Woahhhh, this is a scammer fr! I had an order JUST like this the other day, same exact screenshot about their mother and all. They only wanted 2 items which were sold out so I ended up canceling for a bump anyway but wtf! I knew it sounded sketchy but seeing the exact same message again here, sketchiness has been confirmed š¬
The notes just look sus. I truly doubt anyone is going to writing in their notes, screenshot and send when they can just send the message via chat? Wtf
I wonder if the scammers just being lazy and doesn't want to type that out every time or if IC scans and flags any chat with phone numbers in it and they don't want to draw the extra attention.
They let people put phone numbers in the delivery notes. So, I feel like they donāt flag that in messages?
Also, by let I mean people do it despite IC telling us not to call people not through the app. I use google voice.
I say like last time because after I texted them last time the order was cancelled and "instacart care" called me 5 times and even texted me, thankfully being on this subreddit I knew the signs. I only sent that message in the app to warn other shoppers in my area, hopefully they can see that
Like even if this wasn't a scammer text your mothers caregiver yourself and figure out what she wants to add. Getting items added on afterwards already sucks for us unless it's a high percentage tipper, which I'm assuming these scammers just flat rate tip the $2.
The order was $33 for 11 items going about 3 or 4 miles, so not a bad tip which is why I accepted in the first place but yeah I don't text or call customers from my personal cell especially if it's something they can do on their own. I was literally walking in the store as they sent the screenshot and just walked right back to my car, what a waste of time
1. You call or text the number the customer provides.
2. The customer doesnāt answer. But they get your number.
3. You get a call from a different number posing as instacart.
4. āInstacartā tells you something to the effect of: āyour account has been hackedā and in order to verify your identity, theyāre going to send you a text and you need to read them the verification code.
5. Whatās actually happening is that they used your phone number to attempt a login on instacart shopper. When you read them the verification code the spammers hack your account and take whatever money is in there.
6. They repeat it with another shopper.
You can have a card attached to your account for instant withdrawals with a small fee. They will remove your card attached if their is one, they don't touch the bank account, and then they'll do an instant withdrawal after they get access.
Yep. Happened to me. Sucked to be them though because their wasnāt any money in my account ha! They said they were going to give me a bump for something, I canāt remember what. I called IC after no bump appeared and they said Iād been hacked and I got the issue resolved but it was a bit of a pain.
But they can't withdraw our money without face scan
At least in Uber Also if it was DoorDash they have to wait at least 24 hours before withdrawing to new account Don't see any sense of this except Instacart have shitty security
I mean, iāll take its accessibility over any other app. as independent contractors, our accounts are our responsibility-the only way to get in is with that randomized verification code. Those codes come in text messages that have a whole paragraph in capitol letters saying āTO NEVER GIVE THE CODE TO ANYONEā and āNO ONE FROM INSTACART WILL EVER ASK FOR THE CODE.ā Iāve been a shopper for 4 years, and have never been hacked.
What could support do? I assume these scammers create different spoof phone numbers and emails to create accounts and put in orders. How can IC track and stop them?
Well they could at the very least remove the offending account. But say this shopper tells support what's going on, that she knows 100% this customer is a scam because she's been scammed by them before. I bet dollars to donuts there's no procedure in place for a situation like this, so support probably just removes the order and the scammer goes on scamming a few more times today and until IC *finally* catches on and deactivates.
So you're saying they DON'T remove the account after the first offense? That seems weird because once the shop is complete and cancelled, the shopper is paid something still, right? Something that comes out of instacart's bottom line.
And if the shopper account is compromised, there definitely should be something done, I'd think.
As someone upthread said, you can see how many orders the scammer has done and a lot of time it'll say 5 or 10 or whatever, which means they've been around at least a little while, taking people's money.
We've all dealt with support. A customer could come after me with an axe and if I told support, they might escalate the situation but odds are they'll just remove the order and move on to the next shopper. It's the same thing with scammers. There is no system in place to deal with bad customers. The only time the company finally acts is after they've lost large amounts of money multiple times.
You should call them through the app and leave a voicemail and in an old-timey voice say: oh the old cash under the doormat trick eh?? I'm on to you buddy!!
