This topic was discussed a few years ago, however, for me, I need the conversation updated.
I've been offered several high paying shops where the client is reviewing their finance department. The shop requires the purchase and financing of a big ticket item, using a fake SSN# supplied by the client. Real name and address have to be used because you have to show your driver's license. Some shoppers have said that they have done similar shops with no problems. Others won't touch this with a 10-foot pole. I'd like people to weigh in with where they stand on the issue, and why. Your thoughts?

Are you sure that you are describing this correctly? I have seen shops where you supply a supplied fake SSN number and the expectation is that the application for credit will be rejected. Your name and SSN do not match, so that would be expected. Your description makes it seem like you are actually going to buy and finance the high ticket item. I can't see how they would approve the application. Are you really going to purchase the item? (And if so, do you return it? Keep it? Get reimbursed for it?)

I saw an assignment once for a cell phone store in which the msc gave you a fake name, address, phone number AND ss# to use. I said no thanks. I can barely remember all MY info, let alone fake contact information!

@myst4au wrote:

Are you sure that you are describing this correctly? I have seen shops where you supply a supplied fake SSN number and the expectation is that the application for credit will be rejected. Your name and SSN do not match, so that would be expected. Your description makes it seem like you are actually going to buy and finance the high ticket item. I can't see how they would approve the application. Are you really going to purchase the item? (And if so, do you return it? Keep it? Get reimbursed for it?)

Hi Myst4au - I reread the instructions. AFTER the purchase goes thru, the MSC cancels the purchase and the delivery. It will be using the fake SSN# with 00's. Fake employement etc. is also set up so that the application will go thru.

DareWright, I take a little spiral notebook and on the inside front cover write "IF FOUND, PLEASE RETURN TO" and then write neatly the name, address and phone number I will need to use. When asked for my information I just show the inside cover of the notebook for them to copy and then all I need to remember is the fake SS#, which I have on a scrap of paper I can palm from my pocket while they are writing down the name etc. and then discretely read off to them if I forget it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2016 05:45PM by Flash.

@Flash wrote:

DareWright, I take a little spiral notebook and on the inside front cover write "IF FOUND, PLEASE RETURN TO" and then write neatly the name, address and phone number I will need to use. When asked for my information I just show the inside cover of the notebook for them to copy and then all I need to remember is the fake SS#, which I have on a scrap of paper I can palm from my pocket while they are writing down the name etc. and then discretely read off to them if I forget it.

Flash, that's a great idea!

Flash has more great ideas than I can count! I am amazed as I read through the various threads how helpful are the tips/hints/suggestions that Flash provides!!

I wouldn't touch this with any pole, nor get within 100 miles of it. I don't like to mess with fake identities. I've given fake names twice, and am really uncomfortable with it. Using a fake SSN might give me palpitations. :/

Great tip, Flash!

I don't have a problem with doing these somsince the application data status within the client's database.

Several years ago, I did a long format financial shop where the financial institution set up a fake profile under a bogus SSN. I was given complete details regarding my alias profile. It was a phone shop that involved a series of phone calls regarding a mortgage loan. I had to call the MSC after each phone encounter and debrief, then completed a report. It paid very well.

Another way to peek at alias info is to write the number on one of your fingers where it is hidden between your fingers. Fiddle with a fingernail and peek. You can also send yourself a text message and have it pulled up on your phone. Act like your phone just vibrated in your pocket. Apologize and say you're expecting a text from your (fill in the blank) and steal a glance at your phone.

Others write the info on a piece of masking tape and put it inside an eyeglasses case, then get out their glasses while looking at the info inside. Some even put the tape on the inside of a temple on eyeglasses. Take the glasses of and "rub your eyes" while peeking at your note.

All great ideas! Unless one is approaching, ahem, a "certain age" like I am. I would have to hold the glasses 4 feet away to read them without my glasses!

@TechSavvy wrote:

Some even put the tape on the inside of a temple on eyeglasses. Take the glasses of and "rub your eyes" while peeking at your note.

@Threemom wrote:

All great ideas! Unless one is approaching, ahem, a "certain age" like I am. I would have to hold the glasses 4 feet away to read them without my glasses!]

Hah! I feel ya!

@TechSavvy wrote:

Another way to peek at alias info is to write the number on one of your fingers where it is hidden between your fingers. Fiddle with a fingernail and peek.

I like that one, Tech. On the ring finger, middle finger side of the left hand would work best for me because those two fingers are the ones most infrequently separated.

All of these things are simply a matter of thinking through how you could get something to work. So, for example, I always carry a small spiral notebook, so for me it is a natural to have a mostly used one on me. Fumble in my purse when asked for my driver's license (which the cashier will ask for to verify and copy my information) and 'unable to find my license, but here is my information' to present the notebook.

I used to do a particular casual dining for one at lunchtime that had a lot of observations and menu board pricings. I was required to spend more time in the restaurant than it would take a normal person to eat, so took along a textbook and a regular spiral notebook with all of my questions printed out on a separate sheet. It probably looked like I was doing classwork as I noted all my prices and observations, glancing up in 'middle distance' as if in thought before recording the next batch of prices in the notebook, flipping through the last few pages of the chapter as if looking for an answer and glancing up 'in thought' again before writing down the next batch of information. Take a bite, sip my soda and back to work like a 'diligent student'.

Mystery shopping is play acting. I am not Suzy Smith looking for a retirement home for my 90 year old mother who needs help with daily living tasks because she now needs more help than I can give her. Nor am I Abigail Adams who wants to borrow $40k to renovate her kitchen and guest bath. Nor was the milk that I supposedly purchased here sour. But I can put myself in the mindset that it really happened. I hate to say how many times I have left a furniture store or other shop thinking that the item I had just inquired about might indeed work in my real life when frankly it would not.

If it's the shop I'm thinking about I've done a ton of them and it's no big deal. Unless they have changed (and they could as when I did them it was the very first time they'd done this particular shop and they were ironing out the details) you don't even have to remember the stuff. They have it all in there for you already and you just have to "verify" it. All the ones I did they showed me the screen and asked if anything had changed. Just make sure to remember to use a delivery date 7 days out! The warehouse people get really pissy when they pull a product to be delivered the next day and then have to put it back when the order gets cancelled.

Edited to add:
Also this particular shop takes MUCH longer than the regular shop for this client.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2016 09:56PM by bgriffin.

@CureMS I've probably done about three & a half dozen of these shops, and the only problem that I had is if you have a savvy salesman that looks within the database history and sees the cancellations. The fake SSN really isn't that big of a deal, since the credit department of this store doesn't run it. You are already approved for a certain amount of $$$ without a hint of a credit inquiry run.

I say that the SSN isn't that big of a deal, since I probably had the most generic SSN ever generated. But it worked. The entire process usually takes 30-45 minutes, provided that the salesman gives you all of the appropriate paperwork, etc.

@Eric in Tampa wrote:

the only problem that I had is if you have a savvy salesman that looks within the database history and sees the cancellations.

If he doesn't just roll with it then he's not *that* savvy.
But yes, I had the same issue. I was sitting there looking at the database history and saw the cancellation the day before. Apparently the salesperson didn't notice it at all.

True. But what's bad is that I could read their screen better than most of the salespeople at that store. I actually walked several through the process by "guessing" that is the correct screen to go to.

My rebuttal was usually "yeah, I cancelled online due to finding a better deal at XYZ store."

Thanks Eric - I was wondering how to handle that savy salesperson as I have several of these shops and so cancellations are bound to show. I know what to say about shopping different stores (I shop near where my son/daughter lives and let it go at that).