Contact 6 warns viewers about car wrapping scam



WAUKESHA (WITI) -- Free money!  Sounds great, right?  One of FOX6's viewers was offered a chance to drive her car for cash, but one thing she did made all the difference - and likely helped her avoid a monster of a problem.

For 12 years, Patricia Przybylka has made a good living at her office.  But like most of us, she wouldn't mind making a little more money.

"There was an email from this gentleman asking me if i wanted to get paid to drive my car," she explains.  "I said sure, who wouldn't?"

The email explained a promotion to wrap her car in marketing material for the "Monster Energy Drink" company.  But the email was sent to her from out of nowhere and asked for personal details like her home address and phone numbers.

Patricia said that offer was tough to swallow.

" never asked me how much driving I did," Patricia remembers.  " one red flag to me.  If you're gonna pay me to drive around with a logo on it, you want to make sure that logo is traveling all over."

Patricia did a quick Internet search of the sender's name - "Neil Anderson."  She found multiple complaints about the vehicle wrap promotion, including several complaints about "Neil Anderson" - even bogus offers using other drink company names as well.

"People are getting tricked by it," Patricia says, "and that's just wrong."

After we alerted the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau to this "Monster" scam, it moved fast to get the word out.

"This particular scam has been reported through Better Business Bureaus from California all the way to Pennsylvania," says the BBB's Vice-President, Liz Fredrichs.  "This is the first time we've heard of it in Wisconsin."

But Patricia was smart enough to catch on - she's just not sure others will.

"I don't wanna see any body get trapped into it," Patricia says.

The company says it "is aware of a car wrap scam," and says Monster "does not do any type of advertising" on private vehicles and is "cooperating with authorities" to investigate the issue.

Remember - if you didn't email someone first, and they contact you with a great offer - just delete it.  In the end, it may cause you a monster headache!