The MoneyPak reloadable debit card made by Green Dot, a California based company is very popular with many consumers to conveniently send money anywhere you want.  It also is a very convenient way for scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists, to scam you out of money with effectively no way of getting your money back.  Under various guises including phony calls from scammers posing as IRS agents claiming you must make a payment to them by phone, scammers tell their victims to provide them with the activation code and security number of the MoneyPak card to make a payment to avoid serious problems.  Recently Green Dot announced that it would be phasing out the MoneyPak card early in 2015 and replacing it with a new reloadable debit card that will move reloading of cards to the cash registers of retailers to be done through a card processing machine that the company says will reduce fraud.

TIPS

Whether or not the phasing out of the old MoneyPak debit card will reduce fraudulent use of Green Dot’s cards remains to be seen.  Scammers still can exploit this technology as well.  It is also important to remember that MoneyPak is not the only prepaid debit card.  Many others still have the same vulnerability to fraud.  Prepaid debit cards and wiring of money are primary choices of scammers because of the near impossibility of ever getting your money back once you realize you have been scammed.  Therefore anytime you are asked to send money for any purpose by way of a prepaid debit card or wiring money from your bank account or a company such as Western Union, you should carefully consider whether or not the transaction is legitimate.