Depositing MSC checks during a MS

Anyone ever done a bank deposit shop and deposited a check you got from the MSC that hired you to do the shop?
How incredibly "meta" would that be?

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HA, I shop one bank that I opened an account to do teller shops. The MSC pays me via PayPal but I do use the account to deposit checks from other MSCs.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I would ask the MSC that hired you to do the shop if they are OK with deposited their check making a shop for them.

Hoju Wrote:
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> Anyone ever done a bank deposit shop and deposited
> a check you got from the MSC that hired you to do
> the shop?
> How incredibly "meta" would that be?
>

Doing this is an incredibly easy way for a bank employee to spot the shopper. If that teller doesn't know the name of the MSP that shops her bank, the next employee or the manager will. If they even wonder if Jane Doe the shopper, they can access Jane Doe's accounts and see the checks and direct deposits from various mystery shopping companies and Google them to find out what they are. BINGO! Account flagged as Mystery Shopper! In fact, the instructions from one of my MSPs, one that specializes in banks, tells me that the number one way shoppers are spotted is from a deposit from an MSP.

The safe way to go is to deposit all your MSP monies (checks and direct deposits) into a bank that you never mystery shop.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

Would it matter if you use the account for other things besides mystery shopping? I have a main bank account that (so far) has not been shopped, but I would like it to be.

To be clear, I haven't actually done that. I'm not willing to blow my cover just on a lark.

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

I have always had a separate checking account for all my business and MS payments. Until recently, all four of my accounts were at the same bank. I purposefully never took bank shops with this bank, not just the branch. But occasionally I would have a teller or banker ask about a so-and-so company/check; once or twice, I was asked if I was "shopping them." Of course, I played dumb. Shopping, what?

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vlade5394 Wrote:
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> Doing this is an incredibly easy way for a bank
> employee to spot the shopper. If that teller
> doesn't know the name of the MSP that shops her
> bank, the next employee or the manager will. If
> they even wonder if Jane Doe the shopper, they can
> access Jane Doe's accounts and see the checks and
> direct deposits from various mystery shopping
> companies and Google them to find out what they
> are. BINGO! Account flagged as Mystery Shopper!
> In fact, the instructions from one of my MSPs,
> one that specializes in banks, tells me that the
> number one way shoppers are spotted is from a
> deposit from an MSP.

Forgetting completely about whether this would be ethical, would it be legal?

Way back BestMark did that all the time. ALL the time. Pretty obvious to have you do that but they did. They eventually lost the client. Wonder why?

BestMark used to have you deposit THEIR checks specifically?

______________________________________________________________________
Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

yes

Hoju Wrote:
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> BestMark used to have you deposit THEIR checks
> specifically?

Well thats just silly.

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

My personal bank thinks I'm their shopper. I've deposited so many checks there and I know they can see my DD. I really am not a shopper for them. They are just too nice to me.

Ishmael Wrote:
>
> Forgetting completely about whether this would be
> ethical, would it be legal?

I think the best question is, "Is it a good way to get spotted as a shopper?" Absolutely, yes! Another answer is simply STUPID.

Is it ethical or legal? If your MSP prohibits this in the instructions for the shop or in the ICA, it would be a violation of your agreement(s) with your MSP. The banking MSP I mentioned earlier prohibits me from depositing my check from them in any of their clients at any time. However, they only recommend that payments from other MSPs not be deposited in any of their clients. I can't imaging that there is any criminal statute prohibiting this. But is still is stupid.

For anyone still considering doing this, did I make my point?

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

Once, a teller asked me if I still worked for so and so ( my current employer ). I said yes. I was depositing a cheque from Frontline Focus for over $1,500.00

Willing to travel, Alberta, Canada

> I think the best question is, "Is it a good way to
> get spotted as a shopper?" Absolutely, yes!
> Another answer is simply STUPID.

My question really related to how many laws bank employees would be breaking if they researched your deposits to try to figure out whether you were their mystery shopper.

I agree that it would be stupid to deposit MSC checks during a MS.

Was this just coincidence, or....

Today, I stopped in a a branch of Big Blue, where I have my checking account, but a branch I never go to, and I deposited two very small checks from TrendSource and one from Marketforce.

And, as I'm leaving, after some pleasant chat with the teller, a banker dashes across the room to compliment me on my blouse, which was nothing remarkable.

I usually deposit the paper checks I get at the ATM. The best I could do for a no monthly fee checking account with a decent number of nearby branches on short notice was an account with a $50 minimum deposit but a limit of 4 teller visits per month from which no paper checks can be written from (i.e. debit card and ACH only), which is intended primarily for electronic access. It sounds like it sucks but the truth is way back in the day I paid for a box of 150 checks and wound up getting rid of over 100 of them (burnt in a bonfire along with a bunch of other junk papers we didn't need to take with us when we moved) when I closed the previous account.

I wish more credit unions had the fancy ATMs that imaged the deposited checks on the spot, or even took deposits at all. I may be weird but I actually prefer doing deposits at the ATM because then I (usually) don't have to worry about when I go.

Personally I would never deposit a payment from an MSC or get a direct deposit from them at a bank where you do shops. You might as well tell them you're a mystery shopper.

Angel

Shopping Southern Ontario (Canada) and Western New York (U.S.A.)!

Its been years since ive done a teller shop, but check cashing shops always say dont use a check from an MSC. It has to be personal or from a regular job.

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Depositing MSC checks during a MS

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Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine