Second email from this company. I am assuming its a scam based on the $ paid. I saw the other post about this company but was wondering if anyone received mail from them after responding. I am very tempted to give them my address and see what they send me. Any negative to just providing an address for mail?


*******

Thank you for your response to our offer to get paid to conduct surveys in your location as a customer-insight researcher for our firm.

We have a particular specialism in market analysis and in-depth customer understanding and feedback. We are currently coordinating a program of market appraisals within the United States.

With regards to our offer to you, we would assign you business and franchise locations within your area to survey. Your tasks would entail visiting the business entities assigned to you and evaluating the quality of service rendered by them.

You would be required to visit business and franchise locations such as stores, restaurants, banks, movie theaters, hotels and other businesses in your area, as a regular customer. We would provide funding to enable you act as any regular customer and experience the quality of service rendered at such a location.

You would be required to gather information about the quality of service by staff, behavior of staff and other issues at such locations.

It is your customer-experience feedback that we value during such appraisals.

The data to be collated from the appraisals provide valuable customer-experience feedback to businesses within the United States. This enables our clients to serve their own end-customers better.

You would be paid between two hundred and three hundred dollars for every customer-insight assignment completed. The number of assignments per week vary based on location. The assignments would be provided to you weekly, for a duration of time.

I wish to state clearly here again that your participation is at no cost to you. We will never ask you to conduct appraisals using your own money with a promise to reimburse you. Funds, to cover your remuneration and for all market appraisal expenses, would be provided to you before you undertake any assignment.

We also understand that prospective customer-insight researchers may have full time jobs. In this regard we would be flexible and expect you to conduct the tasks when convenient, such as after working hours.

If you wish to participate in this program, please indicate your interest via email by providing;

Your names, your complete physical mailing address and your phone number

The information above to be provided by you, would be used to process and send your payment checks and assignment details to you.

Thank you for your time.

Regards

Peter Demetriou, Ph.D.,
Quantitative Director
MBC Research
270 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10016
917-409-7412

Market appraisals? Specialisms? Why bother with them. It will just get you a bunch of hassles and rarely does it result in enough for authorities to take action. Those scammers are probably in a coffee shop in Nigeria.

Other than the word "specialisms" which is a word, but not one generally used in America (we would say "specialty", I'm amazed at the perfect grammar used in that email. If it's a scam, they found a good editor which is unusual.

But the tipoff here lies in the phone number. MBC research IS at that address, but that phone number is for something called New York Project, and their Facebook page describes them as:

Company Overview
The NEW YORK PROJECT is a Nonprofit Faith + Works Based Organization Providing Access to Reliable Information and Innovative Solutions

There is Truth in our Message and a Message in our Music.

The Positive Vs The Negative



Nothing about market research.

Interesting.

I did a search for the phone number he listed and all I came up with was that it was used for a time by an escort. I thought that was funny.

The 917 area code is a cell phone area code which I did think was odd. I also think its odd that the person signs his email as PhD. No one cares or should care that the owner of a mystery shopping company is a PhD. In fact, it makes me wonder if he is trying to make himself appear more important or credible.

If it is a Nigerian scam company, what would be the purpose of getting my address? What could they do with it?

I did NOT come up with the company being asociated with the Facebook company you mention. Can you post a link?

I live 10 blocks form the address. I would (but dont think it a good idea if thiis place is fishy) to go there and scope it. I would feel like a real Private Investigator. I know I would just be looking for trouble doing that.

I got the FB connection by googling the phone number.

If you google the name and address he gave, it will bring up the real company and their real phone number. You could call that and ask if they are running any kind of mystery shops as described in the email. They might be very interested to know their name is being used like that.

"Specialisms?"

Two or Three Hundred Dollars? Schedulers always put "This shop pays $10." not "Ten Dollars"...

Get a clue scammers...

I seriously wish the scammers were smarter....but they have pea sized brains, so what can you expect?

