Is your refrigerator broken? Be careful when calling for repairs

When something goes wrong with one of your household appliances, your first reaction might be to call customer service or your warranty provider. But BBB Scam Tracker is seeing increasing reports of scammers fooling consumers with fake customer-service phone numbers.

Your washing machine, refrigerator or other household appliance breaks, so you do a quick online search for the customer service or warranty center’s phone number. You dial one of the top results, and a “representative” answers. They listen to your problem and assure you the company will take care of the repairs. All you have to do is give your name, home address and credit or debit card information. You’ll be charged a small service fee so they can set up an appointment with the repair person. Often the representative will promise you “next-day service” and fast repair times, as long as you pay the fee up front.

When your appointment time arrives, no one shows up. The charge is on your bank or credit card statement, but when you call the support number again, the representative claims to have no record of your previous call. In other cases they simply don’t answer.

However, according to one BBB Scam Tracker report, some scammers are even posing as fake repair professionals. When a phony repair person showed up at one consumer’s house, the homeowner called the real appliance manufacturer, who confirmed they had not sent anyone to the residence. When asked to leave, the imposter demanded a trip fee of $39. Feeling threatened and wanting to be rid of the fake repair person, the consumer paid up.

Double-check the customer-service number. Scammers make fake ads with fake customer-service numbers. Instead of trusting the first search result that pops up in your search engine, get your information from the official company website or warranty paperwork that came with your appliance.