Note: in the following text, "-------" means "Prosper". A while ago, Prosper changed "Prosper" to "-------" in all group names containing the word "Prosper", so I am referring to this platform as "-------" as a mild for of civil disobedience. Now on to the real meat of the matter:
_________________________________________________________________

I posted this originally on the real forums here, but was encouraged to post this here as well.

Over two months ago (March 7, specifically), I notified ------- that this listing, on which I'd bid a considerable (for me) sum and is now 3+ months late, was possibly created as a result of identity theft. This listing was discussed here.

Why I did that: After the loan went late, I figured out the borrower's name (look at his userID and take a wild guess); Google turned up some information suggesting that the borrower had had his identity stolen, and a few phone calls to the NYPD validated the hypothesis. I obtained the name of the police detective assigned to this borrower's ID-theft case, and confirmed via a phone call to the detective that there had in fact been an ID theft case filed by this borrower.

On March 7, I e-mailed ------- providing the listing ID, the name, address, and phone number of the borrower (found via Google), the name, address, and phone number of the NYPD detective investigating the case, and the police complaint number. I asked Prosper to do due diligence and confirm by calling the detective that there was ID theft involved.

On April 10, having heard nothing from -------, I called the detective again, and confirmed that ------- had not contacted him. I then e-mailed Witchel directly and provided the ------- case ID, to give him a heads up that over a month had passed, and nothing had been done. No response, of course.

Today, May 8, two months later, I spoke with the detective again, who confirmed that ------- had still not contacted him. The detective went so far as to fax me the police complaint, showing that the borrower had reported to the NYPD that his identity had been stolen. I will scan and e-mail that document to ------- tomorrow.

I can understand that I've made no friends among ------- management because of my scandalous participation in the 2M wars; nor am I saying that ------- has to buy back the loan simply because I bring to their attention the documented fact that the borrower has been the victim of ID theft, but I think I am justified in being majorly pissed off that nobody at ------- has in over two months apparently even taken the first step to doing due diligence in investigating this issue. Maybe PoloniusNot's breaking the Hi_Max fraud got more attention from ------- because it got a lot of publicity on the fora.

What I am doing: I have paused my SO and am suspending all bidding until ------- convinces me that this listing was not the result of identity theft or buys back the loan. Moreover, I have $7500 scheduled to transfer in on May 10, and will schedule a transfer out for that amount plus the nearly $1500 currently in my account. I'm glad I got my bids in on the Malama Ohana listing before I quit!

I'm sorry if I sound bitter and disillusioned, but on top of of all the other really corporate-icidal things that ------ has done of late, this has been the last straw.

I think prosper's response was to remove city and name information from listings to make it harder to find this stuff out by lenders

I'm really sorry, Leporello. Did you ever get ANY response from ANYONE at Prosper? It really shocks me that NO ONE would respond. If Prosper hampers lenders from doing due diligence, and fails to follow up on clear, documented fraud, they're in trouble.

I like the idea of Prosper very much, but as the horror stories continue to mount, I rethink each time I run out of money in my account.

Please let me know what happens.....

ETA: Lep, I posted in the other forum......

I never got ANY response from ANYone at -------. Not to my initial notification, not to my personal e-mail to Witchel, not to anything. Today, I am faxing them a letter, along with the police complaint demanding that they buy back this loan.

Needless to say, I will not lend any more on ------- unless
(1) this loan is bought back, or
(2) ------- convinces me that this loan is NOT the result of identity theft.

It's possible that they didn't want to create a paper trail....did you try to call them instead (although that is sometimes easier said than done!)?

I'd ask John Witchel about it on his blog, of course he'll just ignore you there too probably, but at least the information will be right there for everyone else.

Yeah I agree that the whole "taking the city" away thing has more to do with ------- trying to keep lenders out of the fraud finding pool than it does with "privacy".

sincerely,

[edited for privacy]

Turns out that brancy beat me to it! Great idea! Thanks for the suggestion.