I too replied to the initial request to get some more information to cross-check and can say with a pretty high degree of certainty that this is most certainly a scam. MBC Research is a real company, but the real Peter Demetriou's telephone is (212) 679-4100 and his email is pad@mbcresearch.com OH! And he does not overemphasize any PhD credentials on the MBC website. I went ahead and emailed him (which you can read below if you like) and I'll let you know if he responds in a follow up post if you're interested.

Hi Peter,

I am very sorry to bother you if you are already aware of this or in the instance that the email below is actually legitimate, but I have a feeling someone is running a scam using your name and company as a cover. The give away seems to be in the differing phone number, a few odd grammar choices, and the emphasis on PhD (I noticed you do not use it in the contact section of the MBC site). The email is also different: mbcr@appraiser.net and a1@mta36.107.8x.biz As I said, if you are aware, I apologize for taking up your valuable time but in the case you are unaware hopefully this leads you to the next step.



First email:

Hello,

MBC Research, a global market research firm, is currently seeking individuals to act as customer-insight researchers, in various field market surveys within the United States.

Would you be interested in providing us with feed-back on your experience as a customer visiting businesses and franchises within your location in the United States? In doing so, you earn between two hundred - three hundred dollars for every customer-insight survey you conduct.

The customer-insight surveys are basic, can be completed in minutes, and can be conducted during your flexible hours. The number of surveys per week vary based on location.

Participation is free and at absolutely no cost to you. Also, no formal training is required.

If you are interested, reply for more details.

Thank you

Peter Demetriou, Ph.D.,
Quantitative Director
Market Research Team
MBC Research
270 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10016







Second email (response email):



Thank you for your response to our offer to get paid to conduct surveys in your location as a customer-insight researcher for our firm.

We have a particular specialism in market analysis and in-depth customer understanding and feedback. We are currently coordinating a program of market appraisals within the United States.

With regards to our offer to you, we would assign you business and franchise locations within your area to survey. Your tasks would entail visiting the business entities assigned to you and evaluating the quality of service rendered by them.

You would be required to visit business and franchise locations such as stores, restaurants, banks, movie theaters, hotels and other businesses in your area, as a regular customer. We would provide funding to enable you act as any regular customer and experience the quality of service rendered at such a location.

You would be required to gather information about the quality of service by staff, behavior of staff and other issues at such locations.

It is your customer-experience feedback that we value during such appraisals.

The data to be collated from the appraisals provide valuable customer-experience feedback to businesses within the United States. This enables our clients to serve their own end-customers better.

You would be paid between two hundred and three hundred dollars for every customer-insight assignment completed. The number of assignments per week vary based on location. The assignments would be provided to you weekly, for a duration of time.

I wish to state clearly here again that your participation is at no cost to you. We will never ask you to conduct appraisals using your own money with a promise to reimburse you. Funds, to cover your remuneration and for all market appraisal expenses, would be provided to you before you undertake any assignment.

We also understand that prospective customer-insight researchers may have full time jobs. In this regard we would be flexible and expect you to conduct the tasks when convenient, such as after working hours.

If you wish to participate in this program, please indicate your interest via email by providing;

Your names, your complete physical mailing address and your phone number

The information above to be provided by you, would be used to process and send your payment checks and assignment details to you.

Thank you for your time.

Regards

Peter Demetriou, Ph.D.,
Quantitative Director
MBC Research
270 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10016

917-409-7412

Just got a reply from Peter:

Sorry, it's a scam. It did not come from us. We already know but thanks for getting in touch.

I let them send an "assignment" to my P.O. Box. Sure enough, a USPS PRIORITY letter from an address in Maryland (where a 60 year old lady lives) filled with typos and a *check* for $2,995. The check looks a bit fake, so I searched around and now it really appears to be fake. Oh, and Peter Demetriou, Ph. D. asks you in the letter to deposit the check, then in 24 hours, pull out $2,700 from YOUR account and SEND IT to two people in Miami via MoneyGram and Western Union! (This is the Secret Shopper assignment!) Finally, he wants you to TEXT HIM when you have completed the "assignment" with the details of the money transfers!

I looked up both individuals in Miami and one name came back with four hits with one being a Registered Sex Offender! The other, you would expect to at least find, if in fact they are a credible company, but no luck. Even the addresses in Miami appear FAKE.

