If the scammer called or text-messaged you, please file a complaint with the FCC at: [consumercomplaints.fcc.gov]

I understand your pain, but scammers spoof email addresses on a regular basis. CTCSS did not send the email to you, although you thought they did. You might have responded to a real CTCSS email address, but even that is not likely. Spoofing email addresses and even fake websites are getting to be as common as phone calls which appear to be from your neighbor or from the IRS but are really scams. I am going to defend CTCSS in this case and say that they are not responsible when a scammer appears to be sending emails which impersonate them. The fact that it included the name of a real person simply shows how clever the scammers are.

@jchris10mystery wrote:

Email came from Robin@ctcss.com. I did work for her the week prior and had no reason to think it was a scam.
The emails went sent from that address and my responses were returned to that address. I feel that ctcss is responsible for those of us who lost money on this.

Edited to add: I just found my own personal copy of the email. I looked carefully at the sender's address. This is what Gmail shows me: April Myers aprilm@ctcss.com via g001.emailsrvr.com So, the email DID NOT COME FROM THE CTCSS domain. The scammer used an uncommon feature to make it look like it did. It came from "g001.emailsrvr.com" and anyone who replied sent email directly back to the scammer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2019 01:16PM by myst4au.

Mass email? I did not receive it. As I have stated previously, I have never registered with a scheduling company. So, where did the scammer's list come from? Comprised from more than 1 source?

Interesting. I assume the scammer gained access to a mystery shopping company's email list somehow. I wonder if we can narrow down which one. Is there anyone who received the scammer's email and has only given their email address to a small number of mystery shopping companies, who is willing to post the company names or send me a private message here? Or, if people want to message me a large number of company names, I can use that, too. I'd like to get to the bottom of this.

It was labelled "Fraud Alert" and had the following text. I apparently came from Prophet, not directly from CTCSS. I can't imagine they would have a problem with me sharing it here:

Hi Shoppers,

Prophet Support has recently been notified that there is a fraud ring that
has reportedly targeted some shoppers in an email scam involving eBay gift
cards. There has been NO data breach or server intrusion, and your account
information in Prophet is safe. However, Coast to Coast Scheduling
Services has alerted us that an unknown party has been sending out
fraudulent emails to certain shoppers impersonating employees from Coast to
Coast. These emails attempt to trick shoppers into purchasing eBay gift
cards from CVS. We are notifying you of this reported scam because you are
a registered shopper with Coast to Coast Scheduling Services.

It's my guess that someone notified prophet that some people were concerned with a data breach so they sent this out. Personally I suspect the email list the scammers used came from the earlier ISS data breach but I obviously have no proof of that, and honestly nobody may ever know. So I guess technically CTCSS has not actually sent an email, it was Prophet. I do know that if *I* ran a company that was being spoofed like this I would scream from the highest mountain I could in any means I could that it's a scam. But hey who am I to say what someone should do...….

Virtually every MSC has a notice on their home page to watch out for scams. CTCSS is not the first, and will not be the last, MSC whose name is used in a scam.

I agree. But all the other scams have targeted random people and used their names so when the unsuspecting people googled them they found legitimate companies. This one is different in that it specifically appears to come from actual schedulers and is targeting actual mystery shoppers. The email and shop is realistic enough that it appears to be an actual shop. This is a different scam and merits a different response.

I am registered with CTCSS and with ISS, and I didn't get the scam email. Where the list of emails came from may never be known. It could be a scheduler's poorly protected computer that gave the nefarious scammer access to email addresses. I doubt that we will ever know for sure.

Edited to add: I just found my own personal copy of the email. I looked carefully at the sender's address. This is what Gmail shows me: April Myers aprilm@ctcss.com via g001.emailsrvr.com So, the email DID NOT COME FROM THE CTCSS domain. The scammer used an uncommon feature to make it look like it did. It came from "g001.emailsrvr.com" and anyone who replied sent an email directly back to the scammer.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2019 01:17PM by myst4au.

Where the email addresses came from isn't the point.

It is if it helps us catch whoever the scammer is. The number of people with access to the list is probably quite limited.

