CBS4 Investigates 'Car Wrap' Ad Scams
DENVER (CBS4) - How about getting paid to drive your car? That was the offer a CBS4 viewer got if she agreed to have her car wrapped with an advertisement. So she contacted 4 On Your Side Consumer Investigator Jodi Brooks once she realized she almost got scammed.
The woman wanted to believe the offer. It was the bank that spotted the phony check. The FBI has received reports about the scam and people are falling victim.
It is said a vehicle wrap is one of the most effective forms of advertising in the market today. One car wrap garners between 30,000 and 70,000 views per day.
"I've seen the car wraps and I think they look good," Laurel Dakini said.
So when Dakini got an email asking if she'd wrap her car for Rock Star energy drink, she was interested.
"I thought it'd be a little way to make some extra money," she said.
Rock Star energy does wrap cars, and laurel Dakini liked the offer.
"It was $350 a week. They wanted a commitment of at least one month, and they would pay you for the first month," she said.
Dakini was all about sold. She sent pictures of her car and continued her email correspondence. As promised, a check for $1,850 arrived in the mail.
"They began asking me to wire money before this check even arrived. They were telling exactly how much to wire, where, how. And that's when I got a little suspicious."
At PGI Wraps, business is good. The company has been around 5 1/2, wrapping vehicles most have likely seen on the road.
"I get a lot of calls," PGI Wraps co-owner Jeffrey Johannes said.
Johannes says people are always asking if they can make money driving a wrapped vehicle.
"I don't know of any companies offering that kind of advertising right now," Johannes said.
It turns out online dozens of people call the Rock Star offer a fraud and people are getting ripped off -- cashing the check to later learn it's a fake.
"I decided to go through with it," Dakini said.
She took the check to the bank..
"They would not cash the check. That's when I went, 'I'm sure something is wrong.' "
Dakini got lucky. Getting paid to wrap her car would've been cool, but it's a better feeling knowing she didn't get scammed.
It is mostly small businesses and big companies with a fleet of vehicles that are doing car wraps.
Rock Star energy drink did not respond to calls from CBS4.
