by Millie P » Tue Jan 19, 2010 04:22:22 AM
Unfortunately there is none.
The police won't do much. About six or seven years ago a waitress asked me for help after she had been scammed by a fake investment company. In total there was about 14-16 victims all in amounts between $30-80k and the fraud division took a report but in the end they did nothing. I doubt someone could motivate them to do anything about something like this.
Craiglist doesn't do anything about the prostitution ads which on the legal hierarchy trump sketchy fraud loans so I don't see them doing anything about this.
It is basically no different than modeling agencies that find girls at malls and promise them futures but first they need to buy pictures, make-up, and pay for lessons. Complete BS as any legitimate agency who actually believes you have a future pays for all that. This scam has been going on since I was a teen and no one has done anything. Likewise, paying for employment scams have been going on for at least twenty year where agencies promise to get you a job if you pay a fee. Again nothing has ever been done about it and they operate with impunity.