The bogus Tiffany is still at it. She keeps emailing me to see if I can do not one but THREE of the shops, and she's offering a $30 bonus. She's even opened it up to include Walgreens and Rite Aid, not just CVS.

The most annoying this about this is that now a lot of my shop offers are going to spam since it was reported as spam and I guess they just went by the message and supposed sender and not the actual email address.

They now have a new one involving KSS that was supposedly from Kimberly. I forwarded the email to Lorri. She said she knew about it already and had posted about it on their Facebook page.

It’s puzzling how the sender’s email looks to be legitimately from KSS. Usually it’s easy to spot a scammer by the actual return email address but not in this case.

I got a new one today! This time it is Walgreens.


Walgreens Store Survey!
Ryan Stiffler
<ryan@kernschedulings.com>
7:21 AM
To shopper@kernscheduling.com
Quick replyReply allForwardDelete
Walgreens Store Survey!





KSS International Inc. got contracted for a survey from Market Force Information Inc.



Shopper pay: $30

Requirements – You are required to purchase Ebay Gift Card($200) at your nearest Walgreens.At the store you will be required to observe the following;





• Were the employees friendly and courteous?



• Did you receive prompt service?


• Was the merchandise displayed neatly?


• Was it easy to use the service?



Your report will include pictures of in-store card display,pictures of gift card purchased and receipt,fill out online survey.

Total reimbursement-$230



If interested please reply with:

Location of interestYou can self select closest Walgreens Store
Full name
Phone number




Due Date-28th May 2019













Thanks!


Ryan Stiffler

Contracted by KSS International Inc.
KSS International, Inc
41 West Street FL 6
Boston, MA 02111

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2019 07:41PM by SassyShoppin.

@kenasch wrote:

It’s puzzling how the sender’s email looks to be legitimately from KSS. Usually it’s easy to spot a scammer by the actual return email address but not in this case.

Ok figured the bogus email address which is definitely not KSS. If you go to reply to the scammer it shows the address as:
kimberly@kernschedulings.awsapps.com which is just an email address they created to look like Kern. Ken would be @kernscheduling.com

Look more closely. The return email address is not actually the one that Kern uses. I am deliberately not pointing out the difference. It is subtle. Look closely. While not done this time, it is also possible to spoof email addresses. You need to look very carefully.

@kenasch wrote:

It’s puzzling how the sender’s email looks to be legitimately from KSS. Usually it’s easy to spot a scammer by the actual return email address but not in this case.

I received one about Walgreens from ryan@kernschedulings.com and be offers $230 payment. He says Market Force contacted him and the survey has their logo...

@Yello wrote:

I received one about Walgreens from ryan@kernschedulings.com and be offers $230 payment. He says Market Force contacted him and the survey has their logo...

Definitely a scam.

I got this one, too.

Hi everyone, I wish I'd found this forum sooner. I received the email from KSS Kim (Motl) and thought it was legitimate. I stupidly ended up purchasing $1050 in eBay gift cards. The person was very responsive with me and the bonuses seemed real enough. I just sent an email to KSS Lori. Unfortunately I don't have Facebook so I wasn't aware of the scam, I don't know why they didn't email it to people on their actual shopper lists. The email address did look authentic but as it was pointed out, after the first reply it was sent to a different email.

Yikes, that is horrible. Sorry to hear that. I hope you get lots of well paying shops to help make up for it.

Report it to the police. Go to your bank and tell them that they check is going to bounce and see what you can do to prevent them from closing your account or even pressing charges. Many, many people other than actual KSS shoppers are being targetted. same with similar scams using the name of other MSCs.

@Loonybrain wrote:

Hi everyone, I wish I'd found this forum sooner. I received the email from KSS Kim (Motl) and thought it was legitimate. I stupidly ended up purchasing $1050 in eBay gift cards. The person was very responsive with me and the bonuses seemed real enough. I just sent an email to KSS Lori. Unfortunately I don't have Facebook so I wasn't aware of the scam, I don't know why they didn't email it to people on their actual shopper lists. The email address did look authentic but as it was pointed out, after the first reply it was sent to a different email.

But did they actually send a check? I didn't see where anyone wrote that they were sent a a check for this scam. It looks like they went and bought the eBay gift cards and were expecting a hefty fee plus reimbursement.