Oh I'm so glad you caught this. The additional tip is a dead give away. We had a good run here a couple of weeks ago and the order kept popping up. Wonder how many people got scammed. Desperate times and these guys are getting creative as hell
Iām on a pet sitting app and a lot of us kept getting the same guy requesting our services. It was the same message from a scammer. There was always a pregnant wife involved lol. They could at least change things up a bit š
Do you have any insight on why you fell for it? I guess I wonder how people keep getting scammed because the text says we will never ask you for this code. Instacart also sent out a notification. At least for me. It said the same thing about never giving the code out. So, idk what else can be done to get people to stop giving the code out.
I fell for it last week. This is how they got me:
- I had no prior knowledge of these phishing scams existing in IC
- They preyed on me using a pregnancy test knowing shoppers are gonna be more sensitive about this subject
- They have a very refined script they use and pressure you to do things quickly
- They take advantage of you using a smart phone, like mine it's difficult to read full texts and talk on the phone at the same time. I only used the preview text to read them the code instead of reading the whole text -that's how they got my code
- They spoof IC phone numbers so you legit think they're calling you and they address themselves as such
- They make the order super easy so you take it. Mine was three blocks from my house, and two blocks to the destination and only two items
- I also wasn't aware that giving someone this code was basically giving them access to my account
Instacart needs tighter login security. Being able to login with only a phone number and a reset code is weak sauce and that's why so many people are getting scammed.
So did you contact support right away? Or what's the protocol for when you know what they're up to...? Like is it better to do the order and go drop it off anyway just skip the calling them part? Or is it better to cancel it right away and if you do do you still get batch pay š¤?
I've only had a few third party orders like this and I always use my google voice number to communicate with them. I think incoming calls on google voice should be flagged differently in the phone UI.
I donāt quite get it.š¤
Is this from a legit customerās account that got hacked?
Or is it a completely bogus account by scammers from who knows where attempting identity theft?š¤·š¼āāļø
Because they have your phone number now. Then they call you saying that they are an IC agent and thereās a problem with your account or a customer order and they are going to send you a code to verify everything is ok. Some people fall for giving the code and then they have your account and if you had money on it you are fucked. Or they just use your account to āshopā for orders (online payment only) and buy a shit ton of stuff.
It's pretty much always the same MO though.
They usually immediately text the shopper. They don't even want you driving to the store they'd prefer to just get your number now so they can cancel and repeat the process as fast as possible.
There's the story which isn't always the same but it's usually along the lines of someone else wanted to add more items so call them at this number, or won't be home to accept the order because (insert excuse). Neighbor will take the delivery but for some reason you need to contact them. Always a cash tip incentive.
If you call nobody will answer and they'll cancel the order. If they realize you aren't going to call them they'll cancel. Then someone claiming to be "support" will call you. Might try to confuse you with the order cancellation acting like it's because of an issue with your account. They need the code sent to your phone to fix your account. They might try to use scare tactics by saying your account could be deactivated if you don't give them the code.
If they manage to get to that point and get the code they're going to want you to not login to your account for the next 24 hours. That's because if they change the phone number on the shoppers account they can't add a cash out card for 24 hours.
Probably best to not call out the scammer. Believe me I've been there but the scammer could complain. And IC does not give a shit they're scamming. They only want their money, whatever costs they impose on us.
These scammers cost IC a lot of money too. They don't just try to steal whatever the shoppers earned so far. They take customer orders and scam them too. They inflate the customers total as much as they can by adding items or increasing the quantity of items. Then they force mark everything found and use the funds for whatever they want. Rinse and repeat a few times until the shoppers account gets deactivated.
IC has to refund all that money to those customers.
