If you have gotten one of those checks for thousands of dollars from someone representing themselves as a mystery shopping company, you are about to be scammed. Unless, of course, you follow the advice in this article.
Mystery shopping companies do not send checks for thousands of dollars to potential mystery shoppers. Ever. They do not ask you to wire money. Ever. I have written about mystery shopper scams many times, but even some of the people who read those articles will want to believe that their situation is the exception, and they are going to get paid $400 for a couple of hours of work. Not gonna happen. Ever.
Before you cash the check and wire the money off to the scammer, humor me for a minute. Do a couple of things to check them out. If I’m wrong and the “offer” if legitimate, you can post a comment and say I was wrong. But if I’m right, you will save yourself thousands of dollars, lots of aggravation, and possibly some jail time. (Cashing a forged check is a crime, and you may have to convince the police that you are the victim to get out of trouble.)
Here’s what to do…
Call the company listed on the check and see if they sent it to you. Do not rely on a phone number on the check or in the package you received. Go look them up online and find contact information for them. Sometimes the check has the name of a legitimate mystery shopping company on it, although they did not send the check. But I have seen some drawn on accounts for auto parts stores and other businesses. Why would an auto parts store be paying you to mystery shop WalMart and Western Union?
Anytime a scam involves a cashier’s check, official check, or money order from a bank, and you believe that it could be counterfeit, you should contact the issuing bank directly to verify authenticity. As with the company that supposedly issued the check, when contacting the bank, do not use the telephone number provided on the check, as this number is probably not associated with the bank, but rather with the scam artist.
To locate a bank’s mailing address, you can check the FDIC’s Web site at:
https://research.fdic.gov/bankfind/.
So now you have learned that the check is a fake. What should you do next? Resist any impulse to call the person behind the mystery shopper scam. One option is to shred the check and throw it in the trash. Another is to contact the authorities. In addition to notifying the bank named on the check, there are others whom you also should notify if you receive a counterfeit item. They include:
- For all scams: Federal Trade Commission (FTC): by telephone at 1-877-FTC-HELP or file an electronic complaint via their Internet site at www.ftc.gov.
- For Internet-based scams: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Fraud Complaint Center: www.ic3.gov.
- For mail-based scams: U.S. Postal Inspector Service: by telephone at 1-888-877-7644, by mail at U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Office of Inspector General, Operations Support Group, 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60606-6100 or online at https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactus/filecomplaint.aspx.
If I was wrong about your check, post a comment and let me know. You can even taunt me. But if I was right…well, I won’t even say, “I told you so.”
I received a check today for the sum of $2,490 with 4 step instructions to text a phone number each step of the way. I was to email bartgreg@job4u.com and robpayned@job4u and give them my name, cell number, date check deposited and my agent id#.The package was sent priority mail with a return address in Houston, Texas. Can’t find the wb site on the letter, and the return address is a hair salon. These are the instructions: 1) text 267-360-6897 with “Assignment Received” and identify yourself; 2) deposit the check in my account then text the number with my name and “draft lodged”; 3) check balance after 24 hours then text “total sum of $2490 ready”; and 4) purchase 3 money orders for 675.00 each and they would send further instructions on how to complete the task. Although the check appears legit, (Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union.) No phone number for bank. After reading your page, I tore up the check and blocked the numbers in the letters. Thanks for giving us a heads up on these scammers.
I received a check for 2950 with instruction to put in my bank account and then draw out the rest and go to Wal-Mart to Purchase Kroger Gift cards for 400 each. This made no sense to me because why would Wal-Mart sell Kroger gift card (by the way they don’t). Anyway I did some research on line and figured out It was a scam. Thank God I had a intuition this was just wrong. I am going to call and report this to the police as soon as I get home today.