CtCSS has their alert on their website on May 12. They should have worked all day to send emails to everyone. I searched CTCSS on my email but no scam alert. This email is different from all other scam email. This looked legit as it can get. Mine has robin@ctcss.com. i had to double check if she was the same person I dealt with before, the reason I searched for CTCSS on my email.
They may not have anything to do with the scam but they should have done something to send mass email.

The scammer is still sending out email! Please, everyone, let's stop this person. If you received the scam email, please message me which mystery shopping companies you've given your email to so we can figure out which one the scammer got the email list from (by seeing which company we have in common). We can use that information to figure out who the scammer is, because there are not many people who have access to that list.

I, too, received the SCAM email. But I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY email from CTCSS or Prophet about this.

Finally got this scam mail today, I was feeling left out.
Scammers are still mailing, even now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2019 07:20PM by KA047.

Private message me, anyone that lost money on this scam. We have uncovered information that could help in a case to get your money back.

Is there a specific reason you can't post it publicly?

I finally got an email about the CVS scam also. But the email came from Shoppers View, not from CTCSS or Prophet. I found that interesting.

I got that as well. Shopper's View has a presence here and very likely has read all of these threads. Unlike CTCSS they seem to agree the information needs to be emailed to shoppers.

DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS ASSIGNMENT.
I reported the scam to FBI Internet crime, IC3 and to eBay.
I received an solicitation email from Coast to Coast where I was to purchase $200 eBay gift card at three different CVS stores and provide them with card and pin numbers.
My bank declined the transaction and contacted me, advising me not to participate in this and that I would be responsible for the payments..

DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS ASSIGNMENT.
I reported the scam to FBI Internet crime, IC3 and to eBay.
I received an solicitation email from Coast to Coast where I was to purchase $200 eBay gift card at three different CVS stores and provide them with card and pin numbers.
My bank declined the transaction and contacted me, advising me not to participate in this and that I would be responsible for the payments..

@JaniePooh wrote:

DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS ASSIGNMENT.
I reported the scam to FBI Internet crime, IC3 and to eBay.
I received an solicitation email from Coast to Coast where I was to purchase $200 eBay gift card at three different CVS stores and provide them with card and pin numbers.
My bank declined the transaction and contacted me, advising me not to participate in this and that I would be responsible for the payments..

Read the thread, and you will get lots of information here.

Payment via PayPal 1-2 days after completing! That is awesome!
I also got a reply from the scheduler confirming the shop is legit!

Edit: I did not fall for the scam, way too many bad indicators in the email. I was impressed with the super fast reply email though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2019 01:46PM by quiettime.

It’s also fine to do the shop at Walgreens per the scheduler!

It’s probably a shopper running the scam, who better to know all the right tricks.
Is anybody else stringing the scammer along? This person is very responsive, but I guess there’s a lot of money to be made.

I imagine it's either an unsuccessful shopper or a scammer that decided to learn about the industry to do a better scam.

They also don’t mind if you weren’t able to get all of the photos, just go ahead and submit the report. And if you can’t access the website you can just put all the Information into the email. VERY accommodating scheduler!

@bgriffin wrote:

CTCSS finally sent out a mass email today at least.

I was not on this email list. I never received any email about this from them or Prophet. Did anyone else not receive it?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2019 06:48PM by pmpst8.

I got a similar email for Walgreens today. It was from KSS International and said the contract was acquired from Marketforce. The Scheduler is Ryan Stiffler. I asked about guidelines and particular locations and he replied quickly saying the locations are self selected and to view the survey before doing the assignment.

@Csoup wrote:

I got a similar email for Walgreens today. It was from KSS International and said the contract was acquired from Marketforce. The Scheduler is Ryan Stiffler. I asked about guidelines and particular locations and he replied quickly saying the locations are self selected and to view the survey before doing the assignment.

I would email KSS directly: [kernscheduling.com]. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, there is a list of phone numbers, including Ryan's and Lorri's.

I’ve been corresponding with Ryan Stiffler (lol, from American Pie?). Now I’m just effing with him and telling him I completed the shop. I asked him to show his affiliation with MSPA and he didn’t answer that part of my question.