I recently signed up with presto shopper and received my first assignment via the mail. I was send a check and an assessment list. The check is for quit a bit of $ and it just seems like a scam. I was told to mystery shop my local postal office and buy money orders. And them text a phone number for further instructions. Sounds kinda fishy to me.

This is a scam. They might be impersonating a legitimate mystery shopping company, but this is a well-known scam. Do not buy a money order. Do not send them codes from the back of gift cards (another scam). If you received anything in the mail, report it to the US Postal Inspector.

Thank you. I was wondering who would just send a check to someone like that. I mean from what i can tell its a real check, anyone could just cash it and be in their way...

Thank you, I was curious as to why you would just send someone a check like that. I mran anyone could just go right out and cash it.

The check is going to bounce. It will take a few days, but it will bounce. If you deposited it, your bank would demand all of the money back. Banks allow access to funds from deposited checks the next business day, but it takes a few days to go through the Federal Reserve System and back, and then it will bounce. They even send good forgeries of Cashier's Checks and even US Postal Money orders. They are forgeries, and they will bounce.

It can actually take weeks, not days, for the bad check to be returned. Then your bank will charge you a service fee for depositing a bad check, in addition to losing the money from the check.

Yea, Presto doesn't send random checks. In fact, I'm pretty sure they only pay through Paypal, and only AFTER you have completed the shops you claimed on their app.

There seem to be some scams going around. I got a text the other day from a "mystery shoppin company" that I supposedly signed up to (I didn't), telling me that I have to accept a job and they will pay me a huge fee, and they are sending me a packet through the USPS. I replied, asked what the job was, but never got an answer.

A couple months ago I received a random FedEx envelope with a check for almost $3,000. I kept in in my car for a few weeks, but i finally went into my bank and asked what i should do with it. The account lady looked up the check and said it was a forgery. I waited and watched while she put it through the shredder.

I've received these big checks in the past.
This is an old scam, sadly.

Use the updated list of legitimate mystery shopping companies on here.

I hope I am wrong, but something seems off about the OP. Each of their posts have odd grammatical errors. This thread is the only time they've ever posted and they created an account 8 minutes prior to starting the thread.

It is too bad that Jacob doesn't have some barriers for new accounts before they can post, although it seems like it has been a while since I've seen a spam post. I was thinking an account would have to be registered for at least 2 weeks, like x number of posts per day over a certain period of time to prove legitimate engagement, and perhaps post y number of relevant replies to other posts over a set time period that are first reviewed by a moderator. All of this before a newbie could start a new thread.

That is a nice way to welcome a new member, heywave.

Honny I am just pointing out the obvious. I hope I am wrong and welcome their input on the forum.

The OP came to this Forum and created a login and described what "we" identified as a scam. There have been many who came to this Forum after they deposited the check and sent money to the scammers. Frankly, creating an account to see if the shop was legitimate seems admirable to me. Would you rather have them spend a week (or whatever) getting verified? They might have sent money to the scammers by then. What, exactly, was wrong with reaching out and asking for advice?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2023 08:38PM by sbobgal.

Hey, shoppers! This is Mary from Presto Support! First, I want to thank Hollie for starting this thread, and for everyone who has contributed their experience and advice. We first heard about this scam earlier this week, when a shopper got suspicious and reported it to us. We can't stop someone from impersonating us, but we can do some things to make it more difficult to run the scam. We've filed a complaint with the FTC and compiled an article on how to spot scams and what to do if you are approached by a scammer (https://shopper-support.prestomobilesurveys.com/support/solutions/articles/8000110517-spotting-scams).

To address a few questions that you may have:

- The scammers didn't get your information from Presto. We don't know where it came from, but we don't keep shopper phone numbers or home addresses. If you get a text message with a "shop offer", it didn't come from us!
- Presto is a technology company, not a mystery shopping company. We don't have "coordinators" or schedulers.
- Presto does send shop offers, but only via email, and only to shoppers who have set up hotspots and subscribed to receive these emails.

The article listed above contains more details on how to spot and report scams, and shows a copy of the actual mail and check that was sent to one of the targeted shoppers. There's also a link to an FTC page that describes how to try to get your money back if you have been scammed. We hope that it will be helpful to you.

Please warn other shoppers, and IF YOU ARE TARGETED, PLEASE LET US KNOW! We're trying to get the word out in any way we can. Please contact us at support@prestomobilesurveys.com if you think you may have been targeted by a scam or want to know if a shop offer is legit.

Thanks to all of you and the whole shopper community for working to keep each other safe!

- Mary at Presto

If spelling and grammatical errors banned people from this forum we would have far fewer members. I see a few spelling errors in the post from the op and have myself often made spelling errors when typing. These do not look like the op does not know how to spell but perhaps just did not thoroughly proofread. With my typing abilities I often have these same errors of hitting two keys on the keyboard at once and the wrong one comes out. I do not consider these posts to have to be scholarly and PHD level. I do not think most of us consider this forum to require the utmost care in checking every single word written.
That said I often wonder how some of the members here get their jobs approved although I suppose those with poor grammar skills in the language of their reports do mostly non narrative type shops. And other posters might actually work on jobs in a different language than English which is used on this forum. My posts on a forum that was conducted in another language would be horrible! But I can still do a great job on forms in my language.

@heywave wrote:

I hope I am wrong, but something seems off about the OP. Each of their posts have odd grammatical errors. This thread is the only time they've ever posted and they created an account 8 minutes prior to starting the thread.

It is too bad that Jacob doesn't have some barriers for new accounts before they can post, although it seems like it has been a while since I've seen a spam post. I was thinking an account would have to be registered for at least 2 weeks, like x number of posts per day over a certain period of time to prove legitimate engagement, and perhaps post y number of relevant replies to other posts over a set time period that are first reviewed by a moderator. All of this before a newbie could start a new thread.

@sandyf wrote:

I do not think most of us consider this forum to require the utmost care in checking every single word written....
.... That said I often wonder how some of the members here get their jobs approved

Well, you kind of acknowledged it within your post. For me, it's the difference between formal and informal writing. This is a message board, so unless I notice a grammatical or spelling error right away, I am not likely to notice or just figure that my point was understood despite the error. My shop reports are formal, and therefore, I will take much greater care to watch spelling and grammar and will proofread.

I grit my teeth and do NOT correct others' grammar and spelling here.

It is sometimes painful.

But then I think, but they extend me the same courtesy!

@Hollie Welcome to the forum. I am glad you asked for help and did not deposit the check.