INUVIK - An Inuvik business owner would like his name cleared after con artists in the United States used his company's Inuvik address on their fake paperwork.

Gerry Hamilton is the president of Haylor Financial Services in Inuvik. He first became aware of the scam last Monday when a woman from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. contacted him with questions.

Inuvik accountant Gerry Hamilton was somewhat surprised when he received a call asking if he worked with McFee Advisors. He discovered that con artists in the U.S. are using his business address as a front for their fake loan company. - Brodie Thomas/NNSL photo

The next day he received another call from San Diego, California.

"Both of them wanted to know if my office was the office of McFee Advisors. The first one of course caught me by surprise because I had not heard the name before. The second one I was able to tell them, no, I was not the office of McFee Advisors."

Both callers had applied for a loan with a company calling itself McFee Advisors. The company's website promised low interest loans to people with bad credit. Once a loan was applied for, the company asked applicants to set up an online bank account and transfer 10 per cent of the loan amount to them as a down payment.

Hamilton became entangled in this because his business address was featured on the fake loan application forms that victims received by e-mail or fax.

Hamilton has since been contacted by a third man in Toronto who became suspicious of McFee's activities and wanted to follow up on the company.

The first woman who contacted Hamilton gave him the phone number she had for McFee Advisors. Hamilton said it had a Brooklyn, New York area code.

He got a copy of the fake application forms and took them to the RCMP in Inuvik on Wednesday morning. Hamilton also received an obviously fake business licence for the "province of Inuvik."

Staff Sgt. Bill Eubank of the Inuvik RCMP said crimes of this nature are usually out of the hands of regular RCMP officers.

"This is the type of matter that is dealt with through the national Phonebusters program," he said.

Eubank said Phonebusters is a special task force made up of officers and investigators from the RCMP and the OPP.

"I don't know if an offence has even taken place. Like anything with frauds, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true 99.8 per cent of the time. And that other small percentage is the guy that wins the lottery. If we do have some sort of online banking scam that is going on, that is something that should be brought to the attention of these specialists," said Eubank.

Hamilton said he attempted to contact Phonebusters, but was unable to reach anyone.

"When you contact Phonebusters you get put on a waiting list and you just can't get through. I haven't lost any money on it, so I'm a little too busy to deal with people like Phonebusters," said Hamilton.

The website for the fake company, mcfeeadvisors.com, is still active.

The domain name was registered last month to an address in Scarborough, Ont. An out-of-service phone number was also used to register the web address.

The website does not have any real contact information other than an e-mail address. Hamilton's address only appears on the fake application forms, which victims receive after contacting the con artists.

Although Hamilton has the New York phone number, he said he has not tried to contact them.

"I'd just as soon that they don't contact me. I'd rather not be involved with a group of people who are obviously pulling off a scam."

While some might feel outraged their business name was attached to obvious illegal activities, Hamilton said he feels helpless.

"I don't know if there is anything that I can do. The police can't help me."

He said he feels somewhat safe because he is located so far away from the targets of the scam.

"I don't think anyone is going to spend $3,000 or $4,000 to come up here to do me any bodily harm."