I understand there are many new shoppers coming here every day trying to learn more about what we do. I was once a newbie and had many questions.

However, one of them was NEVER "is this a scam?" If you have no common sense to know when somebody is trying to steal from you, you very likely have much bigger issues in your life than whether or not to cash the $4200 check you just received from an MS company.

IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF IT'S A SCAM, IT IS A SCAM!!

I will likely receive negative responses to this, but today happens to be a day I can no longer take any more incompetence. If you are not mentally handicapped or elderly, you should never be asking these questions. I hate it that there are so many scammers and thieves out there, but I'll bet it is a very hard, important life lesson learned for those who have been scammed by not using common sense. One of the most important life lessons my parent's taught me: "There is no such thing as free lunch!" (unless you are mystery shopping )

So are you still in that hotel room? You sound like you might be getting a little irritable, my friend.

Just wondering...(and just LMAO!)

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2014 09:52PM by stilllearning.

HA!!!! Is it that obvious?? That is hilarious!!!

Getting home today!!!!

Oh no, Bearclaw, not at all.

(heart)

Scam??? But I just put those money orders for $1800 in the bank. I am in the process of taking my $300 fee now and sending them back $1500. Why would you think this is a scam.

And even with mystery shopping it isn't always free

Bearclaw14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"There is no such thing as free lunch!" (unless you are mystery shopping

@Bearclaw14, please don't be so hard on them. My daughter is very bright, but when she was younger, she was one of the most gullible people of all time. She wasn't even a shopper, but fell for the deposit the money into your account scam. She really thought the Hollywood Diet would work. My youngest son is another gullible soul.

When in sales school, our instructor said, "No one is easier to sell to than another salesperson."

Sorry you were stuck in some hotel room somewhere. Has anyone tried the bedbug detectors that they sell in the mall?

Actually, some MS company might notice this: our movie theatre had a problem with bed bugs!! Yes, a patron complained to management, but got not assistance when his arm and legs were bitten during a recent movie. So, he used his cell to video the bugs, and he even caught one for the manager.

The management transported the victim and his son to a department store to buy new clothes, to avoid spreading the bed bugs. The management also stated that the planned to do NOTHING about the situation. The local news reported the story.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2014 10:17PM by Mary Smith xoxoxo.

Um, Mary, I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a bedbug problem.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

(heart)

Sorry, Bearclaw, but I'd rather every new person to the forum asked than have even one of them get taken. New people have no idea how mystery shopping works until they actually get into it. Lighten up. Being mentally deficient is not the same as just not knowing how something works.


Quick -- if you went to an employment agency (and you'd never been to one before, nor knew anyone who had) should you or should you not have to pay a fee to get a job? No googling, just answer the question.



How would you know, if it was your very first time going to one and you hadn't been able to ask anyone yet? Wouldn't you think it was fair to ask someone who had "been there"? What do you think these newbies with the very realistic-looking scam emails with the names of actual for-real mystery shopping companies on them should do when they get one? You think they shouldn't bother to ask for advice, but just make their best guess and either miss an opportunity or get taken?

Ignorance does not equal stupidity nor mental illness. It just means you haven't learned something yet. Let's not expect them to learn the hard way. If you don't want to answer them, nobody is forcing you to read the thread.

When someone gets a job through an employment agency the agency receives a fee. Sometimes paid by the job seeker, sometimes paid by the employer. While more are paid in some fashion by the employer, I can say that hasn't always been the case.

Well in today's time some people try to make a quick way to make or should I say take others people hard earn money by doing scaming. What can you say everyone are not honest. So How long have you been with the company? (If you dont mind me asking LOL)

Anyone who thinks some company is going to give them thousands of dollars for doing nothing is looking for a free lunch.

Fubuham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well in today's time some people try to make a
> quick way to make or should I say take others
> people hard earn money by doing scaming. What can
> you say everyone are not honest. So How long have
> you been with the company? (If you dont mind me
> asking LOL)


What company are you talking about?

It is amazing to me that some people have never heard of these scams before. They must not read the thousands of forwards over the years esp about the Nigerian scam and it's iterations. My husband recently got a request from the far east from an old friend he has seen once in over 20 years. When he got in touch with the friend who runs a ministry for youth he found that one of the youth actually sent him $2,000. These scams continue because unsuspecting people fall for them. So yes it is great that people ask about these before losing their hard earned money.

I would also add that sometimes it's actually not a scam.

There was a recent post by someone asking about Western Union shops and even an MSC owner jumped in to say it was a scam…only to learn that it wasn't. There ARE western Union shops, and there are shops that pay you thousands of dollars in advance, so it's possible for a level-headed individual to be brought into the con if they have heard about either of those scenarios.

Steve, you've been doing this a long time. You may be offered the shops that offer you thousands of dollars in advance, but as I'm sure you well know, that is not the norm. The average shop fee for a newbie is around $10, and very few people would even know about shops that pay out the way yours do.

I think desperate times probably contribute to the scams more than anything, but common sense will take you far in this world. And I too would like to know what company Fubuham is referring to.

I very well know it's not the norm, and I rarely post about the existence of said shops. Mainly because once people hear that, it gives them incentive to buy into the scams.

But…I bring friends on shops, and they tell other friends. I would say about once a month a friend of a friend contacts me about a scam and want to know if it's real. Some people are dreamers….

