Car Wrap Scams on the Rise - Beware!
With unemployment rates high, it's easy for criminals to prey on those in desperate need of work with business scams. The victims of these scams are often just looking for work to help make ends meet and they end up losing their own money in the process. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning people of a growing number of Car Wrapping Scams.
The scam utilizes the internet to find or attract those looking to make some extra money. They either send out mass-marketing emails to large groups or they will actually look for contacts on employment websites where people post resume and contact information in order to find a job. The scammers claim they will pay for the owner's car to be wrapped with advertisements for popular companies. Big company names like Monster Energy, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser have already been used and any company could potentially be named by the scammers.
After the perspective victim has read the email and accepted the offer, the scammers will then send a check for a large amount of money. The instructions for cashing the check indicate that a certain portion of the money is to be kept for payment to the car owner and the rest is to be sent via wire transfer to the company who will supposedly wrap the vehicle after receipt of the money. After the victim wires the money, which can be thousands of dollars, they find out that the original check was a phony and the money is lost.
While it was once possible to earn money with car wraps, those days are long over. There are no car wrap companies that are actively looking for drivers and consumers should never pay to get on a car wrap advertiser list as this is also a scam.
It's a modern-day mix of the old check cashing scam and business scams. The only way to prevent people from being victimized by these cons is to alert people ahead of time so they know what to recognize. The criminals not only play on the trust of the victims, they play on their inexperience as well.
(Photo Credit: The Tire Zoo)
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