Is he "verified" for access to the lender only thread? If not, someone should give him access or add a link to this thread to his blog.

Chris Larsen announced at Prosper Days identity theft loans would be reimbursed to the lenders. I looked him right in the eye and he appeared genuinely sincere about his concern to fix the problem. Is it possible so many proven ID theft cases are showing up, Prosper does not want to honor the commitment?

It is inexcusable not to investigate an obvious fraud case after being given so much help. Stopping lenders from doing due diligence is just another hindrance. Prosper should be pleased that lenders care more about their money than Prosper and take the time to check facts.

One by one Prosper is losing the lenders that care. It is the lenders that endured the pain of lack of information that enabled Prosper to grow so large in a little over a year. The older lenders joined Prosper on little more than faith. The newbies are benefiting from our trials and tribulations. I feel Prosper is pushing out the old guard because we know what questions to ask. We know the things that need fixing. We know where Prosper is dropping the ball.

With the old guard gone, Prosper can get newbies with fresh portfolios to publicize how wonderful everything is going. Since I was very welcome during the days of limited information and under performing portfolio, I was hoping to also be around with improved information and over performing portfolio.

The early lenders are the base that enabled the Prosper house to grow. If Prosper destroys the base, the house has to topple. Prosper please keep your house strong. Listen to what the experienced lenders are saying. We are committed. We want our money safe. We do care.

He made that quote standing from a stage in front of 300 people. Hard to look somebody "right in the eye" and judge sincerity.

Very possible. Frankly, I thought it was a very dumb offer for Prosper to make, for just that very reason. I thought they painted themselves into a corner with that. But now that they made the promise, it is ethical to keep it.

If due diligence cannot be completed, you no longer have a real investment vehicle.

I don't really care if they are pleased or not. But they have to understand that a rational investor is going to check things out. And expect the company to follow through with its "sincere" promises.

Frankly, I find leporello's story to be quite a bummer. And I hadn't yet recovered from the last bummer story I heard, or the one before that.

I wonder if it's just too late now for Prosper to put good a good spin on this. So much goodwill capital was spent from propping up the mega-Groups, that patience really does seem in short supply.

His blog isn't in the "verified" section, and I like having an area where lenders can honestly discuss issues without ------- Management throwing in their perspective, if I want that, I'd post the info here...

http://prospers.org/blogs/jwitchel

bdags' point was that on the blog someone linked him to the thread in the verified lenders section. If he doesn't have access to that section, then he can't read the link.

Wow. Just wow. Everytime I think I'm back they... pull... me... out... again (to turn a phrase).

This is scandalous. 2Mil/HiMax/FAN were bad enough, these were instances of dirtbags taking advantage of borrowers to make a quick easy buck and Prosper's willingness and encouragement of their actions. that was morally reprehensible.

This, however, is criminal. Prosper has had months to make this a prime example of their ability and willingess to crack down on fraud. They should have busted this, provided detailed info to the police, and shown up on boards massively touting their willingess to stop fraud. We should have been cheering. Instead we're sobbing.

Prosper has no future, i'm more convinced of that now than ever before. Its not a failure of concept, the concept was great. Its not a failure of participation, there are tons of active and enthusiastic lenders and borrowers. Its a failure of management, and that's the real tragedy.

Jeff "swan song" D.

The only "good" explanation would be that Prosper is working with some other agency (say, FBI) which isn't sharing with this NYPD detective, to investigate/prosecute this.

Now, off to make an offer on a bridge that's going pretty cheap! :blink:

You have every right to be bitter and disillusioned.

I can imagine it's extremely frustrating to do all this work for Propser, just to see them ignore it. Then they make a change to prevent people from doing this type of investigative work in the future too.

You deserve some sort of response, regardless of what the response is.

I've been starting to question the viability of Prosper as a company more and more, and hearing this story has put me over the edge. I've been making three or four transfers into my propser account every month, which I will now be stopping. I feel confident in my loan picking abilities. I do not feel confident in Prosper as a company.

