NORFOLK
The Better Business Bureau of Greater Hampton Roads Inc. issued a warning Thursday regarding a business that gives a Norfolk address and has requested advance fees for loans from people nationwide.
Since Monday, the BBB has received more than 150 inquiries about Broadway Lending Group, which is citing the address of 740 Duke St., near downtown, said Rosemary Nye, vice president of operations at the local BBB.
"It's not uncommon for fraudulent companies that quickly set up in an area to use an existing address, and not actually be located at that particular address," Nye said.
Mark Warlick, senior vice president of S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co., which is the leasing agent for the building on Duke Street, said he was not aware of any tenant by that name. Broadway Lending wasn't on the building directory.
"They do not have a lease with the owner of the building," Warlick said.
Bobby Ross, who manages the building, said Broadway Lending has "no connection to our building."
The company is allegedly offering financial loans via its Web site, which late Thursday afternoon was not working.
Based on the BBB's findings, potential customers were asked by Broadway Lending to fill out an online application. Afterward, they were contacted by an individual saying he or she was a senior loan consultant and the prospective borrower was asked to send a Western Union money-gram to Canada, prior to the loan release.
Broadway Lending is not registered with the State Office of Consumer Affairs, but it doesn't have to be because it is not offering to repair credit, Nye said. It also isn't licensed with the state Bureau of Financial Institutions, which is required by law, she added.
Nye said the BBB hasn't received any local complaints. Nationally, individual consumers claim to have lost as much as $2,500 to the company.
Nye said she's working with Phonebusters, a Canadian anti-fraud call center, and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the claims.
"The whole idea," she said, "is to try to get them stopped."
Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 446-2643, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com