Car shipping payment by Zelle, wire, or gift card

Do not pay a car shipping company by Zelle, a bank wire, a gift card, or a prepaid debit card. The Better Business Bureau's July 21, 2023 alert says wallet payments work like cash, tells you to use a credit card, and says not to pay by wire or prepaid debit card. The alert does not name Zelle or gift cards. Treat those the same way. The payments are hard to get back.

RideShipper will not ask you to pay by Zelle or by any other method. RideShipper is a free comparison and quote-request service owned by World Media Group LLC. It does not move the car, set the price, or take a deposit. A message that says RideShipper needs a Zelle payment to "release the truck" is not this company.

What the July 21, 2023 alert says#

The alert, "Spot a vehicle transport scam before you move your car, truck or motorcycle," describes a low quote followed by a deposit of a few hundred dollars, usually through a digital wallet. After the deposit, a pickup date is given and no one comes.

On payment, the alert says three things you can use on the phone.

• Payments through digital wallet apps are essentially cash. Those services are designed for people you trust.
• Pay with a credit card. It is easier to contest a fraudulent charge on a credit card.
• Do not pay for services by wiring money or with prepaid debit cards. The alert treats a request for those methods as a sign of a scam.

The alert's published consumer example used PayPal, not Zelle. The person paid 50 dollars through PayPal to book a California-to-Florida shipment, reached no one at pickup, and wrote that the company did not appear on the USDOT website. The brand name on the app is not the protection. The protection is a payment you can dispute, plus a company you can find.

Zelle is a bank-to-bank transfer product. This page does not claim Zelle's own rules, because those rules were not the page that was opened. The BBB warning that applies here is the one about digital wallets, wires, and prepaid cards. Treat a Zelle demand for a shipment the same way the alert treats a wallet demand. Stop, and do not send it.

What to do instead#

1. Look up the legal name on the SAFER Company Snapshot and the Licensing and Insurance search before any money moves. The steps are in how to check if a carrier is licensed.
2. Read the price against the range. A very low number plus an instant payment link is the pattern in the alert. Use the quote checker below.
3. If you decide to pay a deposit, pay the company whose legal name you checked, by credit card, for the amount written in the contract. FMCSA's February 10, 2015 advisory says to watch the card and confirm that only the authorized amount posts.
4. Keep the contract, the receipt, and the name of the person who asked for the money.

If the only way to "hold the date" is Zelle, a wire, or a gift card, you do not have an offer to check. You have a payment request. The red-flag list is the short version to keep beside the phone. The deposit page explains when a card deposit can still be a normal term.

If the money already left#

Act the same day. Waiting for a callback is how the window closes.

• Wire. Call the bank or the wire service and say you want the transfer recalled. Ask what they can still stop. Write down the name of the person you spoke with.
• Gift card or prepaid card. Call the number on the back of the card and tell them the code was given to someone else. If the code was already redeemed, say so. Keep the card and the receipt.
• Zelle or another wallet. Open the app's help path and report an unauthorized or fraudulent payment. Then call your bank. Say you paid a transport company you now cannot verify.
• Credit card, including a card that funded a wallet. Call the issuer. The CFPB page last reviewed April 15, 2024 says that to protect billing-error rights you must also send a written notice within 60 calendar days after the charge appeared on the statement. The issuer then has 30 days to acknowledge that notice unless it finishes the resolution sooner. The same page says a different process may apply when the problem is goods or services that were defective. Ask which process fits a deposit for a truck that never came. If you already paid the charge, you can still dispute it. The issuer does not have to return the money before it decides.

None of these calls promises the funds back. They are the calls that exist. Report the pattern to BBB Scam Tracker, which the alert asks readers to use, at BBB Scam Tracker. Reporting is not a refund.

RideShipper cannot reverse a payment it never received. If the message used our name, contact us through the contact page and keep the screenshot. The page on what RideShipper will not ask you to pay is the short list of charges that are not ours.