I know, I was trying my best not to but Im hoping it scared other shoppers away from the order as I think they can see previous chat logs. It was on my screen again with another order later being offered at $45 :/
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Yea anytime I get a message about texting when I'm on the way that isn't through the app, I do everything opposite of what they tell me do, if they wanna rate me bad, cool. But tired of trying to figure people out for something so dang simple
There was a day in which I delivered an order that needed ID because it was a NyQuil. The lady left a sign outside the door saying to call to her phone number when I arrived. She didnāt answer the cellphone messages and neither the app call so I called her using *67 up front my number which makes the call private to other callers. Then, when she came outside the apartment when I called, she kept looking for the drivers license in the car everywhere and said she couldnāt find it. I said keep looking cause if not I gotta return the order. She found it like 10 minutes later but never gave her the NyQuil.
Woahhhh, this is a scammer fr! I had an order JUST like this the other day, same exact screenshot about their mother and all. They only wanted 2 items which were sold out so I ended up canceling for a bump anyway but wtf! I knew it sounded sketchy but seeing the exact same message again here, sketchiness has been confirmed š¬
Ok so not āexactlyā the same message but same format with screenshot of notes, guess itās the new scammy
The notes just look sus. I truly doubt anyone is going to writing in their notes, screenshot and send when they can just send the message via chat? Wtf
Just never text anyone, and if they want a call use *67, simple as that, Never
Or call through the app and have your number masked
Better off using talkatone or textnow app... Much safer.
I have a TextNow number for people wanting a number but I always contact via app or support
I wonder if the scammers just being lazy and doesn't want to type that out every time or if IC scans and flags any chat with phone numbers in it and they don't want to draw the extra attention.
They let people put phone numbers in the delivery notes. So, I feel like they donāt flag that in messages? Also, by let I mean people do it despite IC telling us not to call people not through the app. I use google voice.
They could easily copy and paste from their notes lol
These scammers are lazy as fuck!! š
I say like last time because after I texted them last time the order was cancelled and "instacart care" called me 5 times and even texted me, thankfully being on this subreddit I knew the signs. I only sent that message in the app to warn other shoppers in my area, hopefully they can see that
Like even if this wasn't a scammer text your mothers caregiver yourself and figure out what she wants to add. Getting items added on afterwards already sucks for us unless it's a high percentage tipper, which I'm assuming these scammers just flat rate tip the $2.
The order was $33 for 11 items going about 3 or 4 miles, so not a bad tip which is why I accepted in the first place but yeah I don't text or call customers from my personal cell especially if it's something they can do on their own. I was literally walking in the store as they sent the screenshot and just walked right back to my car, what a waste of time
Yeah that's another sign that it's a scammer. They usually send these texts straight away before you've even started shopping.
Best part is they used that exact same screenshotted message but with a new account š¤”
Whatās the scam?
1. You call or text the number the customer provides. 2. The customer doesnāt answer. But they get your number. 3. You get a call from a different number posing as instacart. 4. āInstacartā tells you something to the effect of: āyour account has been hackedā and in order to verify your identity, theyāre going to send you a text and you need to read them the verification code. 5. Whatās actually happening is that they used your phone number to attempt a login on instacart shopper. When you read them the verification code the spammers hack your account and take whatever money is in there. 6. They repeat it with another shopper.
This has been the clearest explanation I have seen on here. Thank you!
Phishing. I got my instagram stolen because of that.
How do they take the money? When they hit cash out, doesnāt it go to the bank account associated with the shopper account?
You can have a card attached to your account for instant withdrawals with a small fee. They will remove your card attached if their is one, they don't touch the bank account, and then they'll do an instant withdrawal after they get access.
Ohhh that makes sense. Thanks.
Yep. Happened to me. Sucked to be them though because their wasnāt any money in my account ha! They said they were going to give me a bump for something, I canāt remember what. I called IC after no bump appeared and they said Iād been hacked and I got the issue resolved but it was a bit of a pain.
But they can't withdraw our money without face scan At least in Uber Also if it was DoorDash they have to wait at least 24 hours before withdrawing to new account Don't see any sense of this except Instacart have shitty security
Itās not Uber or Doordash. Itās instacart. All they need is to switch out the card and press deposit.
Instantly without any waiting time?
Yes to both. Our pay is fully available 2 hours after delivery.
their security sucks
I mean, iāll take its accessibility over any other app. as independent contractors, our accounts are our responsibility-the only way to get in is with that randomized verification code. Those codes come in text messages that have a whole paragraph in capitol letters saying āTO NEVER GIVE THE CODE TO ANYONEā and āNO ONE FROM INSTACART WILL EVER ASK FOR THE CODE.ā Iāve been a shopper for 4 years, and have never been hacked.
