The Wyoming Attorney General's Office has seen a rise in complaints involving schemes that use the Green Dot “MoneyPak” cards. MoneyPaks are sold at local convenience stores, pharmacies and major retailers, and provide a convenient way to pay bills online and make purchases on the Internet.

Clyde Hutchins, attorney with the Wyoming Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs says one of the more common schemes used on Wyoming consumers to obtain funds through MoneyPak is a lottery or sweepstakes scam. Scammers will call consumers and tell them that they have won a sweepstakes or lottery, and that they need to pay taxes or fees in order to collect the winnings. The scammers tell consumers to buy a MoneyPak card and to place money on the card. Scammers then ask the consumer to provide the MoneyPak security code, allowing the scammers to transfer the money immediately from the Green Dot card to another account. The scammer can then get the money out of an ATM or make purchases.

Hutchins say Recent cases reported to the Wyoming Attorney General's Office reveal that scammers have drained tens of thousands of dollars from consumers through MoneyPak transfers. Due to the underreported nature of such scams, the amount lost by Wyoming consumers may run into the millions.

The MoneyPak cards have a yellow warning on the back of the card warning consumers of scams. The yellow warning also indicates that Green Dot is not responsible reimburse the consumer if criminals deceptively obtain funds from the MoneyPak card.

 

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