Amazon $700 Weekly Vehicle Advertisement Program

After a year in which its annual revenue nearly eclipsed $575 billion, Amazon is apparently feeling generous.

An online ad sent in by a TINA.org reader explains:

Amazon is proud to reveal it’s (sic) newest way of giving back to the society, We are currently employing vehicle owners anywhere in the United States to have our “Amazon” logo on their vehicle and get paid $700 for carrying the logo on their vehicle. The Amazon logo is a very small sticker.

That’s $700 every week, the ad goes on to say, for six months. That means you have the potential to earn more than $18,000, just by placing a small sticker on your car.

But we have questions. A lot of questions.

For starters, if this is really Amazon, why does the ad appear on a blog – offersbased.com/car – that seems to have no affiliation with Amazon?

Also:

• How does the program actually work? Do consumers need to drive a minimum number of miles each week in order to get paid in full?
• If the sticker is so small and “easy to install,” why the need for a “decal installation specialist” to come out and install it? Why can’t consumers just do it themselves?
• How is Amazon actually benefiting from this program? After all, Amazon employs more than 275,000 delivery drivers with its logo already on their vehicles.

To get some answers, TINA.org filled out the form on the site. While we provided an email address, we have yet to receive a response.

We have also yet to hear back from Amazon on whether it has any affiliation with the blog or even has a car wrap program consumers can sign up for. But one thing is certain: The offer checks many of the boxes of a car wrap scam.

How car wrap scams generally work

After signing up, participants receive a substantially larger check than initially promised. They are then instructed to pay some other, second company the difference for the needed car wrap materials.

The goal is to get you to withdraw money from your checking account after you deposit the check but before it bounces (because it’s a fake check), leaving you with a hole in your bank account. The “specialist” or “detailer” in charge of installing the decal on your car? They aren’t coming because they don’t exist.

The bottom line

Some companies have legitimate car wrap programs that pay consumers to shrink-wrap their car in the brand’s advertising but it is also a common scam.

So, if an opportunity like this catches your eye, proceed with caution: Before you give up any personal information, confirm with the brand that it actually has a car wrap program and that the sign-up site is the legitimate one.

Find more of our coverage on car wrap scams here.