Cybercrime: Agency warns consumers against new ‘car wrap’ scam

*The Better Business Bureau warns consumers against the latest version of the fake cheque scam, that involves getting a text or e-mail promising hundreds of Dollars earnings per week by wrapping their vehicles with advertisers’ logos and slogans

*Offers some pieces of information every consumer should have to avoid this type of scam

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

As several consumers the world over continue to cope with tough economies, many have also explored ways to make extra money with their cars, considering the likes of Uber and Lyft, for example.

However, scammers have devised another way that sounds even easier and more lucrative in this regard. But be warned; it is not real, warns the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

How does it work? The Bureau explains that you get a text or e-mail promising that you can earn hundreds of Dollars, or any other world’s currencies each week just by wrapping your vehicle with advertisers’ logos and slogans, says agency report.

As you drive around town each day, your car serves as a rolling billboard, for which advertisers are ready to pay. At least, that’s the pitch. Sounds right?

The Better Business Bureau reports that such a pitch that sounds too good to be true is actually a new scam.

The organisation noted that it has heard from people all over the United States (US), for instance, who have been victimised.

On how to look out for red flags, victims report that they were instructed to fill out an online form. Almost immediately, someone contacted them to tell them they “got the job.”

That’s red flag number one; normally, you have to be interviewed. At the very least, a legitimate business would want to talk with you before extending an offer.

Victims are told they will soon receive a cashier’s check and they should deposit it in their bank account.

That’s to be used to pay to have the advertising wrap applied to the car. That should be another red flag.

Fake cashier’s cheques are often used in scams, and this one is no different. When deposited in the victim’s account, the cheque quickly shows up in the account balance. Only later, sometimes weeks later, the bank discovers that the cheque is fake and takes the money back out of the account.

But by then, it is too late for the victim, who has been instructed to pay $3,500 or more to a vendor to apply the wrap. By then, they have followed instructions to pay using certain e-payment applications.

That’s red flag number three. Those apps are meant to pass money back and forth between people who know each other.

They aren’t meant to pay a business with which you have had no contact. The “vendor” of course is really the scammer, who collects the money and disappears. No work is ever done to the car.

In regard to fake cheque scams, the agency stated this is just the latest version of the fake cheque scam, which tries to persuade people to deposit fake money into their bank account and send the scammer real money.

It is often carried out under the guise of offering the victim some kind of job.

Keep in mind that banks will make the funds from a deposited cheque available before the money is actually transferred into the account.

If you spend the money and the cheque is fake, the bank has the right to recover the funds from you, report said.

Therefore, in order to avoid this and other common scams, the BBB says it pays to know the red flags: Payment is offered in the form of a cashier’s cheque; the victim is instructed to pay using apps, gift cards, or some other payment that is not recoverable; and the promised payoff comes too easily.

In other words, it’s too good to be true.

Vital information

Here is some information that every consumer should have to avoid this type of scam:

Microsoft says its error messages never contain a telephone number. Microsoft also never initiates a telephone call.

Scammers try to create a sense of fear and urgency. They want the victim to act without thinking.

The scammer tells the victim not to tell anyone what they are doing. This is always a sign of a scam.

The victim is told to pay using gift cards; this is a scam 100 percent of the time.

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