Dear BBB,
My elderly neighbour recently invited me over to her house to show me the new “air purification system” she had purchased for $3,000. The system looked a lot to me just like a vacuum cleaner and when I told my neighbour she might have been scammed she didn’t believe me. Has anyone else reported a situation similar to this?
~ Nice Neighbour A: Nice Neighbour, RIGHT, the BBB has had numerous calls lately from people receiving phone solicitations by a company offering to come and test the air quality in their home. In most circumstances a home visit is arranged and a sales person comes to perform a test and subsequently sell a vacuum system that they claim will purify the air. In the reported cases the sales person uses high-pressure sales tactics and often stays for long periods of time (3 hours in one instance). The vacuum system being sold is very expensive and it is debatable as to whether it actually does anything to purify the air in your home. The BBB is warning people to use caution when considering such a purchase. Do your research first. Check both the company out that is selling you the product and check out the product itself to see if it’s worth the price and will actually do what the sales person claims. Be sure to get a contract and sales receipt for your purchase. Try not to fall victim to high-pressure sales tactics. If the sales person has over stayed their welcome ask them to leave and inform them that you will call the police if they don’t. Follow through if they refuse to leave. If you do find yourself purchasing a product that has been sold to you at your door you should know your refund rights. Visit
bpcpa.ca for more information.
Dear BBB, I saw an online posting for a job performing financial services for an international company. I applied and someone from the company contacted me to discuss the specifics of the position, which were to pick up wired money orders and to deposit them in an international bank account. My contact works at a branch of the company located in Nigeria. The job pays really well, but my husband thinks I should be careful. I’m hoping I can prove him wrong.
~Wishful Wife A: Wishful Wife, I think you would be WRONG to jump into this employment opportunity without doing a bit more research first. It has all the makings of a scam. While you might get paid well, there is a good chance the company you would be working for is scamming other people via some sort of money wiring scam. With the poor economy, people are desperate to find good paying jobs and scam artists have been known to take advantage of this. We’ve heard of cases of innocent people unknowingly being hired to perform payroll duties and other financial support services for individuals that are operating international scams. Before even considering this job I would do some research. Get the company name and complete contact information. Look them up yourself and compare the information. When you speak to your contact ask them what the company does and why and what the money being wired is for. Ask them what the process is for communicating with them and how you will be paid. You might even suggest that it sounds like a money wiring scam and see what the response is. Depending on how sophisticated the scam artist is it might be difficult to tell if the opportunity is legitimate. Exercise extreme caution and use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is!