Instead, they can get more information at. She noted that the consumers who have called so far are describing legitimate EIP payment cards and the BBB has been telling them not to destroy those cards. "Some seniors thought it was a scam and were going to throw it away," said Laura Blankenship, director of marketing for the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula. The Better Business Bureau has been receiving calls from consumers who are confused about the blue Visa card. Many consumers are skeptical of these cards that are popping up in the mail. Department of Treasury noted: "In order to quickly disburse EIPs, some people who received EIPs by paper check for the first round of EIPs might receive an EIP Card this time, and some people who received an EIP Card for the first round may receive a paper check."Ĭonfused? Well, you're not alone.
Yet Brazill wasn't on the verge of being scammed.īeginning in the first week of January, the Treasury and the IRS started sending out about 8 million prepaid debit cards for people to access their Economic Impact Payments. Give out six digits of your Social Security number? What? The con artists only have to figure out three more, he thought, and they're set to go. And then the recording asked for the last six digits of his Social Security number. He called, though, put in the 16-digit number on the front of the card. "I was nervous about it before I even called the number," said Brazill, 63, who lives in Detroit. "To me, it seemed like it could be a scam because I got an actual check the first time," he said. So he couldn't understand why the Internal Revenue Service would supposedly send him his stimulus money on a Visa card when he received his first stimulus payment on a paper check last year. "After being had a couple of times, you get a little gun-shy," Brazill said. Someone called him claiming to be from Amazon about two hours after he called Amazon once and, well, he thought it was Amazon, so he exchanged some personal information that he wishes he wouldn't have handed over. He knows the scammers are out there with all kinds of tricks.
Why am I getting a plastic debit card when I got a stimulus check last time?īut the Ford retiree was skeptical. All he had to do was call a number to activate the second Economic Impact Payment, which began rolling out to millions of people across the country in late December. The card was connected to the federal government's stimulus payments. Instead, it was "important information about your Economic Impact Payment." The white envelope has a red notice printed on it, claiming this mailing wasn't a bill or an advertisement. The card itself happens to be blue, too, with stars all over it. Is it a scam?Ībout a week ago, Brazill said a Visa card popped up in the mail out of the blue. While some people are still wondering when their second round of stimulus money will show up, others aren't quite sure what's happening when a plastic bank card arrives in the mail. Daniel Brazill has been convinced for the past week that he just pulled the latest scam out of his mailbox when he could have been out spending his $600 in stimulus cash.
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