Posted by BrendaTx on 6/8/08 6:42pm
Msg #250463

Mystery Shopping Scam - Beware!

In my field inspector's email list today a reader contributed this and I feel that notaries are probably sitting ducks for this type of scam.

The reader writes:
Am curious...just received a check for $4,270. which I am suppose to use Money Gram or Westen Union to wire the funds to them..I keep $300.00 for my services.

This came from Mystery Shoppers, out of New York but has a Canada postmark. Mentions my 1st evaluation will be a K-Mart, Home Depot, Gap, JC Penney or Lowes buying $100.00 worth of goods and that I am able to keep the merchandises I buy as mine........2nd evaluation will be the Money Gram. I am to respond back by June 25th.

This smacked of a 'scam' so I put it in my pile to take to the police but now I am wondering...Says I can earn $400. a week after 3months working with SMR (Solution Market Reserach). What do you think? Please advise....thanks!

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I did some Google work and came up with another link where this has happened:

http://www.topix.com/forum/music/country/T24U5ETPBHPHNSVKL

'Mystery Shopper' scam looks legitimate

“Ultimately, the consumer is left holding the bag.”

It all seems very legitimate.

A letter arrives from Mystery Shoppers PLC that offers the recipient a part-time job at $800 a week for evaluating the cleanliness and employee effectiveness at local stores.

With the letter is a cashier's check for $4,550 from an Oklahoma bank. It has the right color pattern, watermark and signatures.

The recipient is told to evaluate one of seven retailers by spending $150 of the $4,550 there and a Western Union or Money Gram office by wiring $3,800 to 'our training agents' in New York or Canada.

Reply by Lisa Thornton on 6/8/08 7:33pm
Msg #250464

Yes, a definite scam. There was a news report about this awhile back. The crooks send the unsuspecting stranger a very real looking cashier's check for far more than the items they are trying to buy are worth or far more than the value of services they seek with stipulation to send part of the money to their "shipping agent" so this person can pay the freight bill or in this case to their "training agents". The cashiers checks are fake and the people lose the money they Western Unioned to the crook.

Reply by Rachel_NJ on 6/8/08 7:41pm
Msg #250466

Yes, if the person who gets the email and reads it they will find about 100 misspelled words. The check they receive does has watermarks so the person who gets it thinks it is legit. Most of the logos on there look very "cut and paste". I received one by mail and immediately faxed it to my dad who is a detective for Port Authority of NY and NJ. Most of the phone numbers on those letters are registered to motels. I really feel bad for people that fall for it. I especially think about the low income and elderly getting these. They think it is a God send and something like this can ruin their lives.

Reply by Rachel_NJ on 6/8/08 7:43pm
Msg #250467

Oops*not email, regular mail* n/m

Reply by ZeeCA on 6/8/08 8:12pm
Msg #250471

sadly so many will fall for it but NEVER will you be asked

to accept $$$ and then pay them ... Mystery shopping does not work that way....

another scam: they claim to be mystery shopping companies and you send them all your cc info of all the cc that they want you to use to mystery shop...so they know who they are 'working with' ... working over might be a better term

Reply by Jack Tri on 6/8/08 10:23pm
Msg #250481

if i would get a check like that i would keep it and not send any money back to them sometime like a signing company would do lol

Reply by LKT/CA on 6/8/08 11:06pm
Msg #250483

The checks are fake and all you'd eventually end up with is a NSF charged to your bank account. The crooks deliberately send a cashiers check for 3 times the cost of the item/service under the guise of **since I sent far more than the item or service cost, you should trust me**. Greed causes people to falsely believe they are getting something for nothing. They wire money before the cashiers check clears and when it doesn't, because it doesn't, they've depleted their own funds, having sent the crooks money with nothing to show for it.

Reply by Gary_CA on 6/9/08 12:03pm
Msg #250526

Same old scam, new paint job.

Only a greedy idiot would fall for this, but unfortunately there's plenty that do.

NEVER EVER EVER, under no circumstances, NO WAY NO HOW, not if hell and Texas have both frozen over in August...

DO NOT

Accept a check for extra and wire back the money.

Just say no.

Sometimes it's to buy a car, sometimes it's to make a donation.... whatever the story

Don't take a check and wire back part of it.

90% of the time the check is phoney.

But that's not the worst of it.

10% of the time you just laundered some money... and the guy that sent you the check is hard to find, but you're not.

Nope, nada, never.