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This thread contains perhaps the best example I have seen how someone can get scammed by the use the name of a legitimate MSP and what happens to him after they cash the check and send the money on as instructed.
This thread contains perhaps the best example I have seen how someone can get scammed by the use the name of a legitimate MSP and what happens to him after they cash the check and send the money on as instructed.
Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut
@Flash wrote:
Yup,
I almost got scammed by scammers using the RBG name and logo. If it hadn't been for some of the folks I contacted here (and my own suspicious nature) I might have gotten taken as well. I had that first check in hand but noticed some inconsistencies with it and investigated further. I was also contacted by representatives of the real RBG who verified that someone was trying to scam me.
I am glad you did not fall for this scam. The information that the kind folks on this forum have provided me is invaluable. Hopefully people will notice this scam before they get involved as it seems the person who is doing this is still at large.
Unfortunately it seems it is not one person doing this but many. If the person/group that got you get prosecuted or put out of business, the scam itself will be repeated by others. 
All we can do is to tell others as best we can so they can choose not to fall for it.
All we can do is to tell others as best we can so they can choose not to fall for it.
Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut
LukeMann: Did you know that there is a company that mystery shops college cafeterias? They are called Confero. You might try signing up with them. Who knows? Maybe they send mystery shoppers into the cafeterias on your campus.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2015 05:35AM by alannajm.
"Evolve thyself and lose all hate...." Orphaned Land
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2015 05:35AM by alannajm.
The moment I see that price I feel it is definitely a scam
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 05:15AM by aprilredbird.
Shopping til' I drop, no joke here!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 05:15AM by aprilredbird.
The moment I see that price I feel it is definitely a scam as others have said most mystery shops offer between $10.00 to $30.00 and $30.00 is on the high side unless you are doing bank shops, a certain company that specializes in high end cars or apartment companies who routinely pay the highest but they are also the most labor intensive. No one offers $250.00 up front unless it is more of a actual job where you are doing something like handing out samples at a Sam's Club or designing planograms for stores and then it is not technically a mystery shop. I just finished a job with my husband that netted us $1400 for 4 days for 2 people's labor, but that is really rare to get that high of a pay for most of these jobs. And for the shopper who is bound to ask where I found that high of a pay through mystery shopping sorry fellow shoppers I am not sharing the name of that company because they found me and I want to keep it that way because I like the high pay and don't want the competition for their jobs. I already have way too many people that search the same job boards that I do that and I lose jobs to them if I don't jump on them first. Because I have a gas guzzling car and am not a lifestyle shopper I like to stack my shops so it is worth driving 30-50 miles to do a shop, sometimes it's hard to do if you are trying to catch a particular shop and then have other shops around the area. I have tried to stack my shops and wound up losing the one I really wanted to do in the process.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 05:16AM by aprilredbird.
Shopping til' I drop, no joke here!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2015 05:16AM by aprilredbird.
There is also a company called Shadow Shopper, It charges a monthly fee to send you available mystery shopping jobs, at first I was really skeptical because it seemed like it was more money than I had originally agreed to when I first found them but in the end it did pay off and I have been offered jobs making as high as $19.00 an hour but to be fair they were not all mystery shopping jobs, some were surveys, some are handing out samples at places like Sams club. These are real jobs and can pay anywhere from 12-18.00 per hour.very temporary but might help you in the short run. However if you do decided you need to some some mystery shopping jobs let me give you some advice, Do the banks and apartment jobs, they pay the most but you will work the hardest at them. they are not as fun as many of the jobs you can do like driving expensive cars or eating in wonderful restaurants, but the most important I can give you as a mystery shopper, if you don't have much money avoid the shops that make you pay out and then reimburse you. Many of the shops make you pay out of pocket and then they reimburse you. Well let me tell you some of those reimbursements can take up to 2 months to get paid back. I am still fighting with a shop that had me pay out money to send money through Western Union and I was supposed to go back within 20 minutes to get reimbursed and it is a legitimate mystery shop, I have done a bunch of shops for them, but they had sone deal to send money to Mexico and then try to get it refunded. It has been a month, they paid me for the shop but not the reimbursement that I was supposed to get the same day. They said Western Union would give me the money back. I recently got a letter from Western Union justifying their behavior but they still won't give me back my money. I am going to try one more time but if I don't get my money back soon, I will go to the Better Business Bureau, and I will post the info about the company on this blog. Just be wary folks of any of your MSC's wanting you to send money to Mexico Because I got burned. Fortunately it was only for $25.00, but a few of those can add up if you don't have much money like this college kid.
