I am a new mystery shopper, I haven't actually signed up with any company. Out of the blue I get an assignmen from "We-Check" Derrick Hay Ph.D, Senior Qualitive Director. They sent me a $2950.00 check, i was to buy 3 IPhone 6's. fed ex them to a designated address, I was to be paid '$300.00. Their was also a report to fill out, and a phone number to text about my progress. The report was about my bank and apple store.

Bottom line my bank wanted a 2 day period before I could spend the money. It actually took me 5 days to buy the phones. Thank god I checked my account, there was something bad wrong, I called my bank they said the check initially cleared, then it was rejected as it was fake or no good. OMG I immediately returned the phones, and put $1200 cash back into my account, hoping i will not overdraft my account and have things bounce.

I was livid, I can't afford to get ripped off for $2950.00. II sent a blazing text to the phone number, and email response to Derrick.

How do I report this. I am over mystery shopping now

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2015 12:13PM by Tami Omohundro.

Good Job!!!! I am so glad you found out before you sent the money to the scammers! Don't give up on mystery shopping. There are many reputable companies out there.

For starters, the average shop pays $10 to $15. If you EVER get an email saying you get $300 per assignment. it's a scam. The mystery shopping companies NEVER ask you to cash large checks, ever!

This definitely sounds like a scam. You can try reporting to your local police or attorney general, or even the FTC. I'm glad you caught it in time, or you would have ended up owing your bank a lot more than just overdraft fees.

Talk with a banker at your bank. Tell them what you have told us here. Ask them to provide you with a copy of the check and a document showing the reason it was returned. Then take that information to the police to report the scam. Chances are that the bank will in turn want a copy of the police report to clear your name of attempting to defraud the bank.

These posters are right. The place to report fraud is the local police department. If you're in a metro area, you might even get a local news channel interested in your story as a "public service" story.

This is a common scam, contact law enforcement. You can't file a business complaint because it is not a real business.

Check scams are the biggest flag warning, sorry you got hit.

If you do get overdraft fees.. a copy of a police report might be enough to persuade a banker to reverse the fees. This depends on your bank, of course.

Most likely you will have to pay any overdraft fees as banks only care about making money they could give 2 @#$%& you were scammed.

I was thinking of going to the bb burea. The company was listed as a possible mystery shopping companies, we-chech

The BBB isn't going to be able to do anything for you since the company is not a real company, contact the police.

There may be a real company with that name, BUT THAT IS NOT THE COMPANY THAT SENT YOU THE CHECK. Scammers use the name of real companies, but they are not affiliated with then.

Yes jmitw, good point. I did a search: there is an apparent legit company called We Check and they have some information about fraud and scams using their name on their website:

[www.wecheckservice.com]

Are you a college student? This is an old scam, but it has taken a new twist lately by hitting the college jobs offices. There is a thread about this version of the scam here: [www.mysteryshopforum.com].

Please don't give up on mystery shopping yet. Remember, what happened to you was a scam, and had nothing to do with the legitimate business of mystery shopping. At the bottom of every Forum page is our Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies. Any link you click on from that list has already been verified to be the legitimate company, and is a bona fide Mystery Shopping Company, not a scam. Maybe you could give a few of them a try, and earn back some of the money you are going to have to pay in overdraft fees. If you need suggestions on where to start, just ask!

Good luck, and we are here if you have any more questions!
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Wow.

I'm stunned to learn a company whose senior qualitative director has a Ph.D. could possibly be fraudulent.

retro, is that sarcasm?

I once was scammed by a company called Franchise Compliance. Now, while I have no idea whether or not the owner, Adam Valdez, had any degrees or not, he was considered a reputable businessman for many years and I had done work for him before his company began to slide into the muck. I was scammed into doing work he never intended on paying me for (to the tune of over $200). So it is possible for someone to change and become fraudulent no matter how brilliant they are or reputable they appear on paper or a website. I am not saying I think that anyone associated with the real We Check is shady, because I am fairly certain that the person who is using their name to try and scam the OP is indeed a scammer.

Yep, it's sarcasm.

1-Yes, this is a tremendously well known scam. Lots of MSC have warnings on website page opener advising of this scam.
2-Why did you accept work from a source you did not know and did not sign up for.
3-Smart to act as fast as you did. You will learn a lot reading this site. This would be a wise investment for you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2015 06:37PM by emm2131.

This was not mystery shopping , but mystery scam, been around for a long time, I do not take jobs from companies that I have not signed up with.

@Tami Omohundro wrote:

I am a new mystery shopper, I haven't actually signed up with any company. Out of the blue I get an assignmen from "We-Check" Derrick Hay Ph.D, Senior Qualitive Director. They sent me a $2950.00 check, i was to buy 3 IPhone 6's. fed ex them to a designated address, I was to be paid '$300.00. Their was also a report to fill out, and a phone number to text about my progress. The report was about my bank and apple store.

Bottom line my bank wanted a 2 day period before I could spend the money. It actually took me 5 days to buy the phones. Thank god I checked my account, there was something bad wrong, I called my bank they said the check initially cleared, then it was rejected as it was fake or no good. OMG I immediately returned the phones, and put $1200 cash back into my account, hoping i will not overdraft my account and have things bounce.

I was livid, I can't afford to get ripped off for $2950.00. II sent a blazing text to the phone number, and email response to Derrick.

How do I report this. I am over mystery shopping now

Please don't let this one bad experience turn you away from mystery shopping. Thank goodness it turned out well in the long run. I also received a check in the mail for $1350, a similar scenario, and just for kicks, called the phone number, and left a message for them to call me back about some lovely swampland in Florida that I'd like to sell to them - and going at a steal for just $1.35 million. Strangely enough, they didn't call back! The legit companies never send you money to do a shop, and certainly not thousands of dollars!!

I've only been doing mystery shopping for about five months, and have being enjoying it. There are a lot of legitimate shops out there, and I've signed up for a couple dozen. I found most of them on the Mystery Magazine's list of 100 top MSC's. I don't get offered assignments for all of them, and I don't accept all the ones that do get offered.

That's the beauty of mystery shopping - you can pick and choose if and when you want to shop. I tend to stay within my city limits, and can usually schedule a couple for the same day in the same area, to save gas and travel time. I also don't over-schedule, as you have to remember that you have to do your reports at the end of the day. Even the types of shops that you do regularly still take time to write up. But you'll get better with practice.

I also save my write-ups in a document, because some of them are so similar, you only need to change a few of the details each time. Especially restaurants that you return to several times, where you have to describe the texture of the hamburger patty, the bun, and the fries, or how clean the washroom was.

So go ahead and sign up for a few, just to test the waters, and then decide if it's for you or not. There wouldn't be so many of us still out there if it was so bad. Don't let that scam take away what could just turn out to be a very good thing!

Report it to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
[www.ic3.gov]

This is NOT mystery shopping it is a scam. Report it to your state's Attorney General. Like others have said, they scammers use real company names and fake/fraudulent checks to complete these scams.