Hi! I recently joined a well-known freelance/client network. A person offered that I apply to become a mystery shopping admin for him. This client has many great ratings from various freelancers, so I accepted and quickly took the offer. We spoke on the phone and things seemed off. The client mentioned that ads for mystery shoppers would be posted on Craigslist by me (for my area, since he couldn't do that from his state) and that I shouldn't say anything on the freelance/client network as Craigslist is not allowed to be used by them. Then, he said people will contact me and I will go through a script to explain how to do the job. He said I'd receive photos of many credit cards. I'd give the new mystery shoppers the credit card numbers. They fill out their shipping info on the shopping site (they pay their own shipping). For billing, they use their home address, but change the zip code. When I looked up the zip code online, it shows my city, but doesn't have any demographic info. I don't know anything about how billing works or if businesses can use a single entity zip code (which this one seems to be). I asked him what mystery shopping company this is through and if that's where the credit cards are coming from. He gave me the company, which I researched and saw is his real estate-type company. He had a few five star reviews. Then, he said the credit cards are through that company. I've clearly never done any mystery shopping. Does all of this sound legit or like a scam?

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck...

I agree that it sounds quite suspicious.

Personally I would play him until I got photos of cards. I would call one of the credit card companies that he gave you a number for, speak with a live person, explain what you have just told us and ask if XYZ real estate company was actually the client on a credit card with the last digits of ABCD. If they are, then chances are this is a legitimate gig. I would bet that they would happily send you along to their fraud department if there was something awry and that might just be an opportunity for them to get police involved and get one more fraud behind bars.

Edited to add: This is not the way that mystery shopping works EVER.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2016 08:29PM by Flash.

You would "Receive photos of many credit cards"... That, my friend, is the biggest indicator that there is credit card fraud involved. I don't know how close this relation of yours is to you, but I'd personally even take it to the police. They need you to do the postings to not be traced directly to them, they buy stuff online and get it shipped to them, they ask you to use a different zip code to validate the credit card, knowing that most likely the USPS will correct the ZIP upon shipping. And, anyone can claim their company is X. Did you know I own Microsoft, by the way? Look up Microsoft.com and you'll see it's a legit company

Don't get taken by these people, and be happy you thought twice before actually agreeing to be an accessory in a scam. Many people find it the hard way after the fact.

I suggest that you go to the police. This sounds like they want you to aid and abet credit card fraud. They are even apparently using you to convince others to commit credit card fraud. This is a scam and you should report it to the police. Contact the police before you back out since they might want you to help them catch this ring of credit card thieves.

Thanks to everyone for your input. Information from people who actually know the ins and outs of mystery shopping helped me figure out how to respond to this.

May I say, that the minute you participate in this, by posting fake ads, you are PART of the crime.

There is enough heartache and loss already..

Please don't be a part of perpetuating this deceit, of even more innocent victims.

I agree with all of the above. This is truly a SCAM, actually worse than a scam, they are asking you to be fraudulent with them. I would go to the FBI.

scamorama