The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

It is hard to believe, but true: There are some secret shoppers who fake reports. Fortunately, there are not many of these dishonest shoppers, but the few who are out there harm the industry and all of us with their fraud.

It seems as though it would be more difficult to make up a report and all the necessary details and documentation than to just do it. However, there will always be people who want to feel that they got away with something by faking the secret shopper report instead of doing it right.

Mystery shopping companies and clients can spot the fakers, though, so even if they get away with it for a while, fraudulent secret shoppers will get caught. Here are some of the ways that mystery shopping providers and their clients spot these con artists and their fraudulent shop reports. …continue reading How Mystery Shopping Companies Spot Fraudulent Shops

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Two operators of an alleged counterfeit cashier’s check scam have been arrested in Canada. This secret shopper scam has cheated potential mystery shoppers out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars each. Variations of the scam have involved lotteries, eBay and CraigsList purchases and other scenarios, but the mystery shopper angle has gotten a lot of attention lately.
…continue reading Secret Shopper Scam Arrests in Canada

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Although mystery shopping is a completely legitimate industry, the scammers have come up with lots of ways to exploit the popularity of mystery shopping and take advantage of the unsuspecting. Just when I thought I had seen all of the mystery shopper scams, I found a new one today.

This site (and, no, I am not going to name it) looks like it could be a legitimate mystery shopping company. However, if you sign up with them you will be buried in spam email, and you may find yourself with lots of unexpected charges on your credit cards. Here is how it works: …continue reading New Mystery Shopper Scam

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Shoppers are often concerned about having to give their Social Security Numbers to so many companies–especially when they have to share the information online. Should you be concerned about identity theft? And what can you do to protect yourself? …continue reading Identity Theft and Mystery Shopping

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The Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against Mystery Shop Link, LLC (a.k.a. MysteryShopLink.com) and others, claiming that they deceived consumers who were led to believe that paying a $99.95 fee would give them access to mystery shopping jobs available through the company. In fact, consumers received a worthless certification and access to re-postings of other mystery shopping assignments posted by other companies, who were unrelated to Mystery Shop Link. …continue reading MysteryShopLink Charged by the Feds

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The popularity of mystery shopping has again brought the scammers out of the woodwork to prey on the unsuspecting. People around the U.S. are being offered “easy money” to cash a cashier’s check for a large sum of money, evaluate the service they receive, then wire most of the money to the phony “mystery shopping company.” The scam? The check bounces a few days later, and the person who cashed the check is held liable for the amount of money they wired to the scammer, often thousands of dollars. …continue reading Mystery Shopper Check-Cashing Scam

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You see an ad in the newspaper, or get an e-mail promising that you can make lots of money and get all kinds of free stuff as a mystery shopper. All you have to do is sign up with them . . . oh, and pay $29.95, $49.95, $99 or more. …continue reading Don’t Pay to Shop!

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