Hopefully they will turn things around, but they will have to do a lot to gain back lender's trust.

What's up The Grey??

Any news of our special lady?

right, but I thought I still answered the question, I'd just point him to the official forum.

*sigh*

I just sent a Prosper message to HardLender, ARaja, Jbox-Capital, CoachRB, Shark, and rwm684 notifying them of this thread. All of them have sizable bids on this listing.

If it were me, the next step would be legal action of some kind and also notifying some press publications of that action.

Agreed. Prosper has made extra effor to control its image in the financial press. Money, smartmoney, and WSJ have all done glowing reviews. its time the press was clued in to the real Prosper so readers can make informed decisions.

Jeff "Informed decisions... sound nice Prosper?" D.

I have begun emailing this to each lender that is on that loan:

Dear Prosper Lender,

As you may or may not be aware, Prosper has a 100% Identity Theft Guarantee. I?m contacting you because you a lender on listing 52859. The following paragraphs are from the official Prosper forums, where lender Leporello has stated his case that this listing, which is currently 3+ months late, has been a case of identity theft:

?Over two months ago (March 7, specifically), I notified Prosper that this listing, https://www.prosper.com/lend/listing.aspx?listingID=52859 , on which I'd bid a considerable (for me) sum and is now 3+ months late, was possibly created as a result of identity theft. This listing was discussed here, http://forums.prosper.com/index.php?showtopic=20322 .

Why I did that: After the loan went late, I figured out the borrower's name (look at his userID and take a wild guess); Google turned up some information suggesting that the borrower had had his identity stolen, and a few phone calls to the NYPD validated the hypothesis. I obtained the name of the police detective assigned to this borrower's ID-theft case, and confirmed via a phone call to the detective that there had in fact been an ID theft case filed by this borrower.

On March 7, I e-mailed Prosper providing the listing ID, the name, address, and phone number of the borrower (found via Google), the name, address, and phone number of the NYPD detective investigating the case, and the police complaint number. I asked Prosper to do due diligence and confirm by calling the detective that there was ID theft involved.

On April 10, having heard nothing from Prosper, I called the detective again, and confirmed that Prosper had not contacted him. I then e-mailed (John) Witchel (Prosper CTO) directly and provided the Prosper case ID, to give him a heads up that over a month had passed, and nothing had been done. No response, of course.

Today, May 8, two months later, I spoke with the detective again, who confirmed that Prosper had still not contacted him. The detective went so far as to fax me the police complaint, showing that the borrower had reported to the NYPD that his identity had been stolen. I will scan and e-mail that document to Prosper tomorrow.?

Prosper 100% Identity Theft Guarantee states: ?If you are a lender who suspects that one of your loans belongs to a person who has committed identity theft, please contact customer support and include the loan number and the reason you suspect identity theft.? You may wish to email customer support and link to the forum thread (link located below).

Link to above quoted thread: http://forums.prosper.com/index.php?showtopic=25131
Link to ID theft guarantee: http://www.prosper.com/security/identity_f..._guarantee.aspx

I've emailed everyone that is accepting messages on the loan (except Leporello).


This post has been edited by cubbiesnextyr on May-9-2007 08:05 AM

Hey olwagner...

No word about our special lady. I'm guessing she burned through all our money and is out looking for some poor sap to leach off of now.

I'm still waiting for that loan to default and get sold. It's quite old now. I have about 53 loans now, and she is 1 of my only 2 lates.

Thanks, Cubbies.

I mailed Janeybooboo, especially given that her name came up in this bit of investigative journalism.

From the Wired article:

And.... that Wired article allows for comments. Duck and cover!

I am one of the bidders on this and really appreciate the time you are spending on it. I just contacted Prosper asking them to investigate this as I would like my money back if its identity theft.

