BBB Warns Of Car Wrap Scam

Better Business Bureau Serving Acadiana has seen an uptick in calls from consumers regarding an employment opportunity involving wrapping your car with ads. Be careful, as this car wrap scam can leave you worse off financially.

How this scam works:

Potential victims of this scam receive a Facebook message, craigslist.com, email or text message that appears to be from a well-known brand or a company representing the brand. These scams usually are connected to popular soft drinks, energy drinks or cell phone companies such as Monster Energy, Coca Cola, Heineken, Bud Light, and 7UP.

The company sends you a check, tells you to keep a portion of it as your share, then you are instructed to wire the rest to a company that will wrap your car. Later on, you find out the check bounced and your bank tells you it was a fake. The money you kept as “your share” disappears, the money you wired is gone – no way to get it back, and you may be responsible for bank fees for the fake check.

In 2019, so far there have been 57 reports to Scam Tracker about "car wrap scams." While the majority of those who have reported the scam did not lose money, there have been some victims.

BBB offers the following tips to avoid this and similar employment fake check scams:

Beware of deals that sound too good to be true and check with BBB. Consumers should always go with their instincts and not be afraid to pass up a “deal” that might cost them dearly in the end.

If someone urges you to send or wire money, it’s probably a scam. Legitimate companies will not ask you to wire money to them.  Don't fall for an overpayment scam. No legitimate job would ever overpay an employee and ask him/her wire the money elsewhere. This is a common trick used by scammers.