Shopping til' I drop, no joke here!
Guess what? The idiot jackasses who perpetrated the first scam that started this whole thread are at it again. Strangely enough, they actually emailed me AGAIN with their scam B.S.
They've changed the name to another legit mystery shopping company. This time REACT SURVEYS. But they made two very big mistakes: They emailed me again AND they basically used the same wording as before. Right down to using RBG in the email. Below is the newest email they've sent. Warn all your friends and anyone who will listen. This scam is pervasive.
"Thanks for your interest,
React Surveys is a world leader in Business evaluation and has organized over 20 million Evaluations for some of the world's largest brands. Founded in 1992 in beautiful Austin, Texas, RBG has made a name for itself helping to improve the customer experiences of some of the nation’s most recognizable brands. Our reach is international and volume is our expertise.
Performance Evaluation, is a research methodology used to measure and improve the quality of the customer service experience provided by retail outlets. It also gives companies results on the performance of the customer-related functions of their business.
We are currently recruiting and training people to be a "Performance Evaluator" and afterwards we will be sending you to some of our clients' stores and act as a customer, making inquiries or legitimately shopping for products or requesting their services. You will then write a full report about your experience and you will be rewarded by Reality Based Group with cash payments, purchase discounts, and/or reimbursements.
What your job (Performance Evaluator) entails is to conduct surveys at any of our client's retail outlets assigned to you. You will be patronizing their business and conducting a survey at the same time, which mostly is in regards to the customer relationship which their staff offer.
Your Job also involve you providing feedback to us about the customer experience at any client's locations. Companies use this survey for many reasons. During a typical survey session, you will make observations at a specific store/office, restaurant, or other types of location, while acting like an average customer.
A typical survey report will include
1) How long it took you to get services.
2) Smartness of the attendant.
3) Customer service professionalism.
4) Staff's attention to details/orders, retentive and listening skill.
Most companies employ our expertise when people give complaints about their services, or when they feel there are needs for them to improve their customer satisfactory service. Your Identity would be kept confidential as a safety measure. You will receive $250 on each survey you conduct at any time for any of our clients, and with the number of clients we currently work with, you could be conducting as much as 5-10 surveys weekly.
Our clients include:
McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin'Donuts, Washington Mutual, ACME Check Cashing, Chase Financial, Walmart, MoneyGram America:Victoria Secret, Dell America, Western Union America, FTD Florists and many more.
No commitment is involved, no start up fees and you would have flexible working hours.
If you are interested, kindly email me your full name, address and phone number in the format below;
Full name:
Address ....(No P.O Box)
City:
State, Zip Code:
Cell phone :
Alternate Email:
Regards,
Gail Cunningham
React Surveys USA
www.reactsurveys.com"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2015 04:02PM by SolarKing.
They've changed the name to another legit mystery shopping company. This time REACT SURVEYS. But they made two very big mistakes: They emailed me again AND they basically used the same wording as before. Right down to using RBG in the email. Below is the newest email they've sent. Warn all your friends and anyone who will listen. This scam is pervasive.
"Thanks for your interest,
React Surveys is a world leader in Business evaluation and has organized over 20 million Evaluations for some of the world's largest brands. Founded in 1992 in beautiful Austin, Texas, RBG has made a name for itself helping to improve the customer experiences of some of the nation’s most recognizable brands. Our reach is international and volume is our expertise.
Performance Evaluation, is a research methodology used to measure and improve the quality of the customer service experience provided by retail outlets. It also gives companies results on the performance of the customer-related functions of their business.
We are currently recruiting and training people to be a "Performance Evaluator" and afterwards we will be sending you to some of our clients' stores and act as a customer, making inquiries or legitimately shopping for products or requesting their services. You will then write a full report about your experience and you will be rewarded by Reality Based Group with cash payments, purchase discounts, and/or reimbursements.
What your job (Performance Evaluator) entails is to conduct surveys at any of our client's retail outlets assigned to you. You will be patronizing their business and conducting a survey at the same time, which mostly is in regards to the customer relationship which their staff offer.
Your Job also involve you providing feedback to us about the customer experience at any client's locations. Companies use this survey for many reasons. During a typical survey session, you will make observations at a specific store/office, restaurant, or other types of location, while acting like an average customer.
