Green Dot Card Scam
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/news-releases/2012/020312greendot.htm

Fairfax County Police Department
Public Information Office
4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Va. 22030
703-246-2253. TTY 703-204-2264. Fax 703-246-4253
FCPD-PIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police
News Release: 12/034/0132/LHC
February 3, 2012



Green Dot Card Scam

A 70-year-old Burke-area woman answered her phone this week and the caller told the woman she’d won 3.5 million dollars and a brand new Mercedes. But there was a catch. The woman was instructed to purchase Green Dot payment cards and provide the caller with the account numbers.

The woman purchased $13,000 of the Green Dot cards and provided the numbers to him; along with her social security number, date of birth and other private information as she was instructed.

By the time a caring relative discovered what had happened, it was too late and the victim lost much of her money. The Green Dot cards are pre-paid, loadable cards similar to other brands of credit and debit cards. Detectives caution that these scams are not isolated to any particular financial institution.

This is another in a series of scams Financial Crimes Unit detectives are seeing in Fairfax County and across the region. Unfortunately, as with many of these scams, once money is wired or sent away, there is very little that can be done to recover the funds. Detectives are committed to providing education and information on some of these schemes and ruses to the public. To learn more, or to report an incident, visit the Financial Crime Online Reporting site of the FCPD website at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/financialcrimes. Since the online site went live in October 2011, over 1,200 crimes have been reported.

To request a group presentation on the topic of schemes or financial crimes contact Lucy Caldwell, Public Information Office at 703-246-3271.

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To request this information in an alternate format, call the Public Information Office at 703.246.2253. TTY 703-204-2264

They should rename "Western Union" to "Scammer Funds Transfer Service".

Another result of financial education that is sorely lacking in America. Had that victim been following basic financial advice since she was 20, she could have answered "sounds fishy and actually I don't really need it, I have enough thanks."

Yes the lady was taken for a ride but she got in the car. Everyone who gets taken in a deal like this has a little lacerny in their heart. Best thing to keep in mind is that there is never a free lunch or if it's too good to be true it isn't.

If it sounds too good to be true it is. If anyone promises you lots of money at no cost then it is a scam or another one of Obamas promises.

I guess this is an ongoing crime with that disclaimer.

https://www.moneypak.com/

How to Stop A Scam:
Use your MoneyPak number only with businesses on our approved list. If anyone else asks for your MoneyPak number, it’s probably a scam. Don’t give your MoneyPak number to pay for something you buy through the classifieds or to collect a prize or sweepstakes. If you give your MoneyPak number to a criminal, Green Dot is not responsible to pay you back. Your MoneyPak is not a bank account. The funds are not insured against loss.
Protect Yourself from Fraud
•Tips to Protect Yourself
•Approved MoneyPak Partners
•Report Fraudulent Activity

There are many sites scamming with green dot moneypaks. A new one is usoverstockoutlet.com. They WILL take your money and they have NO PRODUCT!!! US Overstock Outlet claims to run the green dot funds through PayPal. I have confirmed this is false. They claim to be rated A+ by the BBB, but they are not even listed in anyway with the BBB. They have Visa and MasterCard logos on their homepage, but will not accept their use. EVERYTHING about this site is false and designed to scam people enticed by their fantastic deals on exercise equipment, playsets, and generators. STAY AWAY!!!!!!

USOVERSTOCKOUTLET.COM IS DOWN!!!!! After a day of harrassing them and reporting them to IC3, consumer agencies, and scam sites, they took it down. Time to be on the lookout for their next site.

eesh is such an asshole, moving on to scamming old ladies

http://usoverstockoutlet.com/
- claims to be A+ rated by BBB, but there is no record of them with the BBB
- claims to have a payment system through Green Dot MoneyPak, but not listed by Green Dot's site
- says they process Green Dot MoneyPak through PayPal, but instead take the MoneyPak number themselves and have nothing to do with PayPal
- has no information anywhere online except their website, no feedback, no links, no record at all
- has a phone number (985) 255-0844 with a heavily-accented message that does not identify the business in any way
- has an customer service email sales@usoverstockoutlet.com that only sends back programmed responses
- has Visa and MasterCard symbols, but does not allow their use, only accepting Green Dot cash payments that are NOT protected in any fashion
- says it ships from Morgan City, LA, but there is no physical address (phone # listed is for Morgan City)

USOVERSTOCKOUTLET.COM aka US OVERSTOCK OUTLET is using Green Dot MoneyPak payments to scam people out of their money. They have NO PRODUCT!!!

I've come a across a similar one. this is "clearanceoverstock.com". I was prepared to buy an exercise machine, then got to the Green Dot page. I didn't place the order. Certainly it is a scam.