The people running mystery shopper scams are getting more sophisticated. Because more people are becoming aware of the scams, some of the scammers are making an attempt to look more like legitimate mystery shopping companies, and that can include putting up a web site with a professional appearance.
I was recently contacted by a shopper who got a mystery shopper job offer that just didn’t look right. I looked at the web site of the company that wanted to hire scam him, and I saw several things right away that made me think this was not legitimate.
Of course, when a company sends you a large check before you have done anything with them, it is a scam. Always. Read more about the mystery shopper check scam elsewhere on this site. But that was not the case in this situation. This company had a nice looking web site and were acting in some ways like they were a real mystery shopping company.
Here is what you can do to check out a mystery shopping company’s web site. Although seeing one bad sign doesn’t mean that you are dealing with a mystery shopping scam, it could. Several red flags should send you running in the other direction, as fast as you can.
Do a Google search. The secret shopper who contacted me had already done this, and couldn’t find any information on them. The only results were their own web site and a few job listings they had posted on online job sites. That is a bad sign, and one of the things that caused the shopper to wonder if the company was legitimate.
Does the information match? Some scammers have used the names and web site addresses of legitimate mystery shopping companies in their mail and email solicitations of shoppers. However, the mailing address and phone numbers given were not those of the legitimate company. Compare the information on the web site to the information in the letter or email you received.
Search for the address given. It may not be their actual location, but it could provide insight. A quick search for the address given to the shopper turned up several company names at that address involved in a variety of scams. In other cases, you may find that the address does not exist, or that it is the address of someone other than the alleged “mystery shopping company.”
Find out how long their domain name has been registered. Go to a site such as http://whois.domaintools.com/ and enter the domain name (e.g., NameOfSite.com). Under Registry Data, one entry is Created. That tells you when the domain name was first registered. If it was within the last few weeks or months, I would be concerned. (Note: It is possible that a legitimate company would have a recent registration. They may be a new company, or they may have changed their domain name due to a change in their business. Likewise, it is possible that a scammer is using a web site that has been around for years. This is just one thing you should look at.)
Determine if the site is plagiarized. Many of the fake sites I have run across take their text from a legitimate mystery shopping company site, or use the same text over several different sites. Run a couple of pages through the free checker at http://Copyscape.com/ to see if the same text can be found on other sites. (Note: There are reasons that the same text might appear on more than one site. For example, they may have written articles that appear in multiple locations. No problem there. And there are some companies that, although legitimate, think it is acceptable to copy from other web sites. Not scammers, but not very ethical, either.)
How do they handle shopper applications and assignments? Many legitimate mystery shopping companies use one of the well-known systems developed for the mystery shopping industry, such as SASSIE, Prophet, ShopMetrics or ClientSmart. If they are using one of these systems, they are most likely legitimate. Not using them does not mean they are running a scam. They may use a “home grown” system they developed in-house or some other system. The company the mystery shopper contacted me about had no online system at all, not even an online application.
Is there information about the company and its principals? Most companies include biographies or the owner/founder or executives of the company. They do this to let potential clients know about the expertise of their team. If there are no bios or other information about the management, that is a bad sign.
Does the site say anything about paying you to complete “offers”? This usually means that you are going to be asked to sign up for trial memberships and similar programs. There may be little or no expense to you for signing up, but if you do not read the fine print and cancel the trial you will get hit with charges to your credit card every month, often $49.95 or more per “offer.”
Does the company display logos saying they are members of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the Better Business Bureau or other associations? That is a good sign, but do not assume that they are actually members. Ccheck them out. After all, if they would scam people out of money, they would lie about their affiliations. You can search the MSPA member data base or BBB web site for information about member companies. Most other associations also allow searches of their member data bases.
Although this is not an exhaustive list, this checklist should give you a good idea of whether or not a company is legitimate based on its web site. Also read the other articles about mystery shopper scams on this site.