Bottom line, save your time, do not respond any further to these requests!

j p Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I let them send an "assignment" to my P.O. Box.
> Sure enough, a USPS PRIORITY letter from an
> address in Maryland (where a 60 year old lady
> lives) filled with typos and a *check* for $2,995.
> The check looks a bit fake, so I searched around
> and now it really appears to be fake. Oh, and
> Peter Demetriou, Ph. D. asks you in the letter to
> deposit the check, then in 24 hours, pull out
> $2,700 from YOUR account and SEND IT to two people
> in Miami via MoneyGram and Western Union! (This
> is the Secret Shopper assignment!) Finally, he
> wants you to TEXT HIM when you have completed the
> "assignment" with the details of the money
> transfers!
>
> I looked up both individuals in Miami and one name
> came back with four hits with one being a
> Registered @#$%& Offender! The other, you would
> expect to at least find, if in fact they are a
> credible company, but no luck. Even the addresses
> in Miami appear FAKE.
>
> Bottom line, save your time, do not respond any
> further to these requests!


They can use anyone's name and anyone's addres (all fake) because all they need is your MCTN (sp) to go to ANY Western Union/Money Gram office, provide the number and the money is in their hands.

Next time you receive an unsolicited offer, ask them where they obtained your email address. Is it personally addressed to you? Tell them that as an independent contractor, you only work through referrals. A real company will tell you and you can check with your trusted source.

I too, finally received two packets from MBC in NY. The packets came from California, San Clementi in the name: Kay CHILDS. Each had a check in it for 2995.00. I deposited one today and just got onto this sight. I shall not withdraw money from this account in the AM as the PhD named above with the same tele # appears in all the literature sent. To me, this appears to be a scam and I am sure my bank will tell me so. I did call my pharmacy which does Western Union and she asked me if I knew who I was sending the money to (an odd question at face value)and she explained that there are a lot of scams out there and once she sends the money, I cannot get it back...so that means if I withdraw the 2700.00 from my bank and send it and then the Cashier's Check is fraudulent, I would be responsible for the 2700.00. I think it best to ponder a few days as time will tell if the check is legitimate. I cannot afford to be out of 2700.00. This particular assignment times two packets was to withdraw 2700.00 for each packet and for the same assignment and mail half via Western Union and half via Money Gram to two people in Miami i.e. Kimberly GRIFFIN and Ivor HENRY. These two people have addresses, but no phone number or other contact info...and I feel uncomfortable. Reading the above entries gives me further cause to ponder. I already did file a complaint.

There is really no reason to "ponder" the situation and your best bet is to call or visit your bank first thing in the morning. You have to make sure they know that you are a victim of a scam and you deposited those checks unwittingly. If you do not become proactive, the least you can expect is to pay fees when, not if, the checks are returned. Depositing checks into your account while even suspecting they are fraudulent can also get you arrested.

bmatus2677 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I too, finally received two packets from MBC in
> NY. The packets came from California, San
> Clementi in the name: Kay CHILDS. Each had a
> check in it for 2995.00. I deposited one today
> and just got onto this sight. I shall not
> withdraw money from this account in the AM as the
> PhD named above with the same tele # appears in
> all the literature sent. To me, this appears to
> be a scam and I am sure my bank will tell me so.
> I did call my pharmacy which does Western Union
> and she asked me if I knew who I was sending the
> money to (an odd question at face value)and she
> explained that there are a lot of scams out there
> and once she sends the money, I cannot get it
> back...so that means if I withdraw the 2700.00
> from my bank and send it and then the Cashier's
> Check is fraudulent, I would be responsible for
> the 2700.00. I think it best to ponder a few days
> as time will tell if the check is legitimate. I
> cannot afford to be out of 2700.00. This
> particular assignment times two packets was to
> withdraw 2700.00 for each packet and for the same
> assignment and mail half via Western Union and
> half via Money Gram to two people in Miami i.e.
> Kimberly GRIFFIN and Ivor HENRY. These two people
> have addresses, but no phone number or other
> contact info...and I feel uncomfortable. Reading
> the above entries gives me further cause to
> ponder. I already did file a complaint.

