I recognized it as a scam mail yesterday but I replied to it just to see how they would respond. I find it very hard to believe that a "regional instructor" for a MSC would have such poor grammer; not to mention that they are offering to pay up front for shop expenses.

Here is the e-mail I received.

Attn: Esteemed Mystery Shopper,

My Name is Dennis Hunt and I am your group regional Instructor from within the USA.Henceforth you will be working with me on the completion of your Mystery Shopper's Position application.

We have received your Information (Mailing address,contact telephone Number,Nationality) your Information as submitted to us have been forwarded to our head office for assessment and approval, once approved I will notify you and provide you with funds for your first assignment which I will also provide you with details of sometime next week.

Like you already know, your weekly wage is $400:00 Flat for working with us and will come in two bi-weekly payments of $200 each.

PAYMENT TERMS:

Your payment would be sent weekly ($400) weekly, Also the company is in charge of providing you with all expense money for the shopping and other expenses incurred during the course of your assignment.All the tools you will needing would be provided to you with details every week you have an assignment.

JOB DESCRIPTION :

1} When an assignment is given to you,You would be provided with details to execute the assignment and in a timely fashion.

2} You would be asked to visit a company or store in your area and they are mostly our competitors as a secret shopper and shop with them to know more about their sales and stock , cost sales and more details as provided by the company then report back to us with details of whatever transpired at the store. But anything you buy at the shop belongs to you,all we want is an effective/quick job and reports.

ASSIGNMENT PACKET :

Before any assignment we would provide you with the resources needed {cash}Mostly our company would send you a check which you can cash and use for the assignment. Included to the check would be your assignment packet .Then we would be providing you details on here. But you follow every single information given to you as a secret shopper .

You can earn more which involves nothing more than shopping at a number of selected retailers and assessing their customer service and reporting back . We tried reaching you on phone but it wasn't responding , So i want you to get back to me with confirmation of your interest and commitment in working with us ,Mostly we need your phone number for contact purposes which is most Important- should you need to speak to someone from my company from within the USA I can be reached at any time during working hours on 662 580 4373 if I'm unable to speak to you,leave me a message and I will return your call at my earliest convenience.

KINDLY RECONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION BELOW IS CORRECT FOR ASSESSMENT

Full Legal Name :
Address :
City :
State :
Zip code :
Country :
Age:
Nationality :
Home and Cell # :

I will await your prompt response.
Best Wishes and Regards .
Dennis Hunt

Apex consult Co.,Inc.
U.S OFFICE: 230 W 26th St,
New York, NY 10001
Tel:662 580 4373



Can e-mails like this be reported?

Lynlee

You should check the FTC site about those, and also you can report to Spamcop. I have only gotten 1 and I just deleted. I seem to get the dethroned prince seeking a way to get their money out of the country, instead.

Ah yes, the "Apex Consult" group that masquerades as aTH Power. Definitely a scam. Surprised they haven't wised up and picked a new 'corporate name' yet.

From the cadence of his language and choice of words I'm hearing his message as people would say things in Nigeria.

Dee- those are called 419 scams. I used to frequent a site a couple years back where the one to be scammed turned around and scammed the scammers. It was pretty funny to see how naive some of these people were. The guy who maintains the site and sends all the e-mails to the scammers will tell them his name is Bob Hope or something really obvious that goes completely over their head. He convinces them to make several long distance phone calls to him, and with some he has even gotten the scammers to send him money, all of which is used to maintain his site, etc. It's a sad day and age.

I got my check for $3,280 today, lol. My instructions are to evaluate a local Wal Mart and Western Union. It really makes me sad to know that at least 3 people I know in town have been scammed by e-mails just like this!



Attn: Prospective Shopper,

This e-mail is to notify you about your first assignment. The company has issued out a payment to you for your first assignment which means your weekly payment of $400 has been issued to you with some funds which you will use in executing this Assignment.

