My husband just called me from the bank, he had 2 NSS checks with him. The bank let him deposit the first but he couldn't deposit the 2nd, they said it won't clear? We never had this problem before. He's calling them now.

Weird!! Please update when you get more info.!

He's waiting for a call back now.

I have about 8 shops finished and have 2 more this week.....oh, I hope they're not in trouble. They got a hugenew account and everything seems fine....let us know. They are my #1 Co., these days.

No call back yet.

I JUST RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING EMAIL FROM NATIONAL SHOPPING SERVICE. I AM REALLY GLAD THAT I DID NOT DEPOSIT THEIR CHECK. I HAVE BEEN TOO BUSY TