Scam Campaign Report: Mortgage Protection and Banking Impersonation Cluster
A cluster of connected entities has been identified involving phone number 833-402-0148, First Merchants Corporation, and My Mortgage, Inc. The connections across all three entities are classified as reported_together relationships, each carrying a confidence score of 0.35, indicating moderate but notable associative concern based on consumer reporting patterns. First Merchants Corporation, a banking institution operating in the checking or savings account industry, has accumulated 147 CFPB complaints, while My Mortgage, Inc., operating in the mortgage industry, has generated 7 CFPB complaints. The phone number 833-402-0148 currently carries 0 FTC complaints, suggesting it may be relatively new to active circulation or underreported by recipients.
Community reports submitted alongside this cluster describe a consistent pattern of unsolicited outreach using the names of known financial institutions. One report specifically references a mailer that used the recipient's actual mortgage lender name in the header, reading in part "PLEASE CALL UPON RECEIPT OF THIS NOTICE" and claiming the sender had been trying to reach the consumer regarding an urgent matter. A second report references a nearly identical solicitation connected to Franklin County, with a clerk record date of February 4, 2026, and naming Truist as the lender. These mailers appear designed to impersonate legitimate mortgage servicers in order to pressure consumers into purchasing so-called mortgage protection products. A separate community submission raises the possibility of fraud connected directly to First Merchants Bank, suggesting the institution's name is being leveraged without authorization.
The geographic data present in the community reports points to at least one confirmed targeting instance in Franklin County, and the use of county clerk records as source material suggests the campaign may be pulling publicly available property and mortgage data to personalize outreach. This tactic, sometimes called data harvesting from deed or lien records, allows fraudulent actors to address victims by lender name and loan status, making the solicitation appear more credible. The regional focus on Franklin County may represent one node in a broader geographic sweep across counties where mortgage recordings are publicly accessible.
The consumer impact of this cluster is most visible in the 147 CFPB complaints against First Merchants Corporation, which span the checking and savings account industry and suggest a sustained pattern of grievances over an extended period. The 7 CFPB complaints against My Mortgage, Inc. further indicate that consumers have raised concerns formally through regulatory channels. While complaint volumes alone do not confirm fraud, the combination of impersonation-style mailers, urgent call-to-action language, and cross-entity co-reporting elevates concern for active deceptive solicitation targeting homeowners.
Consumers who receive mail, calls, or messages referencing their mortgage lender by name and urging immediate contact should treat the outreach with caution. Do not call numbers printed on unsolicited mailers without first independently verifying them through your lender's official website or the back of your bank card. Do not provide personal information, account numbers, or payment details in response to any unsolicited contact. If you receive a suspicious call from 833-402-0148 or any similar number, hang up immediately. Report suspicious phone numbers to the FCC at fcc.gov/consumers/guides/filing-informal-complaint and file fraud reports with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. To check whether a phone number or domain has been flagged by other consumers, resources such as the FTC's complaint database, 800notes.com, and the CFPB's complaint portal at consumerfinance.gov/complaint can provide additional context.
This cluster presents a moderate threat level, driven primarily by the high CFPB complaint volume against First Merchants Corporation, the documented use of real lender names in unsolicited mailers, and the apparent harvesting of public county records for targeting purposes. Recommended next steps include continued monitoring of 833-402-0148 for new FTC or FCC complaint filings, escalation of the Franklin County mailer pattern to state-level consumer protection authorities in the relevant jurisdiction, and a formal review of whether My Mortgage, Inc. has any verifiable regulatory standing as a licensed mortgage entity. Consumers in counties with publicly searchable deed records should be considered an elevated-risk population for this type of impersonation campaign.