You don't want to "ponder" while in prison, because that's where you can go if the bank presses charges. It's called "Check Fraud" and the bank will shut you down, dis-own you, put you on a high risk black list for all banks and if you make it out alive,...you will be $2,700 poorer...

Is there some agency who coordinates investigations of internet scams? If you could contact them, they could possibly catch them in Miami when they go to pick up the Western Union money. But only if you tell them in advance that you want to help stop them. Too often, law enforcement finds out after the fact when the criminals are long gone.

Hi!

I became a member simply to reply to this post and warn everyone. This is a scam. I did not deposit the check because $2995 for a first time mystery shopper is a lot of money, especially when I get paid before submitting a report! Plus the emails sounded "odd". I contacted my local police department after I received the package and dropped the entire package off and forwarded the emails to the Detective who will submit the report along with the check, letter and USPS envelope to the Secret Service "Hub", the group that deals with these types of scams. The Detective I am working with contacted the bank and he was told that the checks are in fact counterfeit and to date, they have had 30 checks deposited so far.

PLEASE DO NOT deposit these checks. They are a scam and the checks are not real. I would hate for anyone to lose their money. Contact your local police department and they should be able to either write up the report for you (I live in a small town) or send tell you how and where to report the crime.

If you DID deposit the check and send the money, time is of the essence to report the crime to the police in the hopes of recovering your money.

A store clerk told me one time that people come in occasionally to wire money or buy money orders for obvious scams like this. The store always lets the people know it's a scam ansd they are going to lose their money. The clerk told me that many of the people still send the money anyway, even after being told it's a scam. They want so much for it to be true that they lose all common sense. It's sad.

imbabs28 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi!
>
> I became a member simply to reply to this post and
> warn everyone. This is a scam. I did not deposit
> the check because $2995 for a first time mystery
> shopper is a lot of money, especially when I get
> paid before submitting a report! Plus the emails
> sounded "odd". I contacted my local police
> department after I received the package and
> dropped the entire package off and forwarded the
> emails to the Detective who will submit the report
> along with the check, letter and USPS envelope to
> the Secret Service "Hub", the group that deals
> with these types of scams. The Detective I am
> working with contacted the bank and he was told
> that the checks are in fact counterfeit and to
> date, they have had 30 checks deposited so far.
>
> PLEASE DO NOT deposit these checks. They are a
> scam and the checks are not real. I would hate
> for anyone to lose their money. Contact your
> local police department and they should be able to
> either write up the report for you (I live in a
> small town) or send tell you how and where to
> report the crime.
>
> If you DID deposit the check and send the money,
> time is of the essence to report the crime to the
> police in the hopes of recovering your money.


Think about that: 30 checks deposited at $2,995, that's near $90,000 that the scammers have made off with. What does the depositor have? Nothing.

rainy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A store clerk told me one time that people come in
> occasionally to wire money or buy money orders for
> obvious scams like this. The store always lets the
> people know it's a scam ansd they are going to
> lose their money. The clerk told me that many of
> the people still send the money anyway, even after
> being told it's a scam. They want so much for it
> to be true that they lose all common sense. It's
> sad.


Many of them are elderly. Alot of them are people who have been "feeding" the scammers money, with the promise that they will receive a large sum of money a.k.a. Lottery Scam,& Sweepstakes Scam.

The participant gets so deep, and so far in, that they hang on the "promise" of that BIG money coming in. Because people will send strangers $1,000's of dollars to strangers they never met, this scam stays rich and alive, bleeding the people that can least afford it.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rainy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > A store clerk told me one time that people come
> in
> > occasionally to wire money or buy money orders
> for
> > obvious scams like this. The store always lets
> the
> > people know it's a scam ansd they are going to
> > lose their money. The clerk told me that many
> of
> > the people still send the money anyway, even
> after
> > being told it's a scam. They want so much for
> it
> > to be true that they lose all common sense.
> It's
> > sad.
>
>
> Many of them are elderly. Alot of them are people
> who have been "feeding" the scammers money, with
> the promise that they will receive a large sum of
> money a.k.a. Lottery Scam,& Sweepstakes Scam.
>
> The participant gets so deep, and so far in, that
> they hang on the "promise" of that BIG money
> coming in. Because people will send strangers
> $1,000's of dollars to strangers they never met,
> this scam stays rich and alive, bleeding the
> people that can least afford it.


