The individual, Julius Williams, was advertising on Facebook that he worked for Netspend and was offering bonus money for new customers that loaded money onto a new Netspend card. I contacted him via Facebook email and asked how it worked because I lost my job and was in debt. He explained that if I loaded money onto a Netspend card, he could add money as a bonus for new customers and the only thing he requested in return was a small "handling" fee. He claimed to want to help people who were having financial troubles. I was desperate so I fell for it. He asked for my phone number so he could contact me with further details. We talked over the phone and by text. He seemed very convincing so I loaded $130 to a Netspend card which was the only money I had left since I lost my job. He then explained that he needed my bank account number to transer the funds to my account. I told him that I would not provide my bank account number so he told me that I could give him any debit card number in order for him to be able to transfer the funds to me and then I would need to wire him his small fee after I receive the money. I gave him my debit card number also so he could transfer the money from the netspend card to my debit card as he explained. He said it would take a couple of hours for the transaction to show up. I started to feel like something was wrong so I called the "800" number provided on the back of the Netspend card. The Netspend representative informed me that the funds have already been redeemed. The funds were never transferred to my debit card or to me. I had to call and cancel my debit card because he had the information and was issued a new card. Julius Williams then blocked me on Facebook and no longer answered my calls or texts. I was left feeling very upset and angry at myself for falling for this scam.
NetSpend Corporation
Austin,#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 18, 2013
Dear Andrea,
We are very sorry to hear that you were involved in this scam.
We can assure you that Julius does not work for NetSpend and we are working with Facebook in order to get these scams stopped.
If you see something suspicious like this in the future, please contact us.
Thank you,
NetSpend