SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney who provides free legal services for low income seniors in San Mateo County, California.

June 26, 2019

USED CAR SCAM

You can buy practically anything online, including used cars. But before you shell out any hard-earned cash, here’s a warning about scammers trying to sell cars they don’t have or own. Trusting buyers have lost thousands of dollars over the past year alone.

Here’s how a scam works:

 Criminals post ads on online auction and sales websites, like eBay Motors, for inexpensive used cars (that they don’t really own). They offer to chat online, share photos, and answer questions. Recently, phony sellers have been sending fake invoices that appear to come from eBay Motors and demanding payment in eBay gift cards. If you call the number on the invoice, the scammer pretends to work for eBay Motors.

So how can you tell if an online car sale is fake?

You may find bad reviews online. Check out the seller by searching online for the person’s name, phone number and email address, plus words like “review,” “complaint” or “scam.”

Phony scam sellers try to rush the sale. Scammers use high-pressure sales tactics to get you to buy without thinking things through. Resist the pressure.

They can’t or won’t meet you in person or let you inspect the car. They want you to pay with gift cards or by wire transfer. If anyone tells you to pay that way, it’s a scam.

The phony sellers may demand more money after the sale for “shipping” or “transportation” costs.

Do Diligent Research before committing to buy:

Does the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) doesn’t match the VIN for the car you’re interested in? A vehicle history report can help you spot such discrepancies.

Vehicle history:

If you’re buying a used car, the Federal Trade Commission recommends obtaining a vehicle history report before you buy. Vehicle history reports can tell you a lot about a used car. A report might include ownership history, whether the car was in any accidents, its repair records, and whether it ever was declared as salvage.

How can I learn a vehicle’s history?

Visit the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) website, vehiclehistory.gov, to get a vehicle history report with title, insurance loss, and salvage information. This site lists NMVTIS-approved providers of vehicle history reports. Choose one, enter the VIN (vehicle identification number, which is listed on the front of the Buyers Guide), and pay the provider’s fee to learn the car’s history.

NMVTIS-approved providers offer vehicle history reports to consumers, car dealerships, and financial institutions. But not all vehicle history reports are available through the NMVTIS website.

A vehicle history report is not a substitute for an independent visual vehicle inspection. Before you buy a vehicle, an independent inspection by a qualified person is needed to ensure it does not have hidden damage.

Has the car been recalled?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, safercar.gov, has free listings of vehicles subject to open safety recalls. That means the manufacturer has recalled the vehicle but repairs are not yet done. Enter the vehicle’s VIN to find out if a vehicle is subject to an open recall. You also can call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236.

Has the car been declared as salvage?

The National Insurance Crime Bureau’s website lets you enter a VIN and find out if the vehicle has been damaged by flood, was stolen but unrecovered, or otherwise declared as salvage.

Consumer scam alerts are free by e-mail from the FTC at ftc.gov/subscribe. If you spot a scam, report it

at www.ftc.gov/complaint.

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SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney who provides free legal services to low income seniors in San Mateo, County, California.

June 19, 2019

RENTAL LISTING SCAMS

Moving to a new city? Planning a vacation? As you consider issues like size, cost, and location of the rental, also consider this: A rental listing could be a scam. When you’re looking for a rental, it’s caveat renter — renter beware. Taking time to do a diligent search is well worth the effort. Do an online search of the rental company. Enter its name plus words like “review,” “complaint” or “scam.” If you find bad reviews, you may want to look elsewhere.

How Rental Scams Work

To trick people into sending money, scammers often advertise rentals that don’t exist or aren’t available. They know that finding the right apartment or vacation rental can be hard work. A seemingly good deal may be hard to pass up.  Their goal is to get your money before you find out it’s phony.

Some scammers hijack a real rental or real estate listing by changing the email address or other contact information, and placing the modified ad on another site. The altered ad may even use the name of the person who posted the original ad.

Signs of a Scam:

Here are some warning signs of a scammer:

*They tell you to wire money

This is a sure sign of a scam. There’s never a good reason to wire money to pay a security deposit, application fee, first month’s rent, or vacation rental fee. That’s true even if they send you a contract first. Wiring money is the same as sending cash — once you send it, you have no way to get it back.

