Dear Candidate,

We have a job offer available for you that will not disturb your present occupation. Currently we have available position for you to work for us. See below description.

"We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area and we would like you to participate" Mystery Shopping Providers Association® (MSPA) is accepting applications for qualified individuals to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and rewarding, and you choose when and where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need previous experience. After you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail, fax or postal mail.

ABOUT US

Secret Shopper® is the premier mystery shopping company, serving clients across America and Canada with over 500,000 shoppers available and ready to help businesses better serve their customers. Continual investment in the latest internet and communication technologies coupled with over 16 years of know-how means working with Secret Shopper® is a satisfying and rewarding experience. Secret shopping as seen on ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS, L.A.TIMES. Stores and organizations such as The Gap, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and Banks. One amongst many others pay for Secret Shoppers to shop in their establishments and report their experiences. On top of being paid for shopping you are also allowed to keep purchases for free. Secret Shopper® NEVER charge fees to the shopper. Training, tips for improvement, and shopping opportunities are provided free to registered shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of bo
th. Secret Shopper® has available

You will be required to interact with the shop clerk.
You may conduct the shop alone or as a couple.
The assignment will pay $200.00 or more per duty

Kindly Fill Out the application form below and we will get back to you shortly with the assignment:

PERSONAL INFORMATION:
First Name:
Last Name:
Street Address (No Po Box Acceptable) :
City, State, Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number/Home Phone Number:
Age:
Current Occupation:
Alternate Email Address:
AVAILABILITY:
Days/Hours Available
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Hours Available: from _______ to ______

Assignment: We have had complaints on some western union, walmart, Restaurant and money gram location in the services they render and we want you to investigate it personally as our new Evaluator in your area By Going there to send funds. We will be sending you Payment in form of Money Orders to carry out this assignment. So please take note of these instructions below.
We will send you Money Order which you will take to your Bank for Instant Cashing then you are to proceed to the location we are going to allocate to you for investigation and you are to carry out every instructions we will be sending to you via email to investigate this location.
We will want for you to email us as soon as you have carried out the comprehensive investigation and let us understand what you found out about your survey.
I hope you do understand what we have requested for you to do as our new
Evaluator, Please confirm you do understand so we can approve your application and your new assignment will kick off immediately.
This is a very exciting job and is very rewarding. So please get back to us confirming your interest and we await your response for us to go ahead and approve you.

We await your urgent response.
Thank you for your help.
We look forward working with you.

Sincerely,
Barry Gareth
Recruiting Department,
MSPA®
bbarrygareth@aol.com

Of course it sounds like a scam because it probably is.

Clues include misspellings, sending you money to send back to them, the @AOL email address, and mixing up MSPA and the listing shopping company.


If you want a more definitive answer, forward it to MSPA and ask them to confirm it.

Or call Secret Shopper at (763) 525-1460 on Tuesday and inquire. They currently have a scam alert on their website regarding Money Orders and such at [www.secretshopper.com] though they do not address directly the scam you are being lured into.

I was going to send it to Secret Shopper, but could not find a contact e mail address for them on their web site, so I just deleted it.

G8r1966 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was going to send it to Secret Shopper, but
> could not find a contact e mail address for them
> on their web site, so I just deleted it.


You may find it in your trash folder.

I would say the vast majority of scams "borrow" the names of legitimate companies.

This is a scam, no research needed.

Hi, I got the same thing which is why I signed up to this forum. completely new to this...know the survey world well, not mystery shopping...although he signed his aol address it came from a fordham email address...

From: Barry Gareth <office@fordham.edu>

Doesn't Shadow Shopper end up asking for money?

