Unsolicited repeated emails with a loan offer - is it a scam?

Question

(I believe that this is an appropriate topic, but I'm not sure given that it could just be simple malware infection or harvesting of personal details. If not I'm happy to be redirected to a more appropriate site).

I run a small single person LLC and of course I have a website with my email address on it. As such I get all sorts of spam and generally filter it out, block and delete it. However, there is one type of spam that I regularly receive that puzzles me (and the changing email addresses and domains allow it to keep slipping through my filters). These are the offers for business financing loans that typically like this:

^{(I'm not going to dignify this post with the actual details of the "company" as I know it's fraudulent - unless you really really want to know)}

Your pre-approval includes access to up to $365,000 in available funding that could support your business through the rest of the year. I’m here to help you explore which financing option makes the most sense for you.

You could get access to funds in as little as 24–48 hours and use them for things like inventory, payroll, or emergencies.

• No credit checks
• No collateral needed
• No obligations to explore options

These come in from every direction with different companies, different amounts on offer, and from different "people". They all have a button for to "get funding today" that points to an obfuscated web address, the domain the email comes from doesn't seem to exist, and the physical address on the email points to a building where some company is offering "virtual office space".

I know that these have to be scams of some sort (and I never consider replying to them), but what is the typical scam going on here? Is it:

• The money is real but at an exorbitant interest rate?

• The money doesn't exist and they're trying to harvest my info?

• The money doesn't exist and they're trying to sell me something else?

• It's a straight up malware attack?

Answer 1

The other answer mentioned this, but this is a common setup to an advance-fee scam. See also here for another example. If you go along with it, they'll initially ask you for a small fee (likely presented as an application fee, insurance fee, or other similar plausible-looking fee) to process the loan. If you pay that, they'll likely either find another fee you need to pay before you can get the money or simply disappear with the money.

Another variety is that they'll send you money, claim that they overpaid you and that you need to send some of the money back, and then reverse the original transaction (leaving you "out" however much money you sent them). See here or here for examples.

I suppose that it is possible that this is a malware attack or attempted identity theft, but I'd be more inclined to think that it was one of the two scams I just mentioned.

Note that scams are not necessarily mutually exclusive, so it's possible that they'll attempt, for example, both identity theft and an advance-fee scam.

Answer 2

Most likely you’ll visit their website and be accepted for funding, but just have to pay a modest “application fee” or “release fee” up-front before the funding is actually made available. And of course after you’ve paid the fee, they’ll disappear.