Purchasing a big-ticket item is no joke. That's why Erin Mantooth-Jackson took steps to protect herself.
"I thought I was safe, but I was not," she said.
Erin and her husband own a farm southwest of Prescott. They planned to build out a barn and decided to use shipping containers for the project. The containers are wind- and water-resistant and very sturdy.
"It takes a lot of the work away from starting at the ground up," Erin explained.
She turned online to search for containers, scouring Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and OfferUp. She opted with a seller who told her they were with a company called Durabox.
Erin looked up the company and found good reviews. From there, she dealt with a man named 'Alex' and communicated through Facebook Messenger.
"If I asked a question, he would get back to me right away. So he was very attentive," Erin said.
To move forward with the purchase, Erin needed to put nearly $2,700 down upfront.
She tells the Let ABC15 Know team, she tried to pay with a credit card for protection, but the company insisted she pay by check. Not only that, but they requested the check be made out to an individual person instead of the business.
"It kind of red-flagged me and I asked him, 'why is going to a person instead of just going to the office?'" Erin recalled, saying she started to feel concerned but 'Alex' always had an answer.
Erin paid the money.
Then, when it came time for delivery, she says there were constant problems, excuses, and an ask for more money! Erin was requested to pay an additional $3,500 in insurance.
Concerned and getting nervous, Erin didn't send the money. Instead, she went to Durabox's website and called the company number listed online.
She was in for a shock.
A company representative returned her call and stated: "This is not us. We don't know who Alex is. We don't know this invoice number or any of these contracts, and it's not the price that we sell them [containers] for," Erin recalled.
Erin was never working with the real Durabox company. Scammers were pretending, posing as the legitimate company on third-party websites like Facebook to defraud consumers.
"Your stomach kind of drops out," Erin said when asked about receiving that phone call.
She filed a police report for fraud, but her money was gone.
Fakes and imposters may try to cash in on the popularity of shipping containers. The threat is so real, the legitimate Durabox company used this incident to warn others by posting an alert to consumers on their social media.
As for Erin, she says she felt confident when she searched reviews of Durabox, but urges other consumers to pick up the phone, too.
"The only thing that I didn't do was called Durabox immediately to confirm that's who I was dealing with," she said.
If you're buying a big ticket item, take steps to protect yourself:
- Be wary of sellers found on third-party sites. Always call and talk to the company yourself to verify they are who they claim to be. Don't rely on contact information given by the seller. Instead, go to the company's legitimate website and get the contact information yourself.
- Question communication. If a company is only willing to talk to you via messaging, that's a red flag.
- Pay with a credit card when possible because it offers more protection in cases of fraud. A scammer will often ask consumers to pay using irreversible methods.
- Check reviews. Search reviews on multiple sites, don't rely on just one. Also, search the company name with additional words like 'scam' or 'imposter' to see if any consumer warnings come up.
- Take a breath. If you're in a high pressure situation, step back. Don't make any decisions without taking the time to think about your options.
If you think you've been the victim of fraud, report it. Contact your local law enforcement and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
