Rene Leonard Rebello Jr., a senior financial analyst at Full Spectrum Lending, a division of Countrywide, was nabbed and will face trial for stealing leads from Countrywide to fuel his side mortgage leads business. The criminal complaint is filed in US District court for “Exceeding Authorized Access to a Computer of a Financial Institution.”

This reminds us of how important it is to conduct proper due diligence on your lead provider. Regardless of your industry–mortgage, real estate, debt, education–lead theft can effect your lead buying.

To protect yourself follow this lead buying due diligence checklist:

1. Verify Contact Information: This is probably one of the tell-tell signs of a scam. Reputable, legitimate lead providers require some level of infrastructure. That means physical office space and valid business numbers.

Google maps and online reverse phone look-ups make this step a snap. I also encourage Googling any addresses or phone numbers for your potential lead partner. You will be surprised how readily this step reveals complaints and testimonials.

2. Validate Business Entity: Much like the contact information, verify that you are dealing with a business. Legitimate lead generation often requires licensing, business registration, and other government compliance that necessitates operating as a business.

Validating the business is usually as easy as using Google or searching the Secretary of State for the state the business operates in. This can also reveal any legal actions or formal complaints.

3. Get a Referral from LeadMarketwatch: This can a quick and easy way to accelerate your due diligence. Lead Marketwatch has met and visited with most of the top lead providers in the industry. If you are looking to partner with someone or need a recommendation we can place you into hands of an lead provider or account executive we personally know.

4. Ask Questions: This is another quick was to draw out reputation and validity very quickly–ask questions. I recommend you ask if anyone knows or can recommend a lead provider in a variety of places. Here are some recommendations: BrokerOutpost (mortgage leads), other industry specific forums, Yahoo Answers, LinkedIN.

5. Monitor, Measure, and Track: Once you select a lead provider, regardless of who they are, make sure you have the technology and processes in place to monitor, measure, and track you lead buys. Tracking metrics like duplicates, contact rates, and data completeness will quickly sort out the best and the worst, and maybe even the frauds, before they effect your marketing and sales budget.