of America account

01/24/25 : Brayan (underwriter) asked me to pay off the full balance which shows our credibility. I paid off the full amount on 01/24/25 . Bryan mentioned that he will get a payment history report for 5 days (5 payments) since has a connection with NFG Account dept. BFG will submit a tradeline report to the credit bureau for this pay off.

01/27/25. I received a ZERO balance letter from BFG and but Bryan(Underwriter) was not able to arrange a payment history letter with 5 payments from the account dept and our business credit score did not boost up and we didn't get a loan.

I asked for a refund but they are not responding to my email.

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- Aurora, CO, USA
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They issued a LOC for $200K to $620K, and the upfront cost was a surety bond at $20,500, I negotiated it down to $15,500, they issued a portal to access the funds, and no funds were ever transferred. Attempts to reach Charles via phone and email starting at the start of Passover have gone unanswered.

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- Roseville, CA, USA
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Initially contacted by Benjamin via text regarding a broker had submitted our file to Riverway Funding Group and it’s approved for credit line of $845K. Contract received from lead underwriter “Axel Pennington” in order for credit line to be release the origination payment which will include surety bond in the amount of $21,125 2% of the total credit line has to be paid upfront. Which I had inform them to deduct from the so said credit line if there is one.

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- Centerton, AR, USA
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I was offered a revolving line of credit for 475000.00 for my bussiness and was asked to send 1% to get it activated in 3..4 hours i wired the money and than was told 24 hours wait and than more paperwork send all the paperwork and than he didnt answer phone finally when i got hold him told him i want to opt out of the program and refund my money that was it since then its been 2 weeks no answer of calls ,emails he answer if called from other number and than hang up phone as soon hear my voice.

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- Snellville, GA, USA
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We were trying to obtain a line of credit for our business and [email protected] reached out and said that we were approved. They had us take out a tradeline loan for $10K make 5 payments and pay it off early to make our Paydex score go up and then they asked for $3750 after they sent us a fake dashboard showing our account was open. None of this was true. The only number I have right now is James at 212-540-0618

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- Washington, DC, USA
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I am a business owner (***********************) who was looking to get a line of credit. I was called by a company called Bluestar Financials (https://bluestarfinancials.com/) and offered a line of credit for $175,000.

Since my business is relatively new, I was told that I would need to get a merchant cash advance from a company called Platinum Advances (https://platinumadvances.com/) and pay it off in order to have the business credit required for the underwriting. The merchant cash advance was offered under extremely poor terms that no reasonable person would ever accept if not tricked into it (receive $15,000 to pay back $22,495 within 20 business days, with daily draws. After a $3,000 "underwriting fee", this actually becomes receive $12,000 to pay back $22,495).

On the phone with the Bluestar rep, I told them this sounded like a bad deal and I was ensured that getting this advance, making at least 5 payments, and then paying off the advance is what was required to establish the business credit and make myself eligible for the $175,000 credit line. After getting the MCA (merchant cash advance) and paying it off, John Ross (underwriter) and James Austin (junior underwriter) at Bluestar Financials stopped responding to my calls and texts and effectively left me hanging after they had taken my money.

I did some digging at this point and discovered that Bluestar Financials is not registered with the Secretary of State and appears to be a bait-and-switch operation that is designed to funnel leads into Platinum Advances under false pretenses. The main point of contact at Platinum advances is Mike Khava (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-khava-b920b3189). It appears to me that the entire thing is orchestrated by Mike and Joe (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-abraham-303321186/) in order to lure people into a deal that no reasonable person would ever take.

I was skeptical from the beginning so I have audio recordings of every conversation I ever had with Mike, John, and James. I also have all my email records and text records. I also have an audio recording of going to the Address that was listed on the Bluestar Financials website (90 Broad St, New York, NY 10004), and being told that neither Bluestar Financials nor Platinum Advances exists at that address.

Through this scheme, I was duped out of $10,495. I have undeniable evidence of fraud and misrepresentation to this end, and am seeking to do whatever I can to recover this loss. I was duped into signing a contract under the Platinum Advances brand. I want it to be very very clear that I signed this contract under false pretenses, and that I can very easily prove that. I can also very easily prove that Mike collaborated with John and James knowingly.

I would estimate that Mike will try to claim that he simply recieved my business as a lead from an ISO (independent search organization). That is not the case, and I can prove it.