I have read a few stories about elderly people who pretty much lost everything to one of these scams. It's very sad. I don't know how some people can sleep at night.

The Detective I met with told me about an elderly woman in the area who was involved in one of the lottery scams. She sent $4,000 and after a period of time realized that it was a scam. She had been speaking to the man on the phone. She stopped answering his phone calls so he called the police saying he was her son and asked them to do a "wellness" check. Where the police go to the house to make sure the person is ok. She said that she didn't have a son when they arrived and explained to them the scam that she was involved in. He then tried a different tactic saying that she was going to be audited by the IRS and the IRS would freeze her assets if she didn't send the rest of the money so she sent a check for $8,000. The man called the police department again, this time claiming to be from the FBI but the Detective recognized his voice and realized it was the same guy. He contacted the woman and she explained what happened and the threat the man made. The Detective explained to her that the threat he made did not make sense since she hadn't yet submitted her taxes for the year (it was the beginning of Jan). That there was no way the IRS could do an audit on taxes that had not been submitted. She was finally convinced to cancel the check that she sent. Fortunately, she cancelled the check in time and didn't lose the $8,000. These people are crazy & scary once you get involved with them. Be careful!

$90k is a lot of money. It seems like this scam has only been around for about a week since no one can find any information out about the particular scam, including the detective I worked with. Usually I am able to find information about a scam in multiple locations. It so sad that so many people lost their money.

bmatus2677, did you contact your local authorities about the counterfeit check that you deposited? What was the response?

These scams have been around a lot longer than a week. They virtually coincided with the creation of the Internet.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These scams have been around a lot longer than a
> week. They virtually coincided with the creation
> of the Internet.


I meant the MBC Research scam in particular has only been around for a week or so. The counterfeit checks have been presented to the bank within the last 8 days.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are the legitimate MBC Research. We have nothing to do with this scam soliciting mystery shoppers. We do NOT solicit any staff via email. These scam artists found our website and borrowed our firm's name and the Quantitative Director's name and sent out thousands of unsolicited emails for mystery shoppers.

Some red flags about this unsolicited email: 1) Our phone number does not match the number they provide in their email; 2) No company will ever send you money without interviewing you first; 3) No company will pay you in advance; 4) No company will ever send you more money than what they are paying you for the job and trust that you will send the remaining funds back.


In the future, do NOT answer any unsolicited emails and do NOT cash any unsolicited checks from any company. This is a scam that has been around for years. It is even mentioned on the FBI website. If you deposit the check that you receive, you will be out of thousands of dollars. The checks are fraudulent and the bank will take the money out of your account.

Thank you.
MBC Research

I was expecting an assignment. Instead, I got a USPS priority packet from Nancy Matteson, 6595 Dumas Rd, Hillsboro, OR. The instructions were to deposit $2995 into my account and the next day to send it to two Miami addresses. No way!

So glad to hear MBC's response above.

I wonder if my name will be on their next mailing????

These scammers or their copycats have not been shut down. They are at it again.
The emails, money amounts and instructions are very similar. Check this recently posted scam alert by another company that was used.

BTW, the check was sent by a Michael Patel from New York and the amount was just over $3000 on a Chase Bank cashiers check. The funds were to be wired to two individuals in Miami.

[www.norssurveys.com]

"We would be providing the funding to you" NOT!

"entities?" Not!

<<"entities assigned to you and evaluating the quality of service rendered by them."

"You would be required to visit business and franchise locations such as stores, restaurants, banks, movie theaters, hotels and other businesses in your area, as a regular customer. We would provide funding to enable you act as any regular customer and experience the quality of service rendered at such a location.">>