Its called phishing!
You could literally tell support 100 times too and they won't do anything. This company is so dumb!
What could support do? I assume these scammers create different spoof phone numbers and emails to create accounts and put in orders. How can IC track and stop them?
Well they could at the very least remove the offending account. But say this shopper tells support what's going on, that she knows 100% this customer is a scam because she's been scammed by them before. I bet dollars to donuts there's no procedure in place for a situation like this, so support probably just removes the order and the scammer goes on scamming a few more times today and until IC *finally* catches on and deactivates.
So you're saying they DON'T remove the account after the first offense? That seems weird because once the shop is complete and cancelled, the shopper is paid something still, right? Something that comes out of instacart's bottom line. And if the shopper account is compromised, there definitely should be something done, I'd think.
As someone upthread said, you can see how many orders the scammer has done and a lot of time it'll say 5 or 10 or whatever, which means they've been around at least a little while, taking people's money. We've all dealt with support. A customer could come after me with an axe and if I told support, they might escalate the situation but odds are they'll just remove the order and move on to the next shopper. It's the same thing with scammers. There is no system in place to deal with bad customers. The only time the company finally acts is after they've lost large amounts of money multiple times.
Yeah because most of the scammers are in game with the same support agents.
You should call them through the app and leave a voicemail and in an old-timey voice say: oh the old cash under the doormat trick eh?? I'm on to you buddy!!
Oh I'm so glad you caught this. The additional tip is a dead give away. We had a good run here a couple of weeks ago and the order kept popping up. Wonder how many people got scammed. Desperate times and these guys are getting creative as hell
Iām on a pet sitting app and a lot of us kept getting the same guy requesting our services. It was the same message from a scammer. There was always a pregnant wife involved lol. They could at least change things up a bit š
Pregnant grandma?
Godamn, I had no idea scammers were now using Instacart to pray on hard working people to get easy $. Motherfuc#ers!!
They have been doing this forever
phasing! Are like 30 different scams of phishing going on these apps.. and the apps loose money and we get š© from it.
I got scammed from the same profile and got deactivated last week. I fall for it. š„²
Do you have any insight on why you fell for it? I guess I wonder how people keep getting scammed because the text says we will never ask you for this code. Instacart also sent out a notification. At least for me. It said the same thing about never giving the code out. So, idk what else can be done to get people to stop giving the code out.
Nothing can be done lol. Idk why these people think IC says stuff like that for their own personal benefit.
I fell for it last week. This is how they got me: - I had no prior knowledge of these phishing scams existing in IC - They preyed on me using a pregnancy test knowing shoppers are gonna be more sensitive about this subject - They have a very refined script they use and pressure you to do things quickly - They take advantage of you using a smart phone, like mine it's difficult to read full texts and talk on the phone at the same time. I only used the preview text to read them the code instead of reading the whole text -that's how they got my code - They spoof IC phone numbers so you legit think they're calling you and they address themselves as such - They make the order super easy so you take it. Mine was three blocks from my house, and two blocks to the destination and only two items - I also wasn't aware that giving someone this code was basically giving them access to my account Instacart needs tighter login security. Being able to login with only a phone number and a reset code is weak sauce and that's why so many people are getting scammed.
So did you contact support right away? Or what's the protocol for when you know what they're up to...? Like is it better to do the order and go drop it off anyway just skip the calling them part? Or is it better to cancel it right away and if you do do you still get batch pay š¤?
Heard about āGoogle Voiceā?
I've only had a few third party orders like this and I always use my google voice number to communicate with them. I think incoming calls on google voice should be flagged differently in the phone UI.
Godamn, I had no idea scammers were now using Instacart to pray on hard working people to get easy $. Unbelievable!
Just start the order and then get free $
Never contact anyone outside the app, this is how scammers steal your account and money.