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- Broomall, PA, USA
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We were sent via email an application for a line of credit with terms for $250,000.00. Filed the application, and was rewarded the line of credit. Contracts were sent and signed. Part of the stipulations of the contract were to gain access to the line of credit, an upfront closing cost be paid in the amount of $10,500.00. This was paid via wire transfer to a beneficiary's bank account. Once it was confirmed they received the closing cost funds the line of credit was to be accessible for withdrawals. It was never accessible at all and non-existent and the company/ persons has discontinued all contact and has never issued any money back or the line of credit it was contracted for. Our bank tried to get a reversal of the wire transfer and the beneficiary's bank told us that the beneficiary refused to send back the funds. This company/ persons are fake and fraudulent and accepted a domestic wire transfer, for purposes outside of all contractual documents.

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- West Hempstead, NY, USA
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Funding Tree Group contacted me via email stating my business was approved me for a line of credit for $600k. I completed the final application and provided bank statements and was notified to access the LOC I must first take out a business loan in the amount of $14000 and pay the loan offer the bank to report the payment to Dun and Brandstreet. Once the loan was paid off I would be able to access the LOC and draw on the Line for working capital. I completed all the steps and the company took my payment for the LOC and disappeared, emails are bouncing back and phone numbers were disconnected. I reported the scam to the police. These predatory lending practices are plaguing small business owners in search for capital as they wait for client payments.

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- Olathe, KS, USA
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Company has two people calling to offer a line of credit with good terms. however, in order to get it, you have to pre-pay closing costs for supposed "surerty bonds" issued to protect them from defaults. I did that, and they opened up a web site for me to supposedly draw off my line of credit. However, it would not allow me to take any money. A few days later, they shut down my access to the site. Two people are contacts, neither will respond to phone calls, texts, or emails. A Paul Acer - ph. 424-353-5612 or a

Richard Collins 424-369-6198. Beware - of the very few times i have talked to them, i received a pile of promises, will return calls (never do), will "get to the bottom of it" (never do) , etc. For ex. last night , weird text from paul acer - "hey , do you have a minute" . never heard from him again!

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Once again, sorry. I forgot to mention the amount of money Collins needed to offer the $3.5 M line of credit---$67,200. Criminals.

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Sorry promised our company a $3.5M line of credit.

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Richard Collins reached out to us under New Bridge Capital. He promised a $.5 line of credit with the requirement of a pre-payment closing cost for the "surety bond". Thankfully, we have an amazing bank and fraud department. There were many red flags our bank was concerned about this transaction. With our permission, the fraud department did some searching and realized this was a scam. I believed New Bridge Capital was a New York based company, however, it is not filed with the NY Secretary of State. When I asked Mr. Collins for the documents, we were told he would send them ONCE the money was in their NEW YORK Account. Red Flag Both Mr. Collins and his CEO, John Hinsey have phone numbers with the 424 area code. Red Flag, It is a Los Angeles area code. In fact, when I googled Hinsey's number it came up as The Feed Foundation. Both our attorney and bank told us to stop communication with Collins and any of his associates immediately. The fraud department suggested we report this to the FBI. We did. Again, we are so thankful for the great team at our bank. Unfortunately, there are many scams like this and our bank and the fraud department work diligently to ferret out these scammers to protect their customers. We were also told any 'third party lender" to send their way so they can investigate to make sure it is legit. Best of luck with your business.

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- Palmetto, FL, USA
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They pretend to offer a business line of credit. They ask to send 2000 to set up portal. Once you send the 2000 they say you will receive an email from the portal within 2 hours but will give you the run around for 2 days and then block you.

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Offered $650,000 business line of credit. Said I had to take Merchant Funding of $39,000..paid weekly. Said they would deposit $17,000 into my account...needed to to send back full $37,000 to get business some credit on D&B, then would have access to money via portal.

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The company offered a business line of credit. Closing costs for the loan were to be paid by the recipient. No loan was ever made available

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- Newport Beach, CA, USA
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I WAS APPROVED AND TO RECEIVE A LINE OF CREDIT FOR MY BUSINESS, BUT FIRST MUST COMPLETE A PERFORMANCE ADVANCE WHERE I PAID 17000 TO SHOW COMPLETED. I NEVER RECEIVED THE LINE OF CREDIT AND COULD NOT GET ANYONE AT WALL CREDIT CAPITAL TO RETURN CALLS, TEXTS, OR EMAILS. I HAVE SINCE FOUND OTHER BUSINESS SCAMMED THE SAME WAY.

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Contact me if you would. Lost triple what you did. [email protected]

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