North Carolina has become the latest state in which the bogus "Heartland Credit Union" is advertising its scam offer.
A similar scam has been attempted in at least 13 other states.
The Daily Record here was contacted by parties representing the fake credit union seeking to place advertising offering loans and financial assistance. Consumers who have been duped by this scam in the past are asked to send funds to the "credit union" to be approved for the "loan."
There are three legitimate Heartland CUs in the U.S. (Springfield, Ill., St. Paul, Minn. and Madison, Wis.) but none in North Carolina.
According to the North Carolina league, whoever is behind the fake credit union submitted a false business license with the state seal of North Carolina on it along with copy for a classified ad. The league said it has asked newspaper advertising staff to contact law enforcement and the league if other such faxed ad requests come in.
One week earlier, at least three Wisconsin newspapers were contacted by an individual who tried to place an ad for Advantage CU, a legitimate, Onalaska, Wis.-based credit union that was not attempting to place the ads.
