Hanging Up On Phone Scams
If you are approached by somebody offering to pay you fast cash to open new cell phone contracts, they are probably targeting you to act as a “credit mule” in a complicated scam that leaves its victims owing thousands of dollars, ruins their credit rating and steals their identity.
Recruiters, also known as scammers, look for people with good credit, to turn them into credit mules, in this case for cell phones. Once recruited, the mule will go round several different wireless companies, and open up contracts using the mule’s personal information and receive a cell phone, tablet or other mobile device. The mule is told, don’t worry, you can cancel the contract within 30 days. The cell phone is then handed to the scammer who sells it to somebody else. Here is the problem for the mule: you really can’t cancel the contract until you give the phone back, and that can’t happen because it is with the crook, who sold it to somebody else but has now vanished. Now you find yourself forced into a phone contract with monthly payments and if you don’t pay your credit is ruined. This scam usually affects youngsters who are out to make a quick buck.
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While the term credit mule is fairly new the concept of unlocking phones and selling them isn’t. In 2013 the US Secret Service recovered 5,300 phones and $800,000 in cash when thieves used stolen IDs to sign 2-year contracts and then sold the phones. In fact, cell phone providers are working with investigators and lawyers to pursue the phone traffickers.
What you should do about “credit mule” scams, from the Better Business Bureau’s website:
- Read your contract. Yes, the fine print is long and tedious, but be sure you know exactly what you are committing to before you sign.
- If it sounds too good to be true… It probably is. If getting paid a couple hundred dollars just to take out a wireless contract sounds too easy, that’s because it’s a scam.
- Know the consequences of bad credit. Scammers frequently prey on students who may not know the consequences of bad credit. An unpaid cell phone bill will be sent to a collections agency, and this could make it hard to get a loan, a job or even housing later.
- This trick is easy to avoid. There’s no legitimate reason why anyone would want to pay you to take out multiple phone contracts, or even a single contract in your name and then to hand over the phone to them. So, simply refuse any such “opportunity” that comes your way. Also, be warned that taking part in this scam could land you in legal as well as financial trouble. If there’s any suggestion that you knowingly took part in a fraud, you could face criminal charges.