No, I didn't send a check. I used credit cards and one debit card for the purchases. I'm in the midst of reporting the incidents to ic3.gov. I've tried contacting my credit card companies but they said I can't file a billing dispute since Walgreens and CVS did provide me with the gift cards. I haven't done to the local police since I just found this last night and it's Sunday...

I forgot to add that I didn't see the spoofed email because I originally checked the message on my phone. I read here that KSS sent a message through Facebook...I don't use social media at all. I'm disappointed that they didn't send out an email warning people of this scam.

Who would they send the email to? The crooks buy lists of emails and hope that even a tiny percentage will respond. Some of the people on the purchased email lists also happen to be shoppers, and some of them just happen to also shop for KSS. But KSS is just one of many MSCs that have had their names used by scammers. One would think that experienced mystery shoppers would know that they promised fee is absurdly too high. One would think that anyone who shops for KSS knows that they actually schedule shops for other companies, and do not do shops themselves.

I feel sorry for people who have no background in MSing and think this is a good deal. We have had dozens of people come here for help after they lost thousands of dollars. Then there are the experienced mystery shoppers who seem to swallow the bait because they recognize the name of an MS company. But - do they go to a website to see the details? Do they check the email addresses? Do they ask themselves why the fee is so much higher than any other shop they have done?

As PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute. The scammers just have to find them.

@Loonybrain wrote:

I forgot to add that I didn't see the spoofed email because I originally checked the message on my phone. I read here that KSS sent a message through Facebook...I don't use social media at all. I'm disappointed that they didn't send out an email warning people of this scam.

Myst4au - that’s a bit harsh. I’m sure posters who reveal they have been scammed feel bad enough already. The scammers can be very deceptive and I can see how even fairly experienced shoppers can be mislead. They are often not past participants in this forum and find out too late that they have been duped. I wish there could be more prosecutions, particularly when a US address is used. I know most are off shore but I have seen some where it seems action could be taken against them.

Loonybrain - so sorry for your financial loss. Perhaps some one else has been alerted to this scam in time due to your post. Thanks for letting everyone know what happened.

CVS makes the purchaser of EVERY gift card in any amount read through a screen and agree that they understand about gift card scams.
This has been policy for over a year there. Try to buy a $15 Subway gift card at CVS. You'll have to acknowledge the message.
Really, what else can we do?
I agree with myst4au and PT Barnum on this one.

I appreciate the well wishes. Yes, I was not saying that Walgreens or CVS scammed me out of the gift cards - yes, they inform you that it is nonrefundable at the time of sale. The scam was from the person(s) committing this scheme which portrayed it as a legitimate mystery shop. In regards to the comment about KSS only scheduling other shops - yes that is true. The sender specifically stated that THEY (KSS) were contracted by Market Force. I had performed gift card purchases before and did not think anything of it at the time. In regards to the payment, I did not think that $30 each location was excessive - there have been times when shops were bonused even more because of the due date.

@Loonybrain wrote:

I appreciate the well wishes. Yes, I was not saying that Walgreens or CVS scammed me out of the gift cards - yes, they inform you that it is nonrefundable at the time of sale. The scam was from the person(s) committing this scheme which portrayed it as a legitimate mystery shop. In regards to the comment about KSS only scheduling other shops - yes that is true. The sender specifically stated that THEY (KSS) were contracted by Market Force. I had performed gift card purchases before and did not think anything of it at the time. In regards to the payment, I did not think that $30 each location was excessive - there have been times when shops were bonused even more because of the due date.

I don't believe that the message only says that they are non-refundable. There is also a message about somebody asking you to buy gift cards / scamming on there.

I am sorry that you are dealing with this. Regardless, that's a lot of money. It sucks that there are disgusting, criminal losers that we all have to be careful to avoid.

Oh, no. The scammers are learning. They had been offering $300 per location. $30 is getting into the realm of possibility. And they have learned that KSS only schedules. I had feared that some of the posts over the last two years might have been from scammers trying to understand how to improve the scams.

@Loonybrain wrote:

I appreciate the well wishes. Yes, I was not saying that Walgreens or CVS scammed me out of the gift cards - yes, they inform you that it is nonrefundable at the time of sale. The scam was from the person(s) committing this scheme which portrayed it as a legitimate mystery shop. In regards to the comment about KSS only scheduling other shops - yes that is true. The sender specifically stated that THEY (KSS) were contracted by Market Force. I had performed gift card purchases before and did not think anything of it at the time. In regards to the payment, I did not think that $30 each location was excessive - there have been times when shops were bonused even more because of the due date.

