INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS
Based on your response, we were unable to determine conclusively whether or not you’ve been exposed to a scam. Below, we’ve provided you with a list of the most common signs of refund scams and we hope they assist you in making your determination.
What is a refund scam?
The refund notification scam is often used in an attempt to get more money from victims of previous scams. This is a common practice affecting people who have been the victims of everything from the Time-Share Resale scam to Credit Repair scams.
In other instances, they notify their victims about a refund that is due to them from a fictitious or actual company that is going out of business. In other cases, refund scammers claim that consumers have been overcharged for a service and are due for a refund.
Known tactics
- The scammers often pose as lawyers, bankers, company officials, or consumer organizations.
- They will typically use phones or email communications.
- Victims are asked to pay some sort of upfront fee in order to get a refund.
- Cash a fraudulent check and keep part of the check as their refund.
- Get a prepaid gift card and tell the scammers the numbers from the back in order for the scammer to be able to deposit the money back to the card as a refund.
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ATTENTION: Consumers who have been contacted by refund scammers could have had their personal information breached. TotalScam!™ highly recommends that consumers whose information has been breached obtain an identity theft protection service immediately.
There are several companies that offer identity theft protection in the US. One of the most inexpensive options we were able to find is the protection offered by LifeLock. You can start your protection here.
Disclaimer: The information and opinions contained on this site are not endorsed by LifeLock. TotalScam!™ receives compensation from LifeLock. This helps support our scam prevention efforts.
To learn how refund scams can lead to identity theft, click here.
FAQ
Fraudulent websites can be easily spotted by looking out for these 5 red flags. Learn about them by visiting the following this link: How to tell if the website is a scam in 5 steps.
Yes. If scammers are in possession of your personal information, they can use that to steal your identity. For more on this subject, please read: How scams lead to identity theft.
There are various ways in which scammers gain access to your personal information. One such way is by purchasing consumer data on the darknet. When a website is hacked, which happens quite often, hackers steal databases containing personal information and sell that to the highest bidder. This information is then used to steal identities, ruining lives in the process. For more on this subject, follow this link: How scams lead to identity theft.
It depends on the method of payment. For more on this subject, please read: How to recover your money if you’ve been scammed.
Most scam artists reside outside of the US and use threats to exact more money from their victims. Nevertheless, all threats should be taken seriously, especially if scammers have your name and address.
Please note: If you are not satisfied with the answer provided on this page, you may request a manual review using the contact us page. Simply select the manual review option from the drop-down menu and one of our scam experts will review your case manually.
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Other ongoing scams:
