COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new scam is targeting consumers who order their groceries using the grocery delivery service Instacart.
Brittany Wooten has used Instacart for the past couple of months because she says it’s convenient.
Wooten had her groceries delivered on a Tuesday and everything seemed fine until she checked her account two days later.
“I noticed that there was a second charge...so I am like ‘what? That's weird!’ Because there was a charge for what I paid for--my groceries--and then there was a second charge for $60,” Wooten said.
Wooten noticed several items, including some that were expensive, were added to her cart. She was told by Instacart that she could get a full refund.
A spokesperson for Instacart said shoppers use a card that is provided by the company that is capped at the amount needed for an order, but there's a credit line for any necessary replacements, so a shopper can manually add goods.
According to the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio, Instacart uses a third-party service to clear its shoppers.
But the BBB says there are not many options customers can do to protect themselves from this scam. An exception is that when you pick an Instacart shopper, make sure to read the reviews.
“Instacart shoppers that have consistently low reviews will get consistently fewer jobs until either obviously Instacart need[s] to let them go or they just don't get any jobs,” said Lee Anne Lanigan, who is the director of investigations of the BBB of Central Ohio.
If you look at the Better Business Bureau profile for Instacart, the company has about a one-star customer rating out of five. But, the BBB has given Instacart an A+ rating.
The BBB says that rating is based on the number of customer ratings if they're proportionate to the company's size, and how the business has worked to resolve complaints.