Bearclaw14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand there are many new shoppers coming
> here every day trying to learn more about what we
> do. I was once a newbie and had many questions.
>
> However, one of them was NEVER "is this a scam?"
> If you have no common sense to know when somebody
> is trying to steal from you, you very likely have
> much bigger issues in your life than whether or
> not to cash the $4200 check you just received from
> an MS company.
>
> IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF IT'S A SCAM, IT IS A SCAM!!
>
> I will likely receive negative responses to this,
> but today happens to be a day I can no longer take
> any more incompetence. If you are not mentally
> handicapped or elderly, you should never be asking
> these questions. I hate it that there are so many
> scammers and thieves out there, but I'll bet it is
> a very hard, important life lesson learned for
> those who have been scammed by not using common
> sense. One of the most important life lessons my
> parent's taught me: "There is no such thing as
> free lunch!" (unless you are mystery shopping
> )


I disagree, I received a lot of emails about mystery shopping and I thought that it was a scam until I found this message board and I asked "is this a scam?" I received a lot of positive responses and learned a lot about how to determine if something was a scam or not a landed on a lucrative line of side money. Let people ask what they want, isn't that what the board is for?

"Let people ask what they want, isn't that what the board is for?"

Nope. This board is for sharing information, not indulging ninnies and lazy children.

Note to self, if bestofbothworlds (or bearclaw14, since he "liked" the post) ever asks a question, ignore them because they are just a ninny or lazy or both......


"This board is for sharing information, not indulging ninnies and lazy children." What kind of response is that? Who are we going to share information with, if not someone who asked a question?

pammie8223 is exactly right. That is exactly what this board is for, shoppers helping shoppers. If you don't want to help others, then skip the threads where people ask for help. Yes, especially about scams.

Note to self: Remember dspeakes is a whiny excuse maker for anyone too lazy to do their own homework!

bestofbothworlds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note to self: Remember dspeakes is a whiny excuse
> maker for anyone too lazy to do their own
> homework!

Name calling is uncalled for and not productive to the whole of this forum.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 06:50AM by KathyC.

I've known people who were very naive and gullible, while being intelligent.

I'm very glad when people do ask about scams. And, they might not necessarily know how to 'do their research.' Suppose that they get an e-mail from "Maritz." A quick bit of research turns up the fact that Maritz is an old and thoroughly trustworthy company. They may not have the background knowledge to realize that their e-mail is from a scammer impersonating Maritz.

Now, for most of my adult life, I've assumed that mystery shopping was all probably a scam. I put it in the same general mental category as envelope stuffing, and a variety of other work-at-home schemes. Now, I think of my attitude as being foolishly and carelessly cynical, the opposite of being naive and gullible, but an attitude that can also lead to financial harm.

bestofbothworlds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Note to self: Remember dspeakes is a whiny excuse
> maker for anyone too lazy to do their own
> homework!


Yawn.

"Is it a scam" is a ligitimate question if you answer it "may be a scam as scammers are using ligitimate MSC's info"
You can tell it is a scam by the amount of money they are offering and they are sending it to you, a total stranger, in a check before you send them a report. Money for nothing is nothing but trouble.
If it comes from Nigeria or a Barrister in England and you do not have any relitives in those countries delete it even if they offer you a million dollars to send your personal info to them

The question that should NOT be asked is "which MCS is offering shops at ......." If you answer it you are telling the lazy bum how to pick your pockets without really working.

Bearclaw14 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone who thinks some company is going to give
> them thousands of dollars for doing nothing is
> looking for a free lunch.

"A fool and his money are soon parted" (as the saying goes). But if someone has the presence of mind to come here and ask if something is real or not, at least they asked. Doesn't mean they're lazy or crazy. Try not to judge. Being the new kid on the block isn't easy, especially when the old kids on the block have an attitude.

That said, I am well aware that "common sense" is not really so common anymore. Maybe it was at one time, 40 or 50 or up to hundreds of years ago. Not today.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When someone gets a job through an employment
> agency the agency receives a fee. Sometimes paid
> by the job seeker, sometimes paid by the employer.
> While more are paid in some fashion by the
> employer, I can say that hasn't always been the
> case.

I know it happens, but I have no idea what line of work in which an employee pays a fee to an agency. Can you give any examples?

I have never paid a fee to an agency. The employment agencies I've used have always received the fee from the employer for full time work after 30 to 90 days of a successful engagement, depending on the contract the agency has with the employer. For temporary work, the employer pays the entire fee to the agency, and the agency allocates the employee's fee from that amount.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2014 04:35PM by nycrocks.

I have never received an email about keeping money and wiring the rest. I DID get an email from my bank a few days ago and it looked very official with their logo etc. As soon as I saw that my account would be disabled unless I sign in with my name and password, I knew it was a thief trying to pull a fast one. I bet some will fall for it though.

Google is a great way to search for any subject. There's a ton of information out there to help us.

There used to be a lot more employment agencies, and there were a lot more companies that used them to recruit. A lot of things have changed, and with the internet, there are far fewer actual full-service employment agencies and fewer companies use them. It also varies by region. In 1970s Houston, employment agencies ruled. Although some companies advertised positions in the newspaper, most jobs were filled through employment agencies. About half the fees were paid by employee and half by employer. Examples of jobs would be bank tellers, loan officers, and managers, secretaries, accountants, other professional positions, full-time permanent positions. When I moved to Houston in the early 70s, an employment agency located my position, an entry-level Human Resource manager position with a small company. I paid the fee. After that, I was adamant when I walked through the door of an employment agency that I would consider only jobs with companies who would pay the fee. It's a whole different world today, with 25% of jobs filled through online job sites like Monster, improved state agency workforce commission job banks, et., although a few full-service "executive search firms" operate. Most of the fees are employer-paid although it is negotiable.

this is no different then the people that pay to
collect their lotto winnings from Nigeria. At
least that one is real. My winnings are suppose
to be in my account on Monday. Can't wait!!