Has anyone ever shopped for the company Insight Reporter Inc., located at 420 S. Hope Street, Los Angeles, Ca 90071, using the emails address of: www.INSIGHTREPORTER.US.

The reason that I am asking is because I just received a priority mail envelope and enclosed there was a letter and two United States Postal Money Orders (each for $986.66), along with instructions on how to complete a MONEYPAK PREPAID CARD assignment.

Having received this priority mail envelope and it's contents without my knowledge and having heard about and read about these types of scams, it is quite obvious to me that I may have received my first scam offer, but I thought I would inquire from my fellow shoppers regarding any information that anyone might have on this company.

I was unable to find any information about this company either searching online or searching on the BBB website.

Thanks !!!

They stole A Closer Look site layout 100% [www.a-closer-look.com]

How dirty of them to take a good company site and rip it off.

I sent an email to ACL. I bet they have a DMCA takedown notice filed before 10:00 AM EST.

They are in Norcross, GA.

You could give the mail to the Postal General, but you might as well shred it.

They are always outside the country and US LEA can't get to them.

Where is the return address on the fake money order from?

I posted the site at 419eater.com This is a site that will fight the scammers by wasting their time and making them spend money sending out more fake MO's and checks and convincing them to do very foolish things. They can cause more hurt to the Nigerians than the takedown of this one site. They will have another one pop back up days later.

[forum.419eater.com]


Sometimes they fool others into drop shipping it from inside the US for them. That the inspector General's office would be interested in investigating.

They are Nigerian. You don't need to be an editor to see that. They have had their site running for up to two weeks. That is long enough to get some moneygram packs. I called the 909-666-7772 and *SURPRISE* the answering message gave a name like "Red S...(mumble)" and has a distinct Nigerian accent to it.

Look at the sketchy address they used to register the domain name: [www.google.com]

ISP Limestone Networks, Inc. (AS46475)

Registrant ID: DI_39311059
Registrant Name: Ryan Yoshimoto
Registrant Organization: meta inc
Registrant Address1: 28 adams street
Registrant City: houston
Registrant State/Province: TX
Registrant Postal Code: 77002
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Country Code: US
Registrant Phone Number: +1.9096667772
Domain Registration Date: Tue Sep 30 18:04:29 GMT 2014

Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 10:49AM by scanman1.

419eater is going to get the domain name pulled before ACL even wakes up as they have a direct database link with the DNS registrar PDR.

[forum.419eater.com]

Here is a screen shot for those that will miss seeing the site live:


Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 12:02PM by scanman1.

Wow -I'm surprised at how legit the site looks - it's still up as of 8:17am. How do they (scammers) get the names/addresses/emails of us? I have, thankfully, never been contacted.

Scanman, thanks for the info on 419eater. I have never heard of the site, but have been a long-time fan of Scanorama.com, another scam-baiting site. It's fun to read the transcripts of some of the reverse-scams.

This 419 crew is going to be busy for a while. Once the baiters at 419eater get going with them, they will have them doing all sorts of funny things and wasting time and money overnighting more fake MO's and sending photo's holding up signs to prove who they are for the scam-baiters amusement.

Now they are already listed in the official Artists aginst 419 Database that is polled by many antivirus and site checking toolbar apps. This will prevent many people from even visiting the site now.

[db.aa419.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 05:41PM by scanman1.

I shop for ACL and I agree with the above comment about them stealing the ACL platform!

Even with legit payday advance shops, I avoid them because they remind me too much of scammers.

They totally ripped off A Closer Look!

By the way, if any company sends you money before you do the work - run for the hills! I would the items you received in the mail to your local police department or federal fraud office.

Sucks people use legit MS sites, names and field of work in general to take advantage of others. Many people are turned off by MS because they think it's a scam

Legit mystery shopping companies do not pay up front. If you get a check in the mail it is a scam and they can look as legitimate as they want - still a scam.

Put a fork in it.

ACL emailed me another site name the same fraudsters were using.

I have both of them shut down now. They were baited before they were nuked. This 419 scam crew will leave ACL alone when they are done with them. I can fast track a takedown for any MSC that is ripped like this.

Okay the above advice is generally true, but TNS has some quite legitimate shops where they sent me three $50 checks in advance to use as props in a shop where I first ask about cashing these handwritten business checks and then inquire about reloadable prepaid debit cards. The $50 checks are deposited by the shopper in their own bank after the shop is finalized as the fee. (It's nice getting paid up front!)

But these are $50 checks, not $900+ dollar checks, so let's just say no legitimate shopping company will send you large checks for a shop whose fee is a fraction of the check.

Why would anyone of sound reasoning think even for a second that this was legit?

People who are not experienced do not know. I was a victim of this crap a few years ago before I started MS. I never wrote cheques, had a VISA and the VISA cheque I got looked real. The Teller never checked the credit card number before giving me $500 and I got nailed for it when it came back as fraudulent. Now it's easy for me to say that if you offered money first that it is a scam but we live in desperate times. Many are naive

so if it's a small check,it can be gud

I Googled the Hope Street Address and it comes up as a Train Station.

["Hop&stop Transit" connected with the Long Island Railroad and other locations in New York.]

I also belong to scamwarners.

Join some of the anti-scam sites and enjoy the "baiting" they put the scammers through.

