Though I pretty much figured out their site is nothing but a way to steal money from those that do not know better, I wanted to make sure I was not missing out on something.

I registered there less than a week ago.

When signing up, for the free account, they sneak in a registration for a survey site. They actually try to sneak in a few of them. the first one got by me. From there, I was able to look at the shop boards. I am pretty much convinced that their description of the site is a lie. They are using verbiage to claim they have over one thousand companies using their service to find shoppers. What they are actually doing is pulling the free information any of us can find or gain access to, and building a database. From there pretty much every potential assignment has key information blocked. For a monthly fee though you can see that information. Oh yea!!!

By looking at the basic specs, I pretty much figured out the majority of the assignments. This is why I have determined this site is not a service the MSC's subscribe to. It also looks like the persons running this have shopper accounts on as many MSC sites as possible, allowing them to build their shell listings accurately. I have yet to actually find an assignment listed that I can apply for, even though they promised there were plenty. They are all locked.

Now, for the surprise I wasn't expecting. I am receiving a large number of FANTASTIC survey and work offers. MAKE $75 AN HOUR, blah blah blah. High paying jobs that need you to do some type of easy inventory or on site survey FOR WAGES BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION. I am also receiving emails from Shadow Shopper trying to convince me how much I am missing by not paying $30 a month for access, they will even give me the first month for $25 off, LOL.

I am refraining from calling them a certain word that begins with S and ends with M, for the moment anyways.

Edited to confirm they are a scam and a portal for scammers.

If you wont I will SCAM.
By the way I have seen them but was smart enough not to sign up with them

It sounds like what we all expected here. I'd like to thank the OP for biting the bullet and giving us a detailed report that contributes to the forum's knowledge of this site, though.

Well, I'd never in a zillion years pay any money to Shadow Shopper, but my registration and "trial" membership with them led to my start in "real" mystery shopping. A scheduler for a reputable and well-regarded MSC needed new shoppers in my area and found my information on Shadow Shopper. She called and invited me to a training session. I went, and 2 1/2 years later, I'm still shopping for that MSC and several others.

BEWARE: I signed up for free version, knowing they XXXXX out all real info.. but I wanted to use it to compare rates for the jobs I was doing with other companies.. because they are never XX.XX$. 2 days later, I get a text "This is _____ with shadow shopper, I have an urgent shop ASAP... pays 250$ for a walmart/ moneygram shop" RED FLAG! I replied "send details to the account I have on file". Low and behold an e-mail in my specially made shopper account (that I only use for MSC). They will send me checks I deposit into my account and take my pay from, and a bunch of bogus realistic type parameters for the shop. I try to call shadow shopper the next day and only get voice mail (they hide their number.. nowhere on site.. had to google dig it)... the only "contact us" info on their site is a live chat.
I finally see someone is on live chat (megan) and inform her of the scam.. this is the conversation that follows MEGAN- they are not affiliated with shadow shopper ME- I believe they are posing as an MSC to access shopper info MEGAN- No I do not believe that is possible ME- Then how did they get my phone number to text me posing as an affiliate with SS at the number I provided, know I was affiliated as a shopper with SS, and know the e-mail I provided to you to send documents... only 2 days after I signed up??? MEGAN- You will need to e-mail my manager_______ with any further questions ME- Do you not check and verify the MSC's are real companies before giving them access?? Megan- Is there anything else I can assist you with?
I have also received 4-5 emails from SS to that same email account... all of which the links are flagged by my antivirus as "trying to gain personal information", or "invalid security certificates".... I don't know if SS itself is a scam or if someone is using its name to scam with... I do know BEWARE!

Thanks for your information usjetting.

So, they are not vetting companies that are using their shopper database. This is very bad and confirms the sources of most of the offers I receive via their platform. They mix in many reliable companies on their bulletin board, none of which have attempted to contact me. Pretty much any of the masked jobs listed are on Jobslinger, probably where they steal the info from.

Another strategy they are using is offering a free trial (as Birdy noted above) but requiring your CC info. That way after two weeks they can start charging you a monthly fee.

So, why isn't the MS Association doing something about this company?

I updated the subject line.

If your reading this, understand you can identify all of the opportunities utilizing the free posting sites like the job boards here, Jobslinger.com, mystshopsol.com and any other free site. You have to register for full access to most of them, this helps protect the client.

Mod note: Updated the title to distinguish what some may call a rip-off or useless versus a company that is really a scam. New people coming on to this site may not be able to tell.

I don't see how Shadow Shopper itself is a scam. It's foolish to pay money to see mystery-shopping opportunities that most of us find through free venues, but I don't see that the site itself is a scam. People pay money all the time for services they could locate on their own for free. Scammers use Shadow Shopper to troll for victims, but how is that any different from how other online venues of this type get used by scammers? As far as I know, it's not Shadow Shopper's operators who are running the scams.

Anyone who gets taken by any of these scams, through Shadow Shopper or any other venue, probably has nobody to blame but himself or herself. If people haven't heard of these scams by now, they've been living in a cave for a couple of decades. Or if they don't understand that they're not going to be paid $250 for a half-hour of work, they shouldn't blame the venue through which they were found.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2015 02:07PM by BirdyC.

Re: Your revised thread title: Shadow Shopper, just a Scam

Really, Isaiah? I'm puzzled because you don't have to use Shadow Shopper's services and therefore I don't understand why you're complaining. Calling a company a scam on a public site is a stretch. Of course scammers use their site. Scammers use all sites. You won't be able to change Shadow Shopper by posting here and every word you write is more free press for them.

@isaiah58 wrote:

I updated the subject line.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.

Guilty as charged! One day, I stupidly brought out my credit card to sign up for Shadow Shopper when I was actually up to my ears in shops.
What was I thinking? I was just not thinking. Not at all! And sure enough, I received emails about shops I already knew and did not even bother with. I did not even realize when the month was up. When bored, don't experiment unless you have a clear head. Money will not go stale. Stagnant is better than going down the drain for no reason at all.

When I worked as a scheduler, I used Shadow Shopper. It is up to the individual scheduler to manually post the assignments there, which was cumbersome and (in my experience) yielded few results.
The true beauty of Shadow Shopper is that, even when you do not pay for an account, you are in their database of shoppers. The MSC subscribers can pay to contact you through the site and you will receive an email (or telephone call, if you listed a number). I filled a few tough shops this way as it put me in touch with shoppers who were not yet in our database.