Th FBI doesn't care; they get hundreds of calls a day. They suggest you call the bank the check is written on, to notify the falsified check writer. How can we tell?
If they use Prophet or Sassie as their database hardware (Sassie is NOT a site, it is a program),it means they have joined a group that specializes in customer research (what we do). They are probably safe.
Go to the site, not for shoppers, but to lure clients. Read the materials. Do they seem real? Frauds can be creative, but if you have a layered presentation, they would figure that anyone wise enough to dig that deeply is not a good potential mark. Just take the main name plus dot com out of the address; that almost always works. And it is interesting to do it with the shop companies we know and love.
Do what you do with any job; wait for references. But if I tell you I love Jancyn, do it NOW or you won't sign up at all. The procrastination syndrome. Searching on the name almost always brings up the site, then look for the buzz word "mystery shopping". I have two full columns in my bookmarks, from adding any site I see WHEN I see it. There are lists everywhere, on sites you can trust.
I dare you...... search for Jancyn (they are going to owe me big).
Before I sound all smug, I got zinged. They got my credit card and charged $500. If they ask you to get a free trial, three from the silver group, 3 from the gold group and three from the platinum group, RUN! It was my first week as a shopper. But there are some good psuedo shopping sites; Panda, iPod, I don't usually mess with them, but they are there.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh, and run a good virus/spyware program. As much as the shop houses like you to use Internet Explorer, I stay with Mozilla Firefox; they have debugging features built in, and a recovery program if you lose your data. You cannot avoid them, but you don't have to invite them to set up housekeeping. And a bad one can make you have the great experience of......................buying a new harddrive.
Wannabe scheduler/editor