Scammers are posing as Sam's Club in ads, emails, texts and calls to steal card and account details, and the fakes look more real than before.
Fake Sam's Club messages are showing up in many forms, and they are getting harder to tell from the real thing. They include Facebook ads, emails, texts and phone calls. The goal is the same each time: get you to hand over personal or payment details. Sam's has over 600 clubs and a growing membership, which gives scammers more people to target.
One popular bait is the senior membership deal. Sam's Club offers new members 50 and older a first year for $20. Fake ads on Facebook and in texts promise it for $10 or $15. The real offer is only available on the Sam's Club website, after you verify your age with ID.me. A fake link can lead to a copycat site that takes your card number but never starts a membership.
Other versions are just as sneaky. Phishing emails (messages built to trick you into giving up information) claim your account or card was compromised, or that Sam's will lock you out unless you act now. Spoofed calls show "Sam's Club" on caller ID even though the number is faked. One Reddit user who got such a call was told by others it was caller ID spoofing.
Any Sam's Club member can be hit, and so can people who are not members. Some scammers send welcome texts with a link to "special savings" to people who never signed up or joined long ago. Shoppers 50 and older may see more of the fake senior deals. The Consumer Federation of America estimates Americans lose $119 billion a year to online scams.
Logos prove nothing, because criminals can copy them. Sam's says it will never call or text asking for your Social Security number, card number or membership number. It also says it will not ask you to email your membership number, password or bank or card details.
The steps are in the alert box above. The core habit is simple: do not use the link or number in the message. Go to the Sam's Club site yourself, or call back on a number you trust. If you already shared details, move quickly, because stolen logins can be used to place fake orders.
The material does not say how many people have been caught by these scams. It also does not say whether the fakes are growing. What it does show is that scammers keep changing the story, from deals to deliveries to surveys. If you never clicked or shared anything, you likely have nothing to fix. Just delete the message and stay wary of the next one.
Never trust a link, text or call that claims to be Sam's Club. Go to the real website yourself, and know the senior deal costs $20.
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