Check Scams

I am trying to get information on how many shoppers have received a check that turned out to be a scam. I have some ideas on how to try to stop this but it is not an overnight fix.
I would like to know:
1. If you received a check but did not cash it
2. The dollar amount
3. If you received a check and cashed it
4. The amount you lost due to cashing the check
How you feel the scammers got your name and address. Did you get an email soliciting you to be a shopper?

I have set up a separate email for you to respond to. Please respond to doug98059@yahoo.com

I will try to keep you informed, but this will be a lengthy process.

Thanks!

Doug Rector
www.nwlpc.com

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For shoppers who do not know Doug, he is with North West Loss Prevention, which is a completely legitimate mystery shopping company.

My understanding is that this is a completely legitimate attempt to get some action on stopping the scammers out there that abuse folks in the name of mystery shopping. I would strongly encourage you to get in contact with him if you or a friend or neighbor has received one of those scam checks.

While there is no way that Doug can help make you whole if you fell for the scam, perhaps he can begin making a dent on the problem so folks in the future are not scammed.

Thank you Flash. I am new at this but one way to stop this is to make it more inconvenient for the scammer to get their money. One way is to make it so if you have to pick up the funds to the specific location you wire it to, so for example, if you wire it to the office on Pine Street in Seattle that is where it must be picked up. As it is now you can send the funds to San Diego and pick it up in New York.
If we can show that consumers are being scammed out of millions, and how many of those actually cashed these checks, we can let our legislators know in an attempt to limit where funds can be picked up. This would give law enforcement more teeth to be able to catch these people.
This is a long shot but the first step is to gather as much information as we can. And, this does not have to pertain only to mystery shoppers. There are so many scams out there where fictitious checks are received,
Thanks! Doug

Considering that local news media every few weeks have items where they are talking to someone (face shadowed to stay anonymous) who has been scammed, contacting major networks for contacts back to their affiliates who have run such stories might yield something.

Similarly, I would think that the banks would want to help stop this stuff because they are left with trying to collect the debt off of their customer. With all the contacts the mystery shopping industry has with banks, I suspect they could be encouraged to be involved.

Certainly Western Union eventually gets a black eye out of this, they might even be willing to support changes without the need for legislation. My understanding is that at this point they have pretty much stopped wire transfers to Nigeria.

Doug, I don't know if you have visited this site. I have it on my blog as a sidelink, as I hope some people will look at it before they try and cash those checks.

[fakechecks.org]

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

I now have $10,000 in actual checks shoppers have received and $9000 in fictitious money orders. Another MS company in the northwest is holding onto appr. $9000 in checks.
Unfortunately one shopper has cashed the check and wired money to these scammers and are out $1000.

Putting our differences aside (IC issues and DVD workshops) I really could use anyone who reads this posts help.

If you know of anyone victimized by this scam I would like them to contact me (doug@nwlpc.com).

If you know of anyone who has received these checks or money orders I would very much appreciate a copy (or the original). I am trying to get a dollar amount shoppers have lost, and potentially lost I can present them to the proper authorities. One problem is you have victims all over the country reporting this to various agencies. If we have one central agency with a person in charge we may be able to attack the issue more vigorously.

Thanks! Doug

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2010 04:27AM by dcrector.

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