Hackers impersonate Dr. Pepper with lucrative advertising scam
A new advertising scam is circulating Colorado Springs impersonating the soft-drink company, Dr. Pepper.
At face-value, it seems like a legit gig especially when you get a fat check in the mail.
Here’s how it works
Scammers target victims via text message stating Dr. Pepper’s corporate office is offering an advertising opportunity. The offer is $2,000 to put decals on your car for four months.
Hackers will then send you more money than the original offered amount, stating the extra cash is for incidentals and application. One the victim deposits the money, they’ll state they need a receipt for corporate and request your deposit statement. That gives away your bank account information that scammers will sell to get money.
Meet Jerome
Jerome Simpson got caught in this mess. He was offered the money and initially it seemed legitimate.
“So I said to myself, sure that’s an easy $2,000” said Simpson.
The deal wasn’t suspicious until scammers requested his deposit slip as a receipt for the company.
“It’s terribly frustrating, because I know that it happens often and to a lot of people,” he said.
Tips and tricks
A tip to keep in mind is scammers often use checks that have a routing number from a bank in a different country. This means it will take significantly longer for any local bank to identify the fraud.
Det. Jon Price, with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office explains it’s important to look for those clues because these scammers are constantly changing their technique.
“They’re very sneaky, it can be really hard to catch them,” Price said. “Consumers have to be vigilant.”
Report a scam
If you have a scam you’d like us to investigate, email me at Stephanie.Sierra@KRDO.com
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group responded with the following statement:
We do not have a program offering to wrap cars in advertising graphics for any of our brands. Anyone sending these offers does not represent Dr Pepper Snapple Group or any of our brands and is most likely attempting a scam.