Read and make sure you understand all that is stated below to avoid any mistakes. You should receive a check from one of our companies today which is part of your assignment.

It would be delivered to you by UPS. Payment was issued to cover the assignment bills and also your weekly wages and Assignment.

Once you receive the check, you should take the payment to your bank and cash the payment today then deduct $400 as your weekly wage.

THE PAYMENT WILL BE IN FORM OF A CHECK AND CAN BE CASHED INSTANTLY AT ANY BANK WITHIN THE COUNTRY, ONCE YOU RECEIVE THE CHECK YOU SHOULD TAKE IT TO CASH AT YOUR BANK AT ONCE.

The remaining balance should be used for the below assignment. Follow these instructions below.

1ST ASSIGNMENT:

You will be Evaluating Wal-mart store and Western Union outlet in your City. Cash the Check at your Bank and then Go ahead with Wal-mart Evaluation .The Check you received covers all expenditures including evaluation, shopping , transport and your compensation ( salary=$400 ) for these surveys .You are to purchase Goods of your Choice for your own Use not more than $100,at any Wal-mart store close to you and also you will be using Western Union services to send the balance to another Mystery shopper to carry out her own Assignment.

As a secret shopper, you should go there and study how to send money and memorize all you see at the outlet. We want you to report back to us with the following information:

GUIDELINES
-How long it took you to get services.
-Ambience/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet
-Smartness of the attendant
-Customer service professionalism
-Reaction of personel under pressure
-Information that you think would be helpful
-Your comments and impressions.

Below is the expenditures breakdown:-
Money Received ....$3,280.00
Transport/Miscellanous..$50
Salary .................$400
Wal-mart ................$100
West Union Transfer Charge: $150
Send Amount At Wester Union Outlet .............. $2,580.00

As a secret shopper your job is to observe any thing useful going on in the outlet. Make sure you observe everything you see in there because you would be asked some other questions when you return. So then you would go ahead and make a western union money transfer to another mystery shopper for another assignment.

We want you to deduct your weekly payment of $400 and have the remaining funds (minus the western union charges which should be less than $150 and also $100 for whatever you will be buying at Walmart) sent to the information below for proper preparation of our next Mystery Shopper.

TRANSFER THE $2,580.00 THROUGH WESTERN UNION TO THE INFORMATION BELOW :

RECEIVER: KALIRY RODRIGUEZ
ADDRESS: 118-42 153rd Street,
Jamaica, New York 11436
Amount to be Sent: $2,580.00

Our Finance department has just established a new system which you might have never heard of and it is called Alert pay. And this service is been Privately owned and established under our management since 2004 With many competitors we have a very low rating and few customers and we want to develop and upgrade our service to the best and fullest. So we only need the report you provide so we can work on our service.

Please try as much to be discrete when doing your work as a mystery shopper, just observe all you see and report back when you get back home. Your next assignment this week would be visiting a museum, we would provide you with the details.

Also to further finalize this Assignment, you have to get back to us with the Necessary report of Walmarts and also with the below western union transfer information for the money you sent to the other mystery shopper:

1. Senders Name and Address
2. 10 Digit Money Transfer Control Number {M.T.C.N}
3. The amount transferred after deducting western union charges.

This project shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours to execute and the time limit matters to us, with that we can also determine your efficiency and the commitment you show towards working with us. Do get back to me with the Reports and Transfer information.

Looking forward to work with you on this project .And remember to pretend to be a client who wants to Shop and send money so they wont detect you are a secret shopper.

Should you have any other questions or need more Instructions as to your first assignment, you can easily reach me at my email (sendyourresumes115@gmail.com)

Kind Regards,
Contact Person: Mr Dennis Hunt
Phone:662-580-4373
Email: sendyourresumes115@gmail.com
Time: 24 Hours daily by e-mail
Processing Job-Unit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2009 03:38PM by lynleestar.

I always knew something good would come out of watching Judge Judy. Definitely a scam.