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Is this a scam?

March 12, 2015 01:40AM
Hi everyone! i I'm a new shopper and I'd like some feed back if you don't mind. I signed up with a shopping company last week. At the beginning of this week I received an email telling me that my "pay" was on the way via USPS and when I received it I was to follow the directions and complete the shop. I had not signed up for any shops because I hadn't found anything posted that sparked my interest. When I opened the envelope, there were 2 money orders for over $900 each and they were blank. Instructions said to fill them out with the name of the company in the "From" line and my name and address in the "To" line. I was then to take them to a local bank, cash them, keep %10 from each and forward the rest of the money to a charity that had the same name as the company's address. I am very suspicious of this and I am wondering why a "reputable" company would make such a request. I have not done what was requested because my gut feeling says not to do it. what do you think? Is it a scam? P.S. One of the instructions said to measure the intelligence of the teller at the bank. That made me very angry and added send it all back and d to my suspicion. I plan to get out of Dodge.
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More About Scams
March 12, 2015 02:00AM
Oh yes. Very much. This is the kind of scam that has been making the rounds for ages and has been all over the news and pretty much everywhere. I'd give a call to your local PD and see if they have any interest in dealing with it. If not, chalk it up to experience. Hope you didn't give them any personal info when you "signed up."

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.
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March 12, 2015 02:41AM
They enclosed money orders, not checks? That's interesting - usually, money orders must be purchased with cash. Not the typical modus operandi of this type of scam.
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March 12, 2015 02:43AM
Money orders can be forged toosmiling smiley

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
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March 12, 2015 02:49AM
It is a scam.

Willing to travel, Alberta, Canada
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March 12, 2015 01:43PM
You will be in for a whole world of hurt if you follow those instructions. This is a fairly common scam. I have been mystery shopping many years and have never received payment before doing the assignment. Also most mystery shopping companies pay under $20 for an assignment.
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March 12, 2015 01:46PM
SCAM! Do not cash or deposit those money orders!
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March 12, 2015 03:19PM
Yes, it's a scam and the money orders, no matter how real they look, are forged. I worked many of these cases when I was the Financial Crimes Detective at my agency. They forge personal checks, business checks, cashiers checks, money orders - any financial document you can think of. I have also seen some beautiful work on forged/manufactured credit cards. With costs coming down on things like tipping machines, we have to be sharp and try to keep up with the many changing forms of these scams.

The stories I could tell you.... sad smiley

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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March 12, 2015 03:27PM
Here's a discussion topic that may belong in Meta. Quite a few of the luckier folks find us and we get to stop them before they are out thousands. It also leads to dozens and dozens of new threads with all the information being repeated. Is there any way we could get something highly visible either on the main forum page or at registration which says something to the effect of, "If you have received a check or money order please read this first!" The scams along with the variations we know of could be outlined, suggestions for how to handle the forged checks could be listed and a brief description of how legitimate mystery shopping works (register on a website, perform work prior to payment, etc.) could be included.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
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March 12, 2015 04:50PM
Perhaps "Mystery Shopping Scams" as a title?

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
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March 12, 2015 04:57PM
LisaSTL and LJ: I learn something new every day. Thanks!
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