Dixie, whether it looks real or not, I am still not understanding what compels people to cash a check that they didn't have coming to them.

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dixie, whether it looks real or not, I am still
> not understanding what compels people to cash a
> check that they didn't have coming to them.

A number of factors..................none of which should be taught to children or grandchildren.

The scam artist posed a Scheduler and told me that it was coming. My point is that some people are naive to depositing cheques period. It is not taught at school and some families just don't discuss finances. Most people don't even know what MS is lol

It happens a lot in the US just different shoes.. E.g. your best friend asks you cash a "lottery" cheque because they "don't have a bank account". Seems innocent but it's most likely BS in the end.

That all being said, I got into mystery shopping for real thanks to this forum!

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dixie, whether it looks real or not, I am still
> not understanding what compels people to cash a
> check that they didn't have coming to them.


Many Reasons:

1. Desperation. (You WANT to believe this is REAL and is the difference between starvation and eating).

2. Gullible (You tend to believe perfect strangers will send you thousands of dollars)

3. Ignorance (You don't know the check laws release the money in two days, whether the check is bogus or not.

4 Unfamiliar with scammers (You never realized someone could stoop so low, whether it be an apartment scam, loan scam,)

Scammers do this EVERY day, and every day someone falls victim.

The scammers make MILLIONS on the fact of ignorance or blind trust.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
1. Desperation. (You WANT to believe this is REAL and is the difference between starvation and eating).

> 2. Gullible (You tend to believe perfect strangers
> will send you thousands of dollars)


These are the ones I just don't understand.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BBird0701 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Dixie, whether it looks real or not, I am still
> > not understanding what compels people to cash a
> > check that they didn't have coming to them.
>
>
> Many Reasons:
>
> 1. Desperation. (You WANT to believe this is REAL
> and is the difference between starvation and
> eating).
>
> 2. Gullible (You tend to believe perfect strangers
> will send you thousands of dollars)
>
> 3. Ignorance (You don't know the check laws
> release the money in two days, whether the check
> is bogus or not.
>
> 4 Unfamiliar with scammers (You never realized
> someone could stoop so low, whether it be an
> apartment scam, loan scam,)
>
> Scammers do this EVERY day, and every day someone
> falls victim.
>
> The scammers make MILLIONS on the fact of
> ignorance or blind trust.


Well said. I find it hard to believe that no one on this forum has never felt or been desperate to put a roof over their head, feed their babies, etc. At some point, everyone has been there and has been somewhat naive. Maybe I'm wrong, some live perfect lives. We live and learn, best way to learn is go through something yourself or learn really well from the suffering of others.

I got into mystery shopping initially out of desperation. The part that I don't understand is cashing a check which you don't have coming to you..at the very least, without verifying it first.

When I bought my house here, I didn't know that the builders had already paid the property taxes on it for the year, so I paid them as well. I received a check in the mail from Wells Fargo about four months later for a little over $1300. In with the check was a letter stating that the builders had already paid the property taxes, so Wells Fargo was refunding the amount I'd paid.

That check sat for a week while I verified with the builders and Wells Fargo.

If I would do that for a check regarding a situation with two entities who I did have dealings with, I can't really fathom cashing a check from an unknown source.

I'm not saying that those aren't valid rationalizations for cashing unknown checks and getting scammed as a result, I just can't understand it. I guess desperation overrides common sense, maybe?

Desperation overrides common sense.. Definitely.

Dixie: I was laid off and one of the first things I started doing (besides demos) was mystery shopping.

I still struggle and I still do mystery shopping. I will always love it but if offered a full time job, I would do this more on the side

I have been so desperate before in my life that I might have accepted a windfall like that. Not now, of course - but there have been times.......

I'm just impressed with what Scanman was able to do here. I don't understand it, but I do appreciate it! I couldn't believe how 'realistic' that site was until it was taken down.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2014 10:28AM by Chix.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dixie: I was laid off and one of the first things
> I started doing (besides demos) was mystery
> shopping.
>
> I still struggle and I still do mystery shopping.
> I will always love it but if offered a full time
> job, I would do this more on the side

Gotta go where the money is!! Sometimes my photo business is going really well and MS becomes a side business on the burner.. other times MS is on fire. I got a full-time job in MS, never thought I would be doing MS or any that after I got scammed. I thought it wasn't real. Would you work with a MS company if offered the job, SunnyDays2?

If you are a victim of this fraud, you can file a complaint at the government website IC3.GOV. if you carry out the instructions, you will be wiring your own money to crooks outside of the country, as well as earning hefty bank fees from your own financial institution for depositing a invalid check.

Send the money back with a note that you want $$CASH MONEY$$.

No matter what you do or who you talk to, they can and will do nothing about it. I have answered many of these scams. They operate from another country. ....What happens is that you deposit the checks into your account and the next day you are supposed to cash them. In two days or so when your bank discovers they are no good, you are stuck with the amount of the checks or money orders plus the bank fees. The post office has sent out notices to look for these bogus money orders. If you will look at any of the bogus certified checks, you will see that none of the security features that are supposed to be present on the checks are there. Someone is making a lots of money doing this because they are virtually everywhere. It's not really hard to spot the scams. Besides, the scammers' procedures make no sense!!