Clean Green Cars: Alert: Cash for Clunkers-like scam sites up and running

Alert: Cash for Clunkers-like scam sites up and running

The success of the federal government’s C.A.R.S. (Cash for Clunkers) program led to the creation of the 2009 Automotive Stimulus Program, a private plan run by some of the U.S.’s larger auto dealers. The creation of a second program, one that has different rules and isn’t C.A.R.S., and the nature of the Internet has led to some scam sites that purport to be offering clunkers-style rebated but they’re really collecting personal information from unsuspecting users. The auto dealers that are part of the ASP have issued a press release that warns against sites that talk about “pre-registering” or ask for credit card or social security numbers. Kind of a no-brainer there, but apparently the Nigerian prince emails worked, too. Also, we’ve noticed a few spam emails that talk about the clunkers rebate program. We haven’t bothered to click on them for fear of causing all sorts of problems, but their subject lines are calling us from our spam folders.