Wow, $300 pay would definitely have been a red flag. I'm not sure how others received the email but the first one I got was addressed to shopper@kernsschedulings.com. Did they somehow gain access to KSS's database? The person answered my questions and wanted to verify which locations I was going to before telling me I was set to go..seemed like how a scheduler would normally act. Since Market Force doesn't use Sassie (to my knowledge), I didn't think the submission form was unrealistic. They even sent an email confirmation stating they received my submission (including the attachments).

Hi All,

For the record:

1. Our database has not been compromised. Another shopper reporting system was compromised 3 months ago or so, and all of your email addresses were accessed if you were registered on that platform. This was not KSS and it was not Sassie, and we had nothing to do with it. I am not certain this is the database being used right now for these scammers, but it kind of seems like it, since so many legitimate shoppers are getting pinged. Again, this is just a theory.

2. We do NOT (and never have) scheduled for Market Force.

3. Not only did we post a warning on ALL Social Media, we also posted it on her shopper login page: [www.sassieshop.com]

4. Please look carefully at the FROM email address if you get an email. Our emails will ALWAYS be KSS(name)@kernscheduling.com, as mine is KSSLorri@kernscheduling.com. No extra letters, no extra extensions.

5. No legitimate mystery shopping company will ask you to purchase gift cards, scratch off the back and send the codes to them. This just SCREAMS scam.

6. No legitimate mystery shopping company will ever pay you hundreds of $$ in advance of doing a mystery shop.

7. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Think. I've been in this industry for 22 years now, and no one has ever paid me $30 for a 5 minute shop with a 6 question survey (unless it was in some BFE rural place in South Dakota or something). If the fee seems too high for the work, ask questions. Google it.

I am horrified and disgusted and frankly pissed off that they are using my company name and logo for this scam, but it isn't just KSS that is being targeted. MANY of my colleagues in this industry (including other scheduling companies and many of my clients) are also battling this.

Please be careful and think about all of the points I made above so that you are not a victim of a scam.

I do appreciate all of our great shoppers, and I also appreciate the smart ones on this board that are helping to educate shoppers. Unfortunately, I don't have time to read all of the shopper boards every day to respond, but I do try when someone alerts me that there are concerns. However, I am always available via email and will typically respond within 24 hours unless I am traveling.

Thanks!

Texas just passed a law to where energy brokers have to register with the PUC in order to do business selling energy, etc. Laws need to be passed in a similar fashion to slam dunk and kill these scammers somehow.

Most of these scammmers aren't in the U.S.

I've worked with CTCSS schedulers, but suspected this was not legitimate. Why would anyone give someone the card activation and number for an EBAY gift card purchased at CVS?
I forwarded this letter to the REAL Tiffany at CTCSS. Note that these emails have an extension @ctcss.awsapps.com

RE: Ebay gift card survey (CTCSS)
Please read below.
Thanks for your interest to work on the survey. Your information has been confirmed and you can proceed with the survey.
You are required proceed to your elected CVS Store and purchase Ebay Gift Card of $200.
While at the store you are to observe the following;
*Ebay Gift card visibility on the display stand.
*Observe staff conduct.
*Take pictures of the card display stand.
*Availability of Ebay Gift Cards in $200 denomination.
*Check out time(Card activation and payment processing).
*Take pictures of purchased card and receipt.
You can visit up to 3 CVS locations in your area.
MS Company: Market Analytics Int. Inc.
NOTE:
You can only do a maximum of 3 cards, after uploading the cards you are to hold on to them till we contact you again.
TERMS:
Total reimbursement for this survey is $240/survey ($200 card purchase + $30 shopper fee) via PayPal within 1-2-days after report is received.
TO PROCEED:
Find attached terms and conditions.
If you agree, please proceed to start the survey and purchase card required. When purchase is done, go through the link below to upload purchase and share your experience. Please read the form carefully during uploads.
Online Survey link:
[form.jotform.com]

They also send a Contractor Agreement and Retail Store Customer Feedback Form

It is clear that the sophistication of the scams is improving. Sad.

has anyone who was a victim of this gotten any help?

What kind of help? The police don't have time to investigate small potatoes scammers. The onus is on the shopper who still believes they've hit the "jackpot". If it's too good to be true ...