*They want a security deposit or first month’s rent before you’ve met or signed a lease

It’s never a good idea to send money to someone you’ve never met in person for an apartment or house you haven’t seen. If you can’t visit an apartment or house yourself, ask someone you trust to go and confirm that it’s for rent, and that it is what was advertised.

*They say they’re out of the country

But they have a plan to get the keys into your hands. It might involve a lawyer or an “agent” working on their behalf. Some scammers even create fake keys. Don’t send money to them overseas. If you can’t meet in person, see the apartment, or sign a legitimate lease before you pay, keep looking until you locate something that meets your needs.

Other tips to help you avoid rental scams:

*Rental home listings may appear in several places, including rental company websites and online listing services like Zillow, Trulia or Craigslist. If you see a rental company’s listing on one of those online listing services, do a search of the home’s address to make sure it appears on the rental company’s website. If it doesn’t, it may be a scam.

*Compare prices. Is the rent a lot less than comparable rentals? That could be a red flag.

*Take a tour. Ask for identification. Rental agents should have photo ID badges issued by the company that owns or manages the property.

*Before you sign a lease, look for signs at the rental unit with the name of the property owner or manager. Call that company before making a deal with anyone.

*Never pay with cash, wire transfers or gift cards. If anyone tells you to pay this way, it’s a sure sign of a scam. Wiring money is like sending cash — once you send it, you have no way to get it back. As for gift cards, they’re for gifts, NOT for payments.

If you spot a rental scam, report it to local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.FTC.gov. ff

SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney who provides free legal assistance to low income seniors in San Mateo County, California.

June 11, 2019

These days, travel starts on the internet. More than 140 million Americans do trip research online, and 83 percent of travelers use websites to make bookings, according to an industry analysis by advertising agency MDG. But as you search for savings on lodging and flights, keep a sharp eye out for deceptive offers and outright scams that could cost you a bundle.
Be especially wary when using third-party hotel booking sites. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), nearly a quarter of consumers report being misled by travel resellers on the phone or online, affecting 28.5 million bookings and $5.2 billion in transactions in 2017 alone.
Unscrupulous resellers draw consumers through search engine ads and send them, via links or posted phone numbers, to booking websites or call centers that appear to be affiliated with a hotel. The lookalike site will feature detailed descriptions of rooms and amenities; it might even have the hotel’s name in its URL. But you are not actually dealing with the hotel. This can have consequences ranging from inconvenient (the reseller doesn’t transmit special requests such as a wheelchair-accessible room) to expensive (higher rates than the hotel actually charges or hidden fees tacked on to your bill) to potentially trip-ruining (you arrive and discover the booking was never made).
There’s plenty more to look out for. Crooks also operate lookalike websites for airlines and popular travel companies. Scam emails offer promotions such as free flights to get you to give up credit card information or click links that download malware. Fraudsters make up vacation-rental listings, or duplicate real ones, to collect payments for nonexistent bookings.
And think twice about buying a flight voucher on the web. The FBI warns that scam artists use stolen credit card numbers to buy airline tickets then cancel them to get a voucher, which they put up for sale at what looks like a great price. By the time the buyer tries to use the voucher, the airline will likely have discovered the fraud and canceled it.
Warning Signs
A cut-rate hotel or airline offer that seems too good to be true.
A hotel, airline or travel website has odd spelling or grammatical errors, suggesting it may have been created by a scammer in a foreign country.
Do’s
Do book on the official website of a hotel, airline or other travel business, or use a reputable third-party booking site.
Do carefully check a travel website’s URL. Scam sites may use “domain spoofing” tricks such as an extra letter in the address.
Do research on a third-party travel site you haven’t used before. Search for its name plus “review,” “complaint” or “scam” to see if other consumers had bad experiences with the site, and look it up in the Better Business Bureau’s database.
Do look for written policies on canceling or modifying reservations, and confirm them before booking.
Do call the hotel or airline and confirm your reservation after booking on a travel website. If they don’t have a record of your booking, that may signal a problem that it’s best to solve well before you travel.

Courtesy AARP