Borrower beware: Common loan scams and how to avoid them

The report outlines common loan fraud schemes—including advance-fee scams, student and payday loan fraud, phishing-based data harvesting, repayment impersonation, identity theft, and malicious “SpyLoan” mobile apps—highlighting who is most at risk and how scammers operate. It provides practical defenses such as researching lenders, avoiding upfront fees, using anti-malware and MFA, limiting app permissions and downloading only from official stores, watching for red flags (unsolicited contact, pressure tactics, mismatched domains), and reporting to authorities like the FTC or CFPB.