Update
Nationstar confirmed that the letter was from their refinancing department. They did not comment on my opinion that it looked like a phishing scam. I appreciate the reply. My original post is below.
This week I received a refi solicitation letter from what appears to be my loan servicer Nationstar Mortgage. However three things struck me as odd and make it look like a phishing scam. Anyone with time and some web skills could easily do the following and that’s what makes it suspect.
It arrived in a USPS flat rate envelope instead of the usual business reply envelope.- The letter instructs me to go to a third party url with my name attached to it located at http://nsmrefi.com/ also the phone number is not listed their official website.
- When logging into my account dashboard this letter doesn’t appear anywhere as an offer or in my inbox.
After a few Google and DuckDuckGo searches I found hints that the url may be legitimate. A phone number lookup says it belongs to Nationstar Mortgage as well as a search for that domain. However, those could easily be planted online using simple SEO techniques. Phishing scams are profitable and it’s important do a little research before visiting a url or phone number and submitting personal information.
Consider this, I could just as easily copy the text from any legitimate letter, secure an official looking domain address and phone number then redirect all web traffic from any subdomain name to phishing page.
Apparently that’s what’s happening here because these urls also work and I doubt they’ve received letters.
jigglypuff-is-my-homeboy.nsmrefi.com/
Be safe and consider the following
- Is it actually sending you to the official website?
- Is it referencing a phone number listed on their official website?
- Did you ask for refinance information from your lender?
A quick note
Nationstar Mortgage has been my account servicer for well over a year and I haven’t had any problems or concerns that wasn’t immediately resolved when I’ve contacted them with questions. My intention with this post is not to defame them in any way. Simply alert other consumers to be careful when receiving unsolicited offers. Please contact your mortgage lender directly via their official website or phone number.
I’ve emailed Nationstar Mortgage via my account dashboard providing a copy of the letter and my concerns that it looks suspicious. I’ll update this post when they reply.
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