Emily Chan
In the age of modern technology and the internet, the ability to hide behind anonymity online has opened up a new bag of tricks for scammers to use in the exploitation of innocent people.
For example, an Instacart shopper recently took to TikTok to describe how she nearly got scammed by a so-called customer.
TikTok user Meka Sampler (@sneakymekytv) is not new to Instacart. She’s been shopping on the app for a while, so when something seemed amiss, she immediately caught on to it.
In the video, she explained how she had accepted a small order of $8 nearby.
While driving to the store, she received a message from the person she was shopping for. They told Meka there was a problem with the order and provided a phone number for her to call.
However, shoppers are supposed to communicate with customers through the app only, so that’s what Meka did.
But when she made the call, she was greeted by a voice on the other end of the line claiming to be an Instacart representative instead of a customer.
“Hello, there’s been a fraudulent order. The person who bought these items paid in a fraudulent way. We don’t accept that, so we’re going to go ahead and cancel this order for you,” said the strange voice.
Meka found the situation to be really weird because she’s had orders canceled before, but she had never experienced anything like this.
The voice then praised her for her good ratings and offered her a $30 gas card as compensation for the cancelation.
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