I signed up for this shop and I just got an email saying that my package would be arriving soon. What makes me nervous about this is that the payment check is included in the package. If anyone has an experience with this shop and can help verify that this is legit or not, please let me know.

Most companies do not pay in advance, and $500 is more than what the average shop pays.

What is the name of the company? How did you find the shop? Did they contact you and ask you to sign up with them?

What is involved in the shop? Are you supposed to cash a check, then wire a portion to them and keep the $500 as your fee? If so, it is most definitely a scam.

allsea, welcome to the forum. This does not sound legitimate. I know of very few supercenter shops with legitimate companies and none that pay $500. Some things to thinjk about:

1. How did the company find you? Did you apply, providing your SS# and personal information on their website? Or did you receive an e-mail asking you to respond?

2. Most legitimate companies do NOT pay in advance. Mystery shoppers perform an assignment and write a report. AFTER the report is accepted, the shopper receives payment;.

3. Mystery shops do not usually pay $500. Most mystery shopping assignments pay between $5 and $20.

4. If you are asked to cash the check, keep your fee, and send some of the money to another location, that's an indication that you are being scammed.

Here's a thread about a young man who was scammed out of $1,610:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

This really sounds like a SCAM! I hope you will come back and post so more information, so we try to help you avoid losing any funds.

It is from
GFK Research Group
4469 Opal Ct, Sarasota, FL 34233, USA
g3mysteryshopping@gmail.com

I've done a lot of work for GFK, but not "Research Group". I haven't got the package yet and none of the initial instructions mentioned cashing the check. In fact, until I got the email last night, I wasn't aware that they were sending the check with the package.

I just noticed the email address and looked it up. They were located in Sylvania OH for a while and apparently ripped off quite a few shoppers when they were there. Probably took their money and moved to sunny Florida.

I'll update everyone after I receive the package and go through it.

Thanks for all the replies!

A lot of the scammers use real company names. That e-mail sure looks fishy! If it is large check and they want you to wire money back to them, it is definitely a SCAM! No matter how good it looks.

There are scammers using GFK's name, and this appears to be one of them. GFK is aware of this problem, and they posted a message about the scam on their site: [www.gfk.com]

GFK does not use gmail for company emails.

They do have an office in Florida, but not at the address you listed. The address they gave you, 4469 Opal Ct, Sarasota, FL 34233, USA, comes up as a residential address. There is a good chance the scammers are not actually located in Florida, and they may not even be in the USA. They do not give out their real address, which is part of why they are so hard to track down.

Ripoff Report has a list of complaints about scams using the name GFK dating back to 2007: [www.ripoffreport.com]

Whatever you do, please do not cash the check when it arrives. If you do, you will be on the hook for the total amount of the check once it bounces.

@allsea wrote:

It is from
GFK Research Group
4469 Opal Ct, Sarasota, FL 34233, USA
g3mysteryshopping@gmail.com

I've done a lot of work for GFK, but not "Research Group". I haven't got the package yet and none of the initial instructions mentioned cashing the check. In fact, until I got the email last night, I wasn't aware that they were sending the check with the package.

I just noticed the email address and looked it up. They were located in Sylvania OH for a while and apparently ripped off quite a few shoppers when they were there. Probably took their money and moved to sunny Florida.

I'll update everyone after I receive the package and go through it.

Thanks for all the replies!

Well, first red flag is the email address...

g3mysteryshopping@gmail.com

For such a large organization, why would a GFK representative be using a Gmail account? I'm not takling about an Independent Contractor scheduling for GFK. This is "GFK Research Group" themselves.

GFK is a reputable company and just doesn't "rip off" their shoppers...

Thanks again for all the replies. I'll be dropping off the package to the Ohio Attorney Generals office so they can follow up.

Take care

the email is GMAIL...i would be very concern that the domain is NOT something like @gfk.com.

ALL true GFK shop emails come from:

first.lastname@gfkmysteryshops.com

The 419 scammers are located in Africa and mostly are located in Nigeria and the States Attorney Generals office is far too busy than to care about an out of the country fraudster that they can't catch. Call the bank the check is written on and they will want the routing and account number to place a fraud flag on the account.

