A long-running Belize City business is sounding the alarm over a coordinated loan scam that has already cheated multiple local consumers out of their money, as fraudsters abuse social media platforms to impersonate the company’s legitimate lending services. Doony’s, which has offered in-person instant payday loans to local residents for more than two decades, has confirmed that scammers have created a fake social media profile mimicking its brand to trick victims into sending advance payments in exchange for promised loans that never materialize.
Chinique Kemp, a customer service representative for Doony’s, told reporters this week that multiple affected customers have visited the company’s physical store to follow up on their loan applications, only to discover they had sent money to criminal actors operating outside the business. “We have observed that a lot of customers are coming in and talking to us about money that they have transferred, and we do not do business like that,” Kemp said in an interview. “We’re actually living in an era where technology now is being used to deceive people.”
The fraudulent scheme lures victims with a false promise: applicants who deposit a $100 advance fee to a scammer-controlled account are told they will receive a larger instant loan in return. But Kemp emphasized that this model has never aligned with Doony’s actual operating policies, which have remained consistent since the business launched more than 20 years ago.
“Do we do instant payday loans? Yes, absolutely,” Kemp clarified. “But we do not ask you to transfer any money into any account to access those loans.”
Kemp added that this is not the first time similar fraudulent impersonation scams targeting Doony’s customers have been documented. The company has already reported previous incidents of this scam to local law enforcement and regulatory authorities, and is encouraging any consumer who has interacted with the fake social media page or sent money to scammers to file an official report as soon as possible.
To avoid falling victim to the scam, Doony’s reminded the public that all of its loan services require an in-person visit to its physical Belize City location, and the business will never request advance online transfers or deposits from prospective borrowers. Consumers who spot the fake page or receive suspicious outreach claiming to be from Doony’s are encouraged to report the content to the social media platform and alert the legitimate business directly.