Hello, I received a letter from “Retail Target Inc.” containing a letter,”Customer Service Evaluation Tool” sheet, and a check for $1280 payable on Citibank. The letter instructs me to: deposit the check, go to CVS Pharmacy, buy a “Green Dot” package for $1000. Then I am instructed to go to Home Depot and purchase what I like for $60. The remaining $220 is my salary. The letter told me to keep all of the items purchased. When I googled the company I cannot find them. I find “Retail Target Marketing System Inc.”. The address listed on the letter is the address of corporate office for CVS Pharmacy. I am going to take the check to citibank and see if it’s real. Have you ever heard of Retail Target?
Chrystal, it doesn’t matter who they say they are, they are scammers. This is always a scam. Every time.
When they send a check and want you to wire money or send the PINs from MoneyPak cards, they are after your money. No exceptions. This is not mystery shopping and it has nothing to do with mystery shopping. It is a scam.
You can report it to law enforcement or just shred the check and get on with your life. Either way, do not cash the check (it will bounce) and do not buy MoneyPak cards and send the PINs to the scammer.
Do mystery shopping companies request a shoppers date of birth and social security number in addition to address and telephone number?
The above information makes identity theft easy.
They will almost always request a SSN for tax purposes. That is a legal requirement. They may ask for a date of birth.
It doesn’t make identity theft easy if identity thieves do not have the information. Legitimate mystery shopping companies will not misuse your information and will protect it with secure sites, etc. Of course, nothing is 100% secure, but giving your information to a mystery shopping company does not set you up for identity theft.
I got a letter that says it’s from Walmart Inc. With the Bentonville,AR address. Which is where the home office is located. Included was a check with instructions to validate the check on line, then deposit it, the generate assignment. How do I know if this is legitimate or not
It is not legitimate. Why would Walmart send you a check with no prior contract? If it were genuine, what would stop you from cashing the check and taking the money without doing anything? It is a scam.
I was curious if you knew if this site was legit or a scam?
It is a scam. Not only will you get scammed, they will use you to scam advertisers. Stay far away from sites such as this.
Creative Image Associates, Inc. pretends to be a legitimate mystery shopping company, but in reality they are a film-flam outfit that is operated by a little rattlesnake who calls herself Holly Warren. This darling little seductrice is one of the most clever scammers I have ever encountered. When she calls, it is always from a blocked number, and the biggest moneymaker for them is the check cashing scam where they send you a bogus check and then have you to cash it, and you are left with minus the amount the check was written for. This mystery shopping company is one to AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! They are a SCAM!!!
Creative Image Associates is a legitimate company. Scammers often use the names of legitimate companies when running their scams as it gives them credibility.
Legitimate companies never send large checks and ask you to wire the money to someone. You fell for one of the oldest scams around.
I have recently received this email asking me to sign up for shops with MsScheduler. They tell you what kind of shop they are, but only tell you to email them for further details, they do not tell you who you are shopping nor do they give you the company with which to register. They began in my spam box. Scam? Legitimate? Please advise.
Hi,
I am scheduling the following assignments for various market research companies. If you’re interested in any of these assignments, please be sure you are registered with the company noted and then reply to this message with the assignment and date you can complete.
Once you are registered with the company noted, I can provide you with further details on that assignment.
Tra, the may be legitimate but I can’t say based on only the information here. There is a scheduling service called Mystery Shopping Solutions that may have sent the email.
The email excerpt you included indicates that they tell you what company to register with for the assignments. If they don’t, you cannot follow their instructions to register with the mystery shopping company then contact them to express an interest in an assignment.
A Facebook friend sent me info on a mystery shopping company called Shoppers Inc. I submitted my info to them and there was no application to fill out. I received my first assignment which was to deposit $3100 in my account and then withdraw it the next day to buy money orders at the post office. I immediately recognized this was a scam and that I would be left hanging with bank fees for a bounced check