Shawn

Yep. No doubt that she's looking for a sugar daddy. It also seems pretty obvious that she's gonna be unsuccessful at it.

She really should go back to whatever job she claimed to have when she passed verification (I think she claimed $35,000 - not sure) - if she ever had a job indeed.

I've already received 5 responses telling me they've contacted CS about this loan. If something isn't done about it....

they'll look into it right after they sell loan #571

And yet here it sits in thh forums, with all the attention that -------[edited for privacy] has to go through and edit things, with NO attention.

I will report the topic, that should get someone here...

I reported the thread, saying "This needs attention" it is 1pm EST.

This post has been edited by SCI on May-9-2007 09:01 AM

JW has apparently contacted leprello - 3 (or 4) emails and 2 months after P----r first being contacted........

Yes, but NOW the cat is out of the bag, and needs attention.

And this cat demands fresh tuna! (Where is The Cat when you need him?)

I have 100% faith that had leprello merely emailed/mailed/called P----r again, he would have gotten the same response as the other emails. It's sad it takes a public flogging to get attention.

I agree, but with ------- I have learned that this gets results. Not always progress, but at least results.

ETA: Hey -------Brian! Wow! That took 5 minutes! Nice to see that SOMEONE will see this now :D

EATA: He was here for a few minutes, long enough to read all of the OP, so we'll see what happens now.

This post has been edited by SCI on May-9-2007 09:10 AM

How many crap storms does P-----r have to weather before they change things.

Come on P-----r, bite the bullet, spend the money, do the right thing!! You will start getting some bad press soon if you don't fix this.

Glad to see you Prosper Brian. I can assure you this issue of ID theft that Leporello brought to Prosper's attention months ago is as big, if not a bigger issue to lenders than the 2 Millionaires thread.

Fortunately, I am not on that particular loan, but ALL ID theft notices should be investigated. Making it more difficult for lenders to sniff out frauds is like pouring gasoline on a fire. WE NEED MORE INFO NOT LESS.

Please respond.

The 2mill thing pales in comparison to this.



Edited to change perils to pales. LOL

I await Prosper's side of this story with great interest...

I think you mean "pales"?

Wow. I've been hitting jwitchel on the head pretty regularly about the customer service non-responsiveness. It is one thing to not respond to a simple borrower question, but this really takes it to a whole new level.

I understand that there are privacy and security issues at play here, but there is no excuse for not jumping right on this issue--and not even sending a courtesy response to let you know that they're working on it.

I've added my voice to the calls for a quick Prosper response. This is huge.

I agree. I didn't care about the 2mil issue, and generally thought it got much more attention then it deserved.

I REALLY care about how propser handles this issue though.

:o

...Gulp

I can only agree.

I also believe that this case is only the small part of the iceberg that is indeed visible. Since we have very little info about the borrowers, it is very difficult to undercover a case of ID theft (=> hidden side of the iceberg)

Hello -------Andrew! This IS starting to get some attention.

That's it! I transferred money yesterday. I'm transferring it back! I'm outta here and Prosper will only be a bad memory.

DONE!

Why wouldn't I listen to all these veteran prosper people.

Later all, nice meeting you.

No kidding. :(

If this proves to be true, all I can say is Negligence.

I wish I had the knowledge to email each and every Prosper lender this thread. We have a true suspected ID theft. We have a case number. We have a police report. We have a detective working on the case.

WE HAVE NO RESPONSE FROM PROSPER

Even if Prosper only has one part-time employee working ID fraud cases; all the legwork has been done. We need a answers.

Hi leporello et al.,

We have a record of your report of this listing from March 7, and also a record of our response on the same day, which was:

Our fraud department has been investigating the loan and are in contact with law enforcement authorities. At this time, however, we cannot comment on any details of this investigation.

As described in our 100% Identity Theft Guarantee, if a lender is the victim of a defaulted loan from a person who has committed identity theft, Prosper will repurchase the loan for the unpaid principal amount.

Best regards,
Andrew