how do I know that this is not a scam

Received a check and am really sceptical about this being real or not

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Scams

If you received an unsolicited check from someone with whom you have not completed an online application and provided your SS# for tax purposes, it probably IS a scam.

Ask yourself: with so many qualified people looking for work, why would a stranger mail you a check? Legitimate companies do not send checks to strangers and they do not pay in advance.

If they are paying you BEFORE you do the assignment, it's a scam.

If the check is more than $100, it's a scam..........(average assignment: $15-$50)

If you cash it, your check will likely clear (new banking rule) but as soon as it hits the main bank, they will REMOVE those fraud funds from YOUR account, ban you as a customer, and likely prosecute for bad check writing. If you don't have the funds in your account, they will GET their money by obtaining a judgement in court against you.

Remember: A Real Legit Company: You do the assignment, it pays "peanuts" you wait for 3 months to get paid...and welcome to the REAL mystery shopping experience

Okay, jk about the peanuts!

Let's see - are you supposed to cash the check, keep some $$$ for mystery shopping and then send them back a chunk of the check? SCAM...

It's a SCAM

Rip it up and forget about it. What is scary is that these scam artists are getting better, and using real names of companies and employeees of legit MSC's, then creating rip-off websites that are all fake. Phone calls go unanswered, but they respond via email.

I know because our company, along with others, have been hit hard the last few months. We have tracked the server IP's, emails, and contacted authorities, but there's only so much they can do. Usually the scam finally gets busted and a new company or handful of companies get hit 6 months later.

But I do want to say, you did the right thing by asking first, and you should ALWAYS remember...if it's too good to be true...it probably is.

Here is a recent blog about mystery shopping scams written by our VP of Operations, Adrienne Dobson:

[www.customerimpactinfo.com]

Daniel Price
Customer Impact, LLC.
dprice@customerimpactinfo.com

While it is a scam, I do disagree with the advice about destroying the check. Instead, contact the bank that it is drawn on. Generally they will want it as their fraud departments will actively pursue the case. I had email contact with a lady wanting me to photograph her wedding. The first hint that it was a scam was the wedding was going to be in an industrial area--no churches anywhere around. Hint number two was when she asked me to pay her wedding consultant from the extra money she was sending me. Hint number three, the check didn't arrive until two days before the "wedding".

The Post Office didn't want to follow up on it, neither did the local police. I called the bank, asked for the fraud department, and hit the jackpot. Not only was I able to give them the check, I was also able to give them the emails with headers, and the Post Office tracking number. About three months later I got a letter from the bank asking for a deposition, and I found out the perps ended up in jail.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

how do I know that this is not a scam

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine