Skip to main content

During these difficult economic times, scammers will do almost anything to try to get your money. Including, it turns out, making bogus claims about economic stimulus checks to lure customers to auto sales events.

In a complaint, the Federal Trade Commission says Traffic Jam Events, a direct mail marketing firm for car dealers, is falsely claiming in mailers that their “Economic Automotive Stimulus Relief Program” is affiliated with and approved by the government.  It’s not.

They’re also claiming that people who come to designated sites will get stimulus relief checks. They won’t.

They’re even sending out checks that say “COVID-19 Auto Stimulus” with space to endorse the check on the back. But the checks are fake, there’s no car-related relief in the CARES Act, and the government isn’t using car dealerships to give out economic impact payments.

Here are three ways you can help protect yourself and others from these types of scams:

  • When you get promotional mailers, check out the company before you act. Search online for the company name plus the words “scam,” “complaint,” or “review.”
  • Don’t click on links in emails or text messages. If you click, you could download malware onto your device and wind up on a site that’s after your personal information. Instead, if you’re worried about the message, look up whoever sent it. Then call or email using a number your research gave you — not one from the message.
  • Say NO to anyone who insists that you pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. That’s how scammers tell you to pay, and no legitimate business will tell you to pay that way.

For the most up-to-date information on avoiding COVID-19-related scams, visit ftc.gov/coronavirus/scams. For help protecting yourself financially during this pandemic, visit consumerfinance.gov/coronavirus. And, if you spot a scam, tell the FTC: ftc.gov/complaint.

 

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

R&R
June 16, 2021
I just recieved a Platinum Funding Bank Vehicle Bankruptcy stimulus Fund approval letter with and Attached a Platinum Premier prepaid $750 credit cars in my name. Beware I claimed Bankruptcy due to COVID loss of income.