G8r1966 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dear Candidate,
>
> We have a job offer available for you that
> will not disturb your present occupation.
> Currently we have available position for you to
> work for us. See below description.
>
> "We have a mystery shopping assignment in your
> area and we would like you to participate" Mystery
> Shopping Providers Association® (MSPA) is
> accepting applications for qualified individuals
> to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and
> rewarding, and you choose when and where you want
> to shop. You are never obligated to accept an
> assignment. There is no charge to become a shopper
> and you do not need previous experience. After you
> sign up, you will have access to training
> materials via e-mail, fax or postal mail.
>
> ABOUT US
>
> Secret Shopper® is the premier mystery shopping
> company, serving clients across America and Canada
> with over 500,000 shoppers available and ready to
> help businesses better serve their customers.
> Continual investment in the latest internet and
> communication technologies coupled with over 16
> years of know-how means working with Secret
> Shopper® is a satisfying and rewarding experience.
> Secret shopping as seen on ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS,
> L.A.TIMES. Stores and organizations such as The
> Gap, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and Banks. One amongst
> many others pay for Secret Shoppers to shop in
> their establishments and report their experiences.
> On top of being paid for shopping you are also
> allowed to keep purchases for free. Secret
> Shopper® NEVER charge fees to the shopper.
> Training, tips for improvement, and shopping
> opportunities are provided free to registered
> shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a
> pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a
> reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of
> bo
> th. Secret Shopper® has available
>
> You will be required to interact with the shop
> clerk.
> You may conduct the shop alone or as a couple.
> The assignment will pay $200.00 or more per duty
>
> Kindly Fill Out the application form below and we
> will get back to you shortly with the assignment:
>
> PERSONAL INFORMATION:
> First Name:
> Last Name:
> Street Address (No Po Box Acceptable) :
> City, State, Zip Code:
> Cell Phone Number/Home Phone Number:
> Age:
> Current Occupation:
> Alternate Email Address:
> AVAILABILITY:
> Days/Hours Available
> Monday:
> Tuesday:
> Wednesday:
> Thursday:
> Friday:
> Saturday:
> Sunday:
> Hours Available: from _______ to ______
>
> Assignment: We have had complaints on some western
> union, walmart, Restaurant and money gram location
> in the services they render and we want you to
> investigate it personally as our new Evaluator in
> your area By Going there to send funds. We will
> be sending you Payment in form of Money Orders to
> carry out this assignment. So please take note of
> these instructions below.
> We will send you Money Order which you will take
> to your Bank for Instant Cashing then you are to
> proceed to the location we are going to allocate
> to you for investigation and you are to carry out
> every instructions we will be sending to you via
> email to investigate this location.
> We will want for you to email us as soon as
> you have carried out the comprehensive
> investigation and let us understand what you found
> out about your survey.
> I hope you do understand what we have requested
> for you to do as our new
> Evaluator, Please confirm you do understand so we
> can approve your application and your new
> assignment will kick off immediately.
> This is a very exciting job and is very
> rewarding. So please get back to us confirming
> your interest and we await your response for us to
> go ahead and approve you.
>
> We await your urgent response.
> Thank you for your help.
> We look forward working with you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Barry Gareth
> Recruiting Department,
> MSPA®
> bbarrygareth@aol.com

I received something similar long ago. I do not recall the company that the supposedly "legitimate" email came from. My first clue was that the fee was much too good to be true (I mean really, the usual fee for this type shop w/b less than 10% of the fee mentioned here) - did not mimic the usual verbiage used in a recruiting email, was overly polite (as is this one - well this one fits all the red flags I was seeing, and more), plus I did not recognize the signature name. I ended up emailing (in an email like this DO NOT use the reply function to reply to something like this). I emailed the scheduler I usually worked with and asked whether their company had sent me this email. Certainly NOT(!!), was their reply.

My take on this one is that it may not have necessarily been the type of scam that attempts to use one for ripping off bank or money order funds - which would ultimately come down on your head in the end. This may have been a "phishing" expedition. That is, that they were attempting to gather your personal information in order to infiltrate your finances, [i.e. identity theft], OR to introduce a virus into your computer. There are lots of base characters out there who get their kicks that way. To protect the integrity of your hard drive, DO NOT EVER, open any links in any type of email like this - DO NOT use the reply function. Be very careful about that - even with emails that don't seem suspicious, I rarely open a link that way. If there is a link they are encouraging you to use, either copy and paste it into the address bar to check it out - or just type the address into your address bar to get there. Chances are it leads to a site that is so well done it looks legitimate, (rare), or one so frankly faux it's laughable, and then too late - you've been had - but of course at that point they don't care that you realize this, b/c they've got you! Depending on what this type of solicitation is up to, all they may really want the "candidate" to do is to click the link, (I know there wasn't one in this case), or to use the reply function, and bingo - you've got a virus!). All sorts of minefields out there to watch out for!