I was in the post office the other day. When I was done, I stepped aside to put my change in my wallet. The next person in line walked up to the counter with a Priority Mail envelope and showed the clerk what looked like a money order. She asked the clerk if the item looked legit. The clerk wasn't sure.
As she walked off I had a hunch and caught up with her. I asked her if this was a Western Union money order and if she had been asked to cash it at her bank. She looked at me amazed, and then told me she had received an email about making money mystery shopping. I asked her if it was for about $900 and did the email say she told she could keep about $200? Again, she looked amazed and said it was for $500 and she was told she could keep $250.
I told her it was a scam and NOT to cash it. She said after she gave them her information she had had second thoughts and wondered if it was real. She said she was going to take it to the police. I told her they would send her emails - she said she had already received calls asking if she had received it. I told her don't answer the calls or the emails - if she did, that would just encourage them.
I told her I was a mystery shopper and it's extremely rare for a shop to have high payment. I said the part where they want you to report the "shop" was fake - the scammers don't work for any MSC. Then I told her if she wanted to find out more, to find the Mystery Shop Forum and search for scams. I also told her the Forum was a great place to get started in legit mystery shopping.
That's when she really floored me - she said, "I'm a mystery shopper, too! I was just hoping to find shops that paid more!"
AARRGH! *tears hair out*
NOTE: I'm not on the forum every day. If someone comments on my post, I might not reply right away. I've been a shopper since 1991. I've never done any work for a MS company in any other capacity.