It’s not a big surprise for mystery shoppers to hear that scam artists are constantly trying to interfere with our daily work and rob us of our time and money through their plots and scams. The fact is that because mystery shoppers work remotely, we are indeed very prone to becoming targets for various online scams. Yet if you keep your eyes open and know what to look for, you can prevent yourself from falling victim to a scam artist and losing your valuable time and money in the process.
Unsolicited Contact. Many scam artists send out bogus work offers to mystery shoppers, and these work offers often are from people who we don’t know. They may not bother to introduce themselves, or they may say they got your name from someone who do know who works in the industry. If you have been contacted by such an individual, you can look into the office, but generally it’s a good idea to contact that person who apparently referred you to them to ensure that the work offer is on the up and up.
Fishy Work Offers. One of the biggest tell-tale signs of a scam in progress is a fishy work offer. Most assignments will ask you to make a small purchase, and often at least a portion of that expense is reimbursed by the provider. However, if someone asks you to make a large purchase, to cash checks, or to put your own finances on the line in a significant way, you should turn around and run. These offers, more often than not, are indeed scams.
From Those You Know. Scam artists are becoming more and more savvy each day, and they have been known to assume the identity of real providers. Sometimes they will copy the providers company name, and sometimes they will even use an email address and employee name that is very similar to someone who works at a company you regularly work for. Because these scams can be difficult to spot, you do want to keep your eyes open at all times. If you think you have been contacted by a scam artist who is assuming the identity of someone else in the industry, go through your own routes to locate that person’s or company’s phone number (and never use a phone number provided in the bogus email), and then verify that the work offer is legit on your own.
More often than not, most of the work offers you receive will be legitimate work offers from legitimate providers, but many a mystery shopper has been duped simply because they had a blind eye to the possibility that they could become the target of a scam. If you believe you have been targeted, you should notify the SEC and your local attorney general’s office, and you should also hop onto the online mystery shopping forums to let your fellow mystery shoppers know about the scam, too. The only way to stop these scam artists is to shut their plots down before they really get going!
I have been a target of such of these scams and I am letting all my fellow shoppers to beware of these as Iknow that they have not gotten very far with me as when I go to cash the items that they give me, it stops right there as the items get confiscated and I also have written to them back again. What bothers me is the fact that they think that they can get away with it, because I cannot believe how real the items( money orders as well as checks) look, you cannot tell the difference, so before anyone tries to cash these items, beware and just take them somewhere to be checked out first. I just don’t know how they pull it off, or think they can. but I even told one genlemen that he will have to answer to God for the things that he does to me because I have a very powerful God who says vengence is his. I may not have lost any money, but at least they won’t try to take advantage of me. Because I let them know ahead of time that I will not do the job unless I see the cash first, or it goes direct deposit into my account. I have never heard from them again. They will never play me for a fool or play the head games with me. I still cnnaot get over the fact that they even put out money for FED-ex to ship them overnight or even regular overnight mail.
Sadly enough, my companies name has been used by these scam artists in the past. After several months of trying to get the attention of law enforcement agencies to do something about it, we decided the best course of action was to post a warning on our web site.
The best advice I can give anyone is this: No one is going to send out thousands of dollars unsolicited to anyone. In this economy, what company could afford to do that? No one could.
Unless you have an on going relationship with a company, do not let them lure into their trap.
I am so happy that yo are talking about this here on Mystery Shop Maven, as the more informed we all are, the better!
Jodi Paul
President
Consumer Impressions, Inc.
Got an offer from someone I did not know who said I would receive details of the job AFTER I sent them my personal info (strike one). I emailed them asking for the job details and received the same reply, that I had to fill out and return the form, asking for my personal information before I could see the job description or any details(strike two). So, I replied by asking them how they even got my name and email address to begin with. I did not get a reply(yep, you guessed it, strike three and out). I guess they realized I was not going to be an easy target and decided to move on. Fine with me because, if legit they should have responded.
By the way, Maven – thanks for the many informative articles I have been enjoying and learning from!
Just like the old saying, “if it seems too true to be real” watch out. Companies do not waste money on shops with large fees. Always check out the company that sent you the email. See if they have a web address. One thing for sure, the scammers make money from those that are “fools” that fall for their gimmick. I hate using the word fools, but that is what they think. You people are “fools” and will fall for my get rich quick scheme!!
I have two police reports on file for the money orders I have received in the U.S. Mail. The latest one was for $500 for me to cash at my bank and return $300 to the shopping company. I could keep the balance for my efforts!!!! If there are misspellings in any email you receive, or mail with checks that you’re not expecting – KILL IT DEAD!
I have two police reports on file for the money orders I have received in the U.S. Mail. The latest one was for $500 for me to cash at my bank and return $300 to the shopping company. I could keep the balance for my efforts!!!! If there are misspellings in any email you receive, or mail with checks that you’re not expecting – KILL IT DEAD! If you receive an email from one of your regular shopping companies and it just doesn’t look or feel right, it isn’t! As Maven stated above – go through your own sources to get to the company. Happy Shopping….
I have received several email offers that I would be paid $200.00 upfront for assignments at Walmart to wire money back to them plus the fee to send the money. I have also received scams involving some of the mystery shopping companies that I work for. There were things within the email that sounded fishy to me-so knew it was not real or from the companies that I deal with.
The first time that I thought an email was legimate was that it sounded like it was for real. They sent me a cashier’s check for almost $3,000.00. We googled the address and found it was real but could not determine if someone really lived there. I refused to cash the check or depsoit into my account. I wanted verification that they were real. They told me they were but when I told them I thought they were a scam, I never heard from them again. I waited about a month to see if they would contact me about why I did not do the assignment or cash the check. I tore the check up when the month was up.
It is common because I had a friend contact me about a similar offer. I told her it was a scam and to ignore it. So people not familiar with how mystery shopping works could be duped into something like this.
If it is too good then RUN. I got some real looking money order checks. The teller actually cashed them for me. $3000. After getting cash, asked for manager. She confirmed they were fake. I returned cash. Manager said they would have fooled her. Another almost cashed a check for $3500 at a bank I did not have an account. I could have kept if it would have. I avoid all such stuff now