Yesterday my husband received a letter from a corporation stating that since he had shown interest in earning money as a mystery shopper, they were considering hiring him. Included with the letter was a list of what he had to do to earn his 1st check and be hired as a mystery shopper, the form to be filled out when after he performed his first assignment and a check for $3500.

Now my husband didn’t know what to think of being mailed a $3500 check to be a mystery shopper since he doesn’t like to shop and had never considered doing it to earn money. However since I do like to shop he was kind enough to give me the opportunity to do it.

Being the skeptic I am, I couldn’t believe that a company would just send that amount of money to a total stranger so I decided to check them out. And in case your wondering why I am not mentioning their name it’s because of what I discovered.

The corporation that supposedly mailed my husband the check does exist however they don’t do mystery shopper surveys. The division of the corporation that is supposedly in charge of the mystery shopping is actually a totally separate company that isn’t even in the same market as the corporation and they also do not do mystery shopping surveys.

These 2 discoveries made me curious so I did an online search and discovered that this type of mail is a scam that has been going on for the last several yeard. And although the companies mentioned in the articles I found were different, the letter, instructions and check all added up to a copy of the scam described.

As I stated earlier I am not going to mention the company names that were on the letterhead of the letter he received because they are both legitimate companies and not part of this scam. What I will tell you is how to recognize the scam and how it works so you’ll be able to recognize it in case you ever receive 1 of these mailings.

The mailing consists of:

• A letter stating you are being considered to be a mystery shopper and as such you are on probation. While on probation you will be paid. The amount paid can differ however it’s usually $100 or more. This should be your 1st clue that the letter is bogus since most mystery shoppers don’t earn near that much per assignment.
• A list of actions to perform for your assignment. This list includes depositing the check, waiting for it to clear, withdrawing the bulk of the funds, wiring that money back to them and sending in your evaluation of the location where you did the wire transfer.
• A form to fill out for the evaluation.
• A check to deposit. The amounts of the checks vary however it will be for at least a few thousand dollars.

The way the scam works is that after the check has cleared and you have wired back most of money, the bank where the check was drawn will become aware that the check was fraudulent and will demand the money back. As the last identifiable person who handled the check, you become liable for paying the bank back. So in addition to not getting a job as a mystery shopper you will find yourself owing some bank several thousands of dollars.

When I discovered this particular scam I read some comments asking how you could be liable when you had waited until the check cleared. The fact of the matter is that although we live in an electronic age and computers are verifying numbers and transferring money, your bank is only waiting to verify that the other account does exist and does have the funds to cover the check. It could be several days or weeks later when the account holder becomes aware of the missing funds and then notifies their bank who in turn notifies your bank and that’s when your trouble begins.

I think it’s horrible that in these times when there are so many out of work and desperately looking for a job that there are people who prey on them. However it’s a well known fact that desperate people are the easiest to take advantage of.

So please, no matter what your financial circumstances, please always be skeptical of the promise of unexpected income or money. Always check and double check the offer. And ask yourself, if this was my money would I send it to complete strangers and trust them to give it back. If you can’t see yourself doing this then don’t take the offer. If you believe that most people are honest like I do, you might think you would trust strangers to give it back because you and I would. Please don’t take the offer anyway. Instead, shown it to someone at your police department, your lawyer or a bank manager.

Please share the above information with everyone so we can help others avoid this scam.

To Your Success,
Susan

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