A typical survey report will include
1) How long it took you to get services.
2) Smartness of the attendant.
3) Customer service professionalism.
4) Staff's attention to details/orders, retentive and listening skill.
Most companies employ our expertise when people give complaints about their services, or when they feel there are needs for them to improve their customer satisfactory service. Your Identity would be kept confidential as a safety measure. You will receive $250 on each survey you conduct at any time for any of our clients, and with the number of clients we currently work with, you could be conducting as much as 5-10 surveys weekly.
Our clients include:
McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin'Donuts, Washington Mutual, ACME Check Cashing, Chase Financial, Walmart, MoneyGram America:Victoria Secret, Dell America, Western Union America, FTD Florists and many more.
No commitment is involved, no start up fees and you would have flexible working hours.
If you are interested, kindly email me your full name, address and phone number in the format below;
Full name:
Address ....(No P.O Box)
City:
State, Zip Code:
Cell phone :
Alternate Email:
Regards,
Gail Cunningham
React Surveys USA
www.reactsurveys.com"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2015 04:02PM by SolarKing.
I've read this thread with interest as a newbie. But I am curious about something- Reading through this forum, and after signing up with a lot of different legit mystery shopping companies, I do see listings for bank shops and Western Union shops. Anything with money, opening accounts, transferring money etc seems like the possibility of a scam to me so I haven't signed up for any. How do you know the difference between a scam like the above and a legit bank or Western Union shop? Thanks
When you are registered with and have been working for a particular company for a while you know that what they offer you will be legitimate. Trust me, they won't be paying $200 to go buy a few things at Walmart and then wire off the balance of a big check to some 'shopper' somewhere who will be evaluating 'receipt' of the money. It is just common sense.
If you use the forum's "Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies" you know you are going to the website of a legitimate company. "Legitimate" and "great to work with" are not synonyms so there are links to discussions by actual shoppers about working with the company.
If you use the forum's "Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies" you know you are going to the website of a legitimate company. "Legitimate" and "great to work with" are not synonyms so there are links to discussions by actual shoppers about working with the company.
@Flash wrote:
When you are registered with and have been working for a particular company for a while you know that what they offer you will be legitimate. Trust me, they won't be paying $200 to go buy a few things at Walmart and then wire off the balance of a big check to some 'shopper' somewhere who will be evaluating 'receipt' of the money. It is just common sense.
Yeah that seems obvious to me too. I feel bad for the kid who fell for it but I wouldn't have fallen for that.
So my approach right now is - I've signed up with quite a few companies, some of which I found on this board so thanks, guys.
And I am trying little jobs like cell phone shops, etc. I've also signed up for a few restaurant shops because we go out to eat a lot anyway so I figure... not a lot to lose. Then once I get paid and I can evaluate whether the companies followed the terms they promised, I will feel like it's OK to take a bigger risk on something where I put more time and my own money into things.
Sound good? Anything I am missing?
Sounds like a very reasonable approach. Just make sure you completely clue in your 'guest' on restaurant shops that they need to be somewhat indecisive to let the server do his/her job. Shop dinners are different than regular dinners in that regard--at least for my significant other. Given his choice he would go in and as soon as the server greeted the table give her his complete order with his menu closed, but we do a 'quick review' in the car going to the restaurant that he can or MUST order a beverage (alcoholic or non alcoholic or his choice) and if we MUST order an appetizer OR dessert, find out which he would prefer this time. He is an enormous help in 'spot the manager' and catching names on name tags when I am on the non-nametag side. I have a better sense of height, he has a better sense of age. As a team we work well together.
Yeah, my husband has worked in the service industry for his whole career so he naturally notices a lot of stuff like that. I think the one thing I will have to be careful of with him is - after we have a nice dinner out, he makes a big show of going around thanking people, finding the manager or host and mentioning that our server was awesome etc etc. Almost to an embarrassing level lol. I think it's because he works in the service industry and he wants people to get their props, but I am going to have to talk to him about that because it seems like it would be a bad thing to do on a shop. When he does that, it does almost seem like he is evaluating them rather than just being a normal customer. We can secretly give them their props in the report.
You are correct, he would need to avoid that sort of thing on a shop. Also, if he has worked in the service industry, be sure you do not shop anyplace that he has worked for in the past without carefully checking the terms of your contract and notifying your scheduler that you have a relative who has worked there, and when he left employment there. Most places will say not at all, but some will say he can't have worked there in at least the last 1-2 years, in my experience.
