SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay is an inactive attorney in San Mateo County, California.

January 6, 2021

CAR WRAP SCAM   

What is a car wrap scam?

The gist of the scam is this: Scammers send emails and posts to social media and job boards with messages like “GET PAID TO DRIVE.” They offer to pay you up to $700 a week if you’ll drive around with your car (or truck or bike) wrapped to advertise a well-known product. Some scammers are saying they’re from Marlboro or Purell (but they’re not).

If you message them back, they’ll send you a check to deposit into your bank account. Then they’ll say to use some of that money to pay their “decal agent” to put the ads on your car. They’ll tell you to pay by money order, Walmart money services, or by making a cash deposit directly into the decal agent’s bank account — all are ways that make it hard to cancel or recover your money.

What’s really going on? The “decal agent” is really a scammer. The check you received was fake — which means any money you sent is coming out of your own pocket. If you deposit a fake $1,500 check in your bank account and sent $500 to the “decal agent,” you’re out $500 of your own money. (And you don’t get to keep that $1,000.)

Spotted a scam like this? FTC wants to hear about it. Let us know at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

ATTRIBUTION: US FTC.GOV