Warning! Do Not Fall For MoneyPak Scams
We continue to get case after case of the MoneyPak scam, so we decided to spend some time explaining it to our readers.
If you are not familiar with it, MoneyPak (or Green Dot) is a card that you pay for with cash at local stores such as Wal-Mart, CVS, 7-Eleven etc. You can then use the cards to send money to someone or pay a bill. It is used mostly when the user doesn’t have a credit card or needs to send money but doesn’t want to use something like Western Union or PayPal.
Unfortunately, criminals have found ways to take advantage of these MoneyPak cards.
Scammers have found many different ways to try and take advantage of unsuspecting victims.
One method is to misrepresent themselves as a credible company that the victim knows. We have heard of occurrences where the scammers have claimed to be the power company, or the phone company or some other utility,
There is also a famous scam going around the internet where scammers claim to be the FBI, or InterPol, or some other government organization. They make a claim that they have spotted you doing something horrible on your computer, such as looking at pornography, and they are holding your computer hostage unless you pay them money, with the MoneyPak cards.
The scammers pick the MoneyPak cards, because they know they are untraceable, and once the code is sent, there is no reversing the charge, They Have Your Money.
Often times we hear people say they paid the “Fine” but the they didn’t release their computer. This is usually the case.
Remember, The Government or a Police Agency will not take a payment to get you out of a crime or jail time. They will also not lock you in to only paying with one very specific form of payment you probably never heard of. And even if you are paying a friend, I would call that person and verify that they requested the money. It is easy for a smart criminal to find out the name of your friend, or spoof an email.