I see that you are perceptive of what might cause issues. I use my significant other's 'glad handing' when I haven't seen a manager because he has no qualms about asking to speak to the manager and tell him he liked something. I about cracked up when on one visit he asked who the contractor had been for a rough stone wall because it was exactly the look he wanted for our family room. While I observed the manager's name tag etc. the manager explained that the wall had been shipped in in sheets to put up and was made to the specifications of the chain, so their general contractor would not be able to help. He apologized and was appreciative that a customer had liked it. No mention of the wall was made in the report at all.
@stormraven73 wrote:
You are correct, he would need to avoid that sort of thing on a shop. Also, if he has worked in the service industry, be sure you do not shop anyplace that he has worked for in the past without carefully checking the terms of your contract and notifying your scheduler that you have a relative who has worked there, and when he left employment there. Most places will say not at all, but some will say he can't have worked there in at least the last 1-2 years, in my experience.
Yeah- Luckily or unluckily, He worked for one place for a looooonnnnnggggg time and then they eliminated the call center. The places he worked before that were in a different city. Now he works for another call center but it's for a cruise company and that should be easy enough to avoid. I have no desire to do secret shops for cruises anyway because he gets free cruises. ;D
Hey everyone! Just wanted to give you all an update on my current situation. I have paid off the debt owed to the bank, my school was able to give me a "refund check" and take the money out of my tuition that I have already paid for... Sadly I will have to pay this money back next semester but it helps me to have this paid off now. The school is trying to work with me to get financial aid to find some form of grants/scholarships that I can access to help compensate for the $1,600 I had to pay. The school is also trying to help me to get out of the CHEX system by appealing the "case" they have on me. I have to provide my school and the bank with a copy of my police report but the police station is proving extremely difficult to get a copy of it from them. Apparently I have to get it from the detective who is handling my case but every time I call or email him he is either not there or doesn't respond. I have had several friends from other colleges contact me and tell me that they have see evidence of a scam exactly like this going around their campuses so it seems to be spreading.
PLEASE share my article with your friends and family and help me to warn others about this scam and help people not to fall for it. [theodysseyonline.com]
Again I appreciate all the support I have received from this forum, this is truly a great place and I am so glad I found this post. Thanks again everyone.
PLEASE share my article with your friends and family and help me to warn others about this scam and help people not to fall for it. [theodysseyonline.com]
Again I appreciate all the support I have received from this forum, this is truly a great place and I am so glad I found this post. Thanks again everyone.
Glad to hear you are getting some help on this LukeMann. I wish I had started this thread in time to spare you all this heartache and trouble. Hopefully, you will be able to take advantage of any scholarships or grants. Also, it is my understanding that some of these mystery shopping companies are very legit you may be able to make some extra cash doing it. Best of luck to you!
The only legit companies I have shopped for only send payments through paypal. There are no checks.
If they send you a check to use western union DO NOT DO IT. IT IS MONEY LAUNDERING. Your pay is for you only. The most expensive shop I have seen was $30 to shop for a car only to see how they were at selling. If you need to check legit companies try to BBB.org it.
If they send you a check to use western union DO NOT DO IT. IT IS MONEY LAUNDERING. Your pay is for you only. The most expensive shop I have seen was $30 to shop for a car only to see how they were at selling. If you need to check legit companies try to BBB.org it.
Actually, many legitimate MSCs pay by check, but never before the work is done, always after. The average wait time for a check to be cut is 30-45 days, IME. If you have any questions about the legitimacy of a company or offer, click the link in the Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies [www.mysteryshopforum.com] -- these links have been verified. BBB often is not a useful source of info on MSCs.
***Edits to add the line about the BBB, and to correct a typo.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 06:26AM by stormraven73.
***Edits to add the line about the BBB, and to correct a typo.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 06:26AM by stormraven73.
Just speaking from my experiences, paypal is what I use. If its a check it should never be used to send to someone else.
Most definitely. And in that case money laundering is the least of your worries. As explained in previous posts, you'll find that you are out the entire amount of the check a few days after you deposit it, when it bounces!
^Typo edit. Bad night, lol.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 06:56AM by stormraven73.
^Typo edit. Bad night, lol.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 06:56AM by stormraven73.
SolarKing, if you have not already done so, please notify your school's system's department. They may not be aware that someone helped themselves to the school's database.
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