In today’s world, if there is a way for a scammer to make money off unsuspecting people, they are going to try it. This unfortunately is also true for the bail bonds industry. Unscrupulous people may try to take advantage of family members when they are in a vulnerable state just trying to get a loved one out of jail but luckily once you know what to look out for, it is extremely easy to spot a scam for bails. Here are the things to know:
Solicitations should never happen
One of the biggest red flags you can come across is a person posing as a bail bonds agent that comes up to you and offers to get your loved one out of jail. No legitimate bail bond agency would solicit their services, especially near a jail or station. In addition to this, all agents must be licensed by the state so asking them to provide a license should be an easy way to confirm whether or not they are legally allowed to be offering these types of services.
You can’t get a discount on a bail bond
The rates that a bail agency can charge is actually set by the state so any compliant bail bondsman will have to abide by these rates which is typically around 10%. If someone offers to provide a bail bond for something like 5% or on the other extreme something like 25% it is either someone who is fraudulent or at the very least extremely immoral and operating illegally with the laws of the state. When getting a bail bond make sure to always look at every contract before signing and obtain receipts as well.
Use the internet to verify the legitimacy
As with any other type of business, bail bond agencies depend on having a digital presence so it’s easy to verify if the agency you are working with has a website and what type of reviews they have. If no website comes up, that should be taken as a big warning sign, and either no reviews or consistently negative reviews should give some hesitation before signing anything.
To sum up, bail bond agencies are like any other type of business only with more government regulation. This is in benefit for the consumer who can verify how legitimate an agency is and with the tips you just learned as well as easy ways to spot an imposter, you can feel more secure in assuring your loved one can gets out in a timely manner.
