WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | BBB Warns of Car Warranty Scam
Member Center:
Buyer beware. Scam artists have a found a new way to take your money. It's called the car warranty scam.
It starts with a phone call, and a scare tactic. Your car warranty is expired and if you don't act fast, you'll miss out on a great deal. Sandra Leopold picked up on all the red flags, and exposed the scam.
She says she is sick of answering telemarketer calls. "We get so many of these darned calls," Sandra said. "Every day the phone rings."
Two days ago, one telemarketer caught her attention, trying to sell her a new $1,600 warranty for her red 1999 Chrysler Town and Country van, which has 60,000 miles on it.
"They gave me this spiel about my car being out of warranty. You need this," Sandra said. "If you need repairs, it will cost you money."
Then the red flags started flying. They wanted her credit card and bank account numbers right then and there.
"There is no way I was giving my credit card over the phone," Sandra said. "If I'm not giving credit, I'm certainly not giving my bank account number. She said, 'We have to do this today.' Okay. Red flag. You know this is illegitimate."
"It's just the most popular thing in cons," Better Business Bureau president Ross Howard told WTOC.
Howard calls this type of scam spoofing. He says its object is to scare a customer into giving up personal info.
"Truth of the matter is, there are not many companies that will give you a warranty for cars with high mileage that is older," Howard said. "They just want her money. That's all it is."
"I knew from the beginning it was a scam," Sandra said. "Who is going to give a warranty on a car that has been out of a warranty over a year?"
Sandra's happy she hung up when she did.
"For God's sake, nobody get into this," Sandra warned. "You'll probably get a policy not worth the paper it is written on, and you'll be out $1,600."
Every time Sandra tried to get the name of the company, she says they would avoid it like the plague. And, when she asked if they were affiliated with Chrysler, the woman said no.
We contacted Chrysler. They say they hear from people like Sandra all the time. They have no idea how these people get information like warrantees expiring. The BBB says a lot of information is available for sale. They buy a list and start making these spoofing calls.
Reported by: Don Logana, dlogana@wtoc.com