There is a dedicated forum to harass and stop the 419 scammers. It's called scam baiting. They get the scammers to do outlandish things and cost them time and money. I like to browse the "Trophy Room"

[forum.419eater.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2015 07:06PM by scanman1.

Well, it is a scam. I got a check in the mail today and it was made out to me on a check for a trucking company in Oklahoma. I had already called the bank before I got the latest email (see below) and gave them the information about the check. Surprisingly it took me a while to get someone's attention at the bank that they are being used in a fraud scheme.

Attn:- Mystery Shopper,

"I am glad to let you know that you will receive your first payment via USPS with the tracking number(94701 01699 32001 8642895) today, The payment in the amount of $2,600.Once you receive the Check Firstly you take the payment in the parcel to your bank and Deposit then deduct your compensation/commission as assignment fees which is $350 and also deduct $50 for shopping at the Wal-Mart store you listed and you can buy any items of your choice because it becomes yours eventually after the survey service. Please remember what we are really after are the lines of questions stated below, those are guidelines that you will look out for during your visit to Wal-Mart.

GUIDELINES:-

-How long it took you to get services.
-Ambiance/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet
-Smartness of the attendant
-Customer service professionalism
-Reactions when under pressure
-Information that you think would be helpful
-Your comments and impressions.
-Your personal opinion

After the Wal-Mart shopping your second phase of the survey same day is that you have to proceed to any Money Gram outlet around you and have the remaining balance minus transfer charges sent via Money Gram money transfer to the information below:-

WESTERN UNION TRANSFER INFORMATION.


SURNAME NAME: - KAMUKAMA

GIVEN NAMES:- CHRISTIAN BAGONZA

ADDRESS: 1, PUDONG AVENUE

CITY: SHANGHAI

COUNTRY: CHINA

ZIP CODE: 200233


Deduct the Money Gram money transfer charges/sending fees from the remaining funds.

Below are details you need to email me once funds have been sent to the Agent's Name and Address which is above:

- Sender's Full Name .
- Sender's Address.
- Exact Amount Sent
- Money Gram Ref #


You also have to secretly observe the services offered by Money Gram office you will visit.

I am counting on you and expect a detailed report soonest, Please do not hesitate to get back to me if you have something you need to know about your First Evaluation and as soon as you are done with the first and second phase of this 1st survey Assignment i will let you know your second survey assignment date okay.

Good luck in Your Survey exercise.
Regards.

​Barbara Freeman. ​​
​Supervisor
GFK Research Group
(312) 841-7013

Hmm.. what made you think that might be a scam?

Another horribly written email sent by scammers who write like a 5 year old. Scammers are poorly educated and live most of their lives in mud huts, pretending to be mystery shopping companies. There are so many red flags in the badly written email and riddled with poorly constructed sentences.

and the phone number listed is nowhere near Ohio...its a Chicago number...

"Smartness of the attendant" - HA!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2015 02:29AM by RedRose22.

Good thing you posted here. This most definitely was a scam!

@scanman1 wrote:

ALL true GFK shop emails come from:

first.lastname@gfkmysteryshops.com

[forum.419eater.com]

Some of their accounts are also first.last@external.gfk.com These are generally for contracted schedulers.

@allsea wrote:

Thanks again for all the replies. I'll be dropping off the package to the Ohio Attorney Generals office so they can follow up.

Take care

You should also contact the real GFK if you can. I remember something on their site about letting them know if you receive a scam email from someone purporting to be GFK.

GFK would like to know about these scams that are using their name. I saw that on the website also.

I tried to see the red flags in the e-mail but lost count

I lost @#$%& of the red flags too. Maybe it is because we are not enough smartness?

This sounds like a scam. Be very careful. I have never experienced a payment in advance, except for scams.

This sounds like a scam. Be very careful. I have never experienced a payment in advance, except for scams. When you get the materials, let us know what you received. And is this payment a company check, money order or what?

Sounds like a scam for sure.