So I was researching mystery shopping companies and fell right into a scam. I have just started to get back into shopping after taking a few years off and boy did I fall right into their trap. The company's name when Googled is Premier Secret Shopper. You enter your info as normal. Looks like most legitimate sites. I received a phone call the next day and this very professional lady from New York tells me I am getting "prepaid" for 6 assignments and I was to deposit the check right away. The company letter head says Apple Logistics. The check is a personal, hand-written check from some person in Texas for $2,890.00. Like a dummy, I opened up a new account and luckily the bank held the deposit until August 6, 2012. Last Wednesday, the bank calls and tells me the check is no good. I explain the scam to them. The bank is fine with me, but tells me I am being charged $7.00 for a returned item. So, I am out of pocket already.

The scam artist calls me to tell me that I am to shop as soon as the check clears. I have not called her back because she left me a message saying her number had changed. I have no intention of calling this "company" or anything. I am just going to pay the fee and learn from my lession. I found this forum when I started to question the up front pay out. So, this is to all the new shoppers. Don't make the same mistake I did and believe that shops are paid in advance. This does not happen.

Thanks to all who read my first post and warned me about companies like this. I appreciate having a forum because when I started about 12 years ago, this forum did not exist.

Here's a thread regarding Apple Logistics:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Hopefully the young lady who was writing in that post followed through with all of the information she was given.

There is more information in that thread that may help you also Elzbeth.

Thanks Rainy,

I found this thread a day late and $7.00 too short. I just wanted to repost this ongoing scam to any beginners like me who haven't seen the prior thread. I appreciate the heads-up about the additional information. I guess I should have posted on that thread. I am new and couldn't find it.

Elizabeth in Mobile, AL

You're welcome.

No biggie, if a new member is not familiar with all the ins and outs and the "where-are-the..." links it's sometimes tough to find.

The "search" link is listed at the top of each particular "forum", and directly under the horizontal advertisement. When you use the search function, make sure you set the date (drop menu) to "All Dates". Some of the threads move pretty fast and end up back on pages 2, 3, 4... so it's hard to keep track.

Unfortunately, I googled "Apple Logistics" - and so far everything that comes up on my 1st page for google appears to be legitimate. Will have to keep pushing these two threads about the scam to the top of our forums in order to help the spiders and search engine crawlers locate it. That way it would help other people who may get scammed.

If you are looking for legitimate companies, there's a link at the bottom of every page. It is called, "Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies". Please check the companies that are listed on that link and start applying!

Yes OP and probably when you were shopping 12 yrs ago these scams were not around. I did not really mean probably - they were not.
I doubt that these scammers can ever be shut down completely.

Thanks again, Rainy!

Elizabeth