The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) warns consumers to verify the license of any escrow company they are considering doing business with. You can verify a Washington escrow license by calling the DFI at 1-877-RING DFI (746-4334) or online at www.dfi.wa.gov.

DFI received a report of an apparent scam conducted by an entity called First Assets American. A Washington State consumer was contacted by First Assets American to finalize a purported timeshare transaction. First Assets American collected several payments from the consumer totaling above forty thousand dollars and sent the consumer contractual paperwork related to its escrow services. However, after it became apparent that the timeshare transaction was fraudulent the consumer attempted to get her funds returned from First Assets American, which became non-responsive.

This apparent scam was associated with the following contact information:

Website Employed: http://www.firstassetsamerican.com
Website Contact Name: Jesus Alberto Perez Castro
Contact Number: 52-669-122-4411
Email Address: cosanchez@mail.com

Tel. Number that Appears in Website: 602-483-6910
Tel. Number Account Registered to: Juan Jose Arellano Hernandez
Address Associated with Tel. Number: Sierra Rumorosa No. 300
Lomas De Mazatlan, Sin, CP 82110
Secondary Contact Tel. Number: 669-112-0520

DFI cautions that persons and entities involved in fraudulent activities often engage in certain practices that indicate they are committing a fraud or otherwise violating Washington State law. For instance, such entities often use non-business email addresses (such as @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, or other similar easily obtained email addresses) to send correspondence, threaten legal or criminal action if consumers do not reply immediately, or contain a variety of typographical and spelling errors in their correspondence to consumers.

However, at times e-mails or letters from the entities engaging in fraudulent activity will contain accurate personal information about the intended victim; such as current or past addresses, active phone numbers, or social security numbers. The Department encourages consumers who receive such communications containing personal information to contact their banks, credit reporting agencies, and the Social Security Administration to ensure there is no unauthorized activity on their accounts.

In all circumstances, DFI also strongly suggests verifying the identity of any person or entity that is requesting personal or financial information, or attempting to collect funds.

Report Fraud

Washington State residents, if you are suspicious of unlicensed activity by an escrow company please contact the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions at 1-877-RING-DFI (746-4334), or online at www.dfi.wa.gov.

If you live in another state, find your state regulator(link is external).

If you feel you have been the victim of a loan scam please contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) or online at www.ftc.gov(link is external); or contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (855) 411-CFPB or online atwww.consumerfinance.gov(link is external). Because the scammers have access to bank account information and social security numbers, victims should consider themselves victims of identity theft and take appropriate precautions. The Federal Trade Commission has information for victims of identity theft available online at www.ftc.gov(link is external).

If you feel you have been the victim of a loan scam involving the Internet please contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center online at www.ic3.gov(link is external).

If you feel you have been the victim of a loan scam and are concerned about your personal financial information, contact your banking institution, and the three major credit bureaus.