I guess it was only a matter of time. Scammers are still having lots of success with the fake check scam, but some of them have moved on to a new con: They are hiring people to steal for them.
Although there have not been reports of this scam in the U.S. (yet) it has happened in the U.K.Continue Reading
There are many posts on this blog about the mystery shopper check scam. A recent comment on one of those posts asked:
What would happen if I cashed the check in but never wired the money to anyone? Just kept it to myself. The thought came up but I wouldn’t ever do it.
Cashing the check would be a bad idea, and I am glad that this commenter understood that. My response was that there is no money to keep–the check would eventually be returned and the bank would take back any money they had given, as well as charging fees on the returned check. And it could be worse than that.
Here is a news story from New Mexico television station KOB4 about what happened when one woman decided that she would “scam the scammers.”
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Scammers succeed by getting their victims to trust them. This is true for secret shopper scams, lottery scams, pigeon drops, home repair scams or any other type of scam.
Getting potential victims to trust them is easier than you might think. For one thing, honest people may not understand how scams work, and may be less likely to spot the signs of a scam. And most people expect others to act as they do. Because most people are basically honest, they expect that others they encounter will also be honest. Scammers use that against their victims.
Let’s look at some typical scammer tricks and how they are used in secret shopper scams.
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The mystery shopper email scam is still going strong. The most recent version forwarded to me by a secret shopper uses the name of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association in an attempt to make the email scam seem credible.
Here is the email the mystery shopper received:
Subj: Vacant Post for Mystery Shoppers
From: xxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Reply-to: xxxxxxxxx@hotmail.comMystery Shopping Providers Association is giving you a chance to get paid for shopping and dinning out. Mystery shoppers are Needed Throughout America . You’ll be paid to shop and dine out-plus,you can also get free meals,Free merchandise, Free services, Free Entertainment, Free travel and lots more, Great Pay, Fun Work, Flexible Schedules,No experience required.If you can shop-you are qualified! But you must be 18yrs and above.
This is a new Year, you can start earning free cash as our Shopper. We can assure you that is going to be fun and you will love it
kindly send us a reply to inquiry about the Job offer to the email belowxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
We care and We share. We will be expecting to read from you
[Alleged Name of Slimy Scammer]
Admin Agent
www.mysteryshop.org
© MSPA, 2009
There are a few clues that this is a scam.Continue Reading
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.Continue Reading