I have been offered a mystery evaluation job by a Mr. Mike Hall at
CashCrate Inc. for a Western Union customer service evaluation. I have received in the mail an assignment letter, a Albertson's grocery store money order,and an address/ name to wire most of the money order to in the Philippine Islands. Could oneof you experienced mystery shoppers PLEASE help me determine whether this is a legal, legit mysteryshopper assignment ---as I am VERY new to this way to make money.

It is a scam! Do not cash the money order. It is fraudulent and your bank may charge you if you seek to withdraw any of the funds.

Legit shops are NEVER paid in advance.

PT Barnum was right.

My gut reaction is scam. First of all, CashCrate is an online SURVEY company of questionable merit. If you are into doing online surveys you may or may not be happy with them. But there is a normal registration process with them at their online website at [www.cashcrate.com] There is no indication on their website of any work other than online surveys.

Second, legitimate mystery shopping companies do NOT send out funds in advance for you to go do a shop.

Third, sending money out via Western Union is involved in about 100% of the mystery shopping scams and I know of only a few small Western Union shops that have ever been done by legitimate companies. Those, if I recall correctly, required sending amounts under $100.

Fourth, assuming all of the preceding was not enough issue, why would a legitimate company have you wire funds offshore? They would obviously want their funds returned to them and the information I can find would indicate that CashCrate is out of Scottsdale, AZ, so why send money to the Philippines?

Finally, if you take the money order to Albertson's I suspect if they are diligent they will find it fraudulent. Postal money orders have been sent out in the past that were tampered with (buy one for a few bucks and alter it to show several thousand dollars). But in no event would I actually attempt to cash the money order. I would rather gather all materials and put them into a ziplock bag and file a complaint at ftc.gov. And for a little light reading, check out [www.ftc.gov] There is a phone number you can call toll free if you are even tempted to play along with what is most likely a scam.

To sum it up, RUN LIKE HELL

Yes, what the others have said. SCAM. If you're interested in mystery shopping, there is a list of legitimate companies on this forum.

Hey I'm willing to work my name dawaylon Rainey email annikadillard541@yahoo.com

dawaylonraniney, no one here is going to offer you a job. We are all mystery shoppers not companies and we do not hire anyone. If you want to mystery shop, you must contact mystery shopping companies and apply with them to become a shopper. If you continue to post your e-mail address on an open internet forum, you will probably get some offers ... and I'm betting they will be scams like the one above. Click on the blue link at the bottom of the page, Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies, and apply for some jobs.

Tux. But I don't where to look them up at

Click on the blue link at the bottom of the page, Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies, and it will take you to a whole list of legitimate companies and you can apply for some jobs.

Ok I see that but cant click it,thank you anyways

dawaylonrainey Wrote:
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> Ok I see that but cant click it,thank you anyways


You should really remove your email from above... before every scammer this side of Nigeria... starts writing you letters.....

I got dipped last week! I didn't complete the first assignment which was to send almost the whole check to someone in Spain within 24 hours after I deposit and activate the check. This company took the money right out of my savings last Friday which left a negative balance of $731.00.

Fashionable Wrote:
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> I got dipped last week! I didn't complete the
> first assignment which was to send almost the
> whole check to someone in Spain within 24 hours
> after I deposit and activate the check. This
> company took the money right out of my savings
> last Friday which left a negative balance of
> $731.00.

So sorry to hear this happened to you. I just don't get what made you think it was real! No one gives away money.

I always wonder how these scammers make money. I mean, who on earth would fall for such a thing?

After reading some of the posts here, I guess now I know.

SCAM got that same thing 3 years ago from cash crate which are suppose to be in the U.S.A. but the letter came from England with a cheque from the Oklahoma bank. Never cashed it. Gave it to the R.C.M.P. in Canada.