Sam's Club scams
Last updated September 18, 2026
The short answer
Sam's Club scams centre on membership: a text or email saying your membership is expiring or a renewal payment failed, with a link to update your card. Sam's Club takes renewals in club, in the app, or at samsclub.com — never through a link in a message.
Warehouse club memberships renew annually and are easy to lose track of, which makes "your membership has expired" a message most people cannot immediately disprove. Scammers pair it with a small, believable amount — a renewal fee rather than a purchase — because a $50 charge gets a card entered where a $500 one would prompt a phone call. The same template runs against Costco, and often the same infrastructure serves both.
How Sam's Club scams work
- 1
Membership renewal phishing
A text or email says your membership lapsed or the renewal payment failed, with a link to update payment. The page is a copy of the Sam's Club login and checkout, and takes both credentials and a card.
- 2
Free gift and survey offers
An offer of a free gift or a large reward for completing a member survey, requiring a card for a small shipping fee, which enrols you in a recurring charge.
- 3
Fake Scan & Go or order notices
A message about a problem with a recent order or a Scan & Go transaction links to a page requesting card re-entry.
- 4
Counterfeit member offers on social media
Ads promising exclusive member pricing lead to storefronts with no relationship to Sam's Club that take payment and ship nothing.
Warning signs
- A message says your membership expired and links to a payment page
- The domain is not samsclub.com
- A free gift requires a card number for shipping
- The renewal amount does not match what you actually pay
- You are asked for your membership number plus a card and a login
- The offer arrived by text from an unknown number
- An "exclusive member deal" is only reachable through a social ad
Examples
The failed renewal
A text says a $50 Sam's Club renewal payment failed and membership will lapse in 24 hours. The linked page looks correct and takes a card. The $50 never posts; instead the card is used for $1,900 of online purchases across three merchants that night.
The free cooler
An email offers members a free cooler worth $180 for completing a satisfaction survey, needing $6.95 for shipping. The cooler never arrives. The $6.95 charge is followed by $79.99 monthly from a merchant the member has never heard of, buried in terms on the survey page.
What to do
- Renew in club, in the Sam's Club app, or by typing samsclub.com yourself.
- Check your real membership status in the app — expiry dates are shown there.
- Never enter a card to claim a free gift.
- Call the club or 1-888-746-7726 if you are unsure about a message.
- If you entered a card on a fake page, cancel it and dispute any charges immediately.
Report it to Sam's Club
Report suspicious messages to Sam's Club member services at 1-888-746-7726, and forward smishing texts to 7726 (SPAM).
Getting your money back
Charges on a card entered at a fake renewal page are disputable under zero-liability rules — report them to your issuer and cancel the card rather than waiting to see what else appears. If a login was given up, change the password there and anywhere it was reused, and check the account for changed delivery addresses or added payment methods. Recurring "free gift" subscriptions should be disputed and cancelled in writing; issuers will block future charges from that merchant on request.
Frequently asked questions
Does Sam's Club text about membership renewals?
Sam's Club does send account messages, but renewals are handled in club, in the app, or at samsclub.com — not through a payment link in a text. Check your expiry date in the app, where it is always shown, rather than acting on any message.
Why are the amounts in these scams so small?
Because a $50 renewal is believable and not worth a phone call, while the card number it captures is worth a great deal. Small, plausible amounts are a deliberate design choice across membership and subscription phishing.
I entered my card on a fake renewal page. What should I do?
Cancel the card immediately rather than monitoring it — the number is already in circulation. Dispute any charges that appear; fraudulent card charges are covered. Then check the real account for changed addresses or added payment methods in case credentials were captured too.
Other companies scammers impersonate
Scams reuse their scripts across brands. If you were contacted about Sam's Club, these are the guides worth reading next.