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The Truth vs. The Scam:

 

Work at home processing or reshipping checks, money orders, envelopes, and/or merchandise; receiving money wired into your account; writing checks on somebody else's account; secret shopper jobs; forwarding cash received in a package, by mail, by Western Union or MoneyGram; and receiving credit cards or gift cards from a foreign employer or someone you met online.

 

This page: Credit cards and gift cards sent to you by a foreign employer or someone you met online.

 

Please take your time; read through the material carefully.

Basics of the scam • Forwarding packages and/or payments • Money wired into your account • Re-wiring Western Union or MoneyGram payments • Writing checks • Forwarding loose checks and sealed envelopes • Secret Shopper jobs • Forwarding cash received by mail or package

 

Credit cards and gift cards with your name on them

Both work-at-home scammers and romance scammers are sending their targets gift cards and credit cards with the target's name on them.

Western Union and MoneyGram were designed to send money to friends and family, not to send money to strangers. NEVER WIRE MONEY TO A STRANGER!

 

The cards arrive from legitimate credit card distributors.  They have your name on them.  However, the credit card number and the magnetic strip information belong to someone else whose credit card information has been stolen, and whose identity has probably been stolen as well.

 

The scammer tells you that you may use the cards for yourself, BUT he or she wants you to get cash advances and send them by Western Union or MoneyGram to someone you never heard of.  He or she may also ask you to purchase specific merchandise and ship it to someone you never heard of. 

 

If the shipping address is in a foreign country, the merchandise is going directly to a scammer.  If the shipping address is in your country, the recipient may be a Re-shipper Scam victim or may be a member of the scam network.

 

The gift cards are purchased with money stolen from someone's account, or with money from a stolen credit card.

 

If you use these cards you are placing yourself at risk of arrest and at risk of owing for the used amounts, particularly for the purchases you made for yourself.

 

If you are involved in one of the scams mentioned in this article, go here:  What to do and how to do it.

 

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Direct deposits and Bill Pay NO CREDIT CHECK Ideal for the scam victim whose account has been frozen Ideal for anyone who doesn't have a checking account Ideal for anyone who doesn't want to give out their main credit card numbers. ----------------------------- If you are acting as a collection agent (receiving payments) or re-shipper (forwarding agent), by law you must familiarize yourself with the state and federal laws governing collection agents and forwarding agents. You need a contract for your clients to sign, and an attorney should write it for you. You must abide by all internal control, compliance, and reporting regulations of the country and state in which your business is operating. Funds should be deposited directly into your employer's bank account (an account on which you are NOT a signatory), opened in your country of residence by your employer under the employer's company name. Business payments are not sent through Western Union or MoneyGram, which leaves no money trail and the funds can be picked up at any Western Union or MoneyGram office by anyone with the correct code or [fake] ID, regardless of the office you specified on your wire instructions.