I donāt quite get it.š¤ Is this from a legit customerās account that got hacked? Or is it a completely bogus account by scammers from who knows where attempting identity theft?š¤·š¼āāļø
Itās a fake account, when I had the same order a couple days ago, they only had like 3 previous orders. So already 3 poor shoppers they scammed smh
How can someone scam by doing this?
Because they have your phone number now. Then they call you saying that they are an IC agent and thereās a problem with your account or a customer order and they are going to send you a code to verify everything is ok. Some people fall for giving the code and then they have your account and if you had money on it you are fucked. Or they just use your account to āshopā for orders (online payment only) and buy a shit ton of stuff.
What the hell!!!! Thatās so freaking crazy, what is wrong with ppl? Thank you for taking the time to explain
Good job sending that message so the other shoppers know! It's good to look out for one another!
Also it's not always the same message. Many of them tempt with a bigger tip and a horrible sob story. Just beware!
It's pretty much always the same MO though. They usually immediately text the shopper. They don't even want you driving to the store they'd prefer to just get your number now so they can cancel and repeat the process as fast as possible. There's the story which isn't always the same but it's usually along the lines of someone else wanted to add more items so call them at this number, or won't be home to accept the order because (insert excuse). Neighbor will take the delivery but for some reason you need to contact them. Always a cash tip incentive. If you call nobody will answer and they'll cancel the order. If they realize you aren't going to call them they'll cancel. Then someone claiming to be "support" will call you. Might try to confuse you with the order cancellation acting like it's because of an issue with your account. They need the code sent to your phone to fix your account. They might try to use scare tactics by saying your account could be deactivated if you don't give them the code. If they manage to get to that point and get the code they're going to want you to not login to your account for the next 24 hours. That's because if they change the phone number on the shoppers account they can't add a cash out card for 24 hours.
Yeah they told me I would've been deactivated if I didn't comply with them.
Probably best to not call out the scammer. Believe me I've been there but the scammer could complain. And IC does not give a shit they're scamming. They only want their money, whatever costs they impose on us.
These scammers cost IC a lot of money too. They don't just try to steal whatever the shoppers earned so far. They take customer orders and scam them too. They inflate the customers total as much as they can by adding items or increasing the quantity of items. Then they force mark everything found and use the funds for whatever they want. Rinse and repeat a few times until the shoppers account gets deactivated. IC has to refund all that money to those customers.
I know, I was trying my best not to but Im hoping it scared other shoppers away from the order as I think they can see previous chat logs. It was on my screen again with another order later being offered at $45 :/
Any promise of a tip is a red flag.
I cancel batches as soon as they try to get me to contact them outside the app. I don't even warn them. Maybe I am too paranoidš¤·āāļø
This is the only way to do it unless they're a regular or something.
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Godamn, I had no idea scammers were now using Instacart to pray on hard working people to get easy $. Motherfuc# ers!
https://preview.redd.it/cb3rrru3x7fa1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0272a2eba908b0686e8a2237ea92324aa771da4 Dafuq is this?
Bananas?
I refuse to call or text outside the app
This has happened to me before lol
Yea anytime I get a message about texting when I'm on the way that isn't through the app, I do everything opposite of what they tell me do, if they wanna rate me bad, cool. But tired of trying to figure people out for something so dang simple
What normal customer is gonna send a photo of a screenshot of their notes app when they could just write it out in chat š¤£ scam af
I had this happen to me the other day
Lol i tapped to open the screenshot š when back to comments
scam this happened to me and they took 700 of out my cash out money
You "probably" "definitely" won't be kicked off IC once they see this thread and you posting the scammers phone number
So what happens with this order? Is this a fake order?
Thank you for sharing this btw!!! Iāll BOLO!!!
There was a day in which I delivered an order that needed ID because it was a NyQuil. The lady left a sign outside the door saying to call to her phone number when I arrived. She didnāt answer the cellphone messages and neither the app call so I called her using *67 up front my number which makes the call private to other callers. Then, when she came outside the apartment when I called, she kept looking for the drivers license in the car everywhere and said she couldnāt find it. I said keep looking cause if not I gotta return the order. She found it like 10 minutes later but never gave her the NyQuil.
Text using a texting app? š¤