Ads on Facebook – Many members see ads that pertain to anything that may interest them (recently searched, etc) seeing a HUGE deal and click ‘BUY’ right away. This typically is an international entity portraying themselves as a reputable company with great items at a very low cost – the outcome of these transactions is either never receiving the item purchased, or receiving something that had nothing do with what was advertised.
- Example: A recent claim for a member who purchased patio sets, grills, and outdoor fireplaces for a total of just over $300. These items are rarely less than that amount for one. They ended up receiving 4 necklaces in the mail.
Installing Apps – Scammers are asking members to download an app to assist with a “refund” or “account issue”, when the app is downloaded this gives them the ability to access your phone including all information on it. Any time a person is asked to install an app like this, this should be a red flag as you should already have an app or program with the legitimate company. This is not something they would need to do in order to offer a refund or anything else. This can also be an issue for computers.
Friend/Family needs ‘Help’ – scammers will reach out to people on social media via messenger to request funds for something that may have happened to them – sick, jail, stuck abroad, etc pretending to be someone they’re close with. This is done by creating a duplicate account of the person you know.
Cash App – all customer support is directly through the app, avoid any websites claiming to have a phone # for customer support. Make sure to verify the person you are sending funds to – Cash App cannot cancel direct transfers or get the funds back.
PayPal – be careful to make sure you know where the money is going to – avoid advance cash payments, emails claiming your account has issues and to ‘click the link’. Be careful of ‘overpayment’ scams – where the buyer sends more money than the price of purchase, claims a mistake and asks for a refund of the difference, while in the meantime they cancel the entire transaction.
Free trial scams – anything that members see that offer a product and to “just pay shipping”, these companies come back and charge the full amount of the product to the member’s account in 10-14 days due to the VERY fine print once the member signs up. Unless the member did not in fact sign up for the free trial, we cannot process these as a dispute. These are considered VBV (verified by Visa) or 3D Secured, which is extra security Visa has on some transactions where you need to enter a specific password to process the transaction.
Address Change scam – Members will go to update their address online and rather than using the actual USPS website, they’ll click the links in the ‘Ad’ area which brings them to a phony site and after entering all their info will charge them anywhere from $39-$99!
If you have questions or concerns about your account or recent transactions please do not hesitate to call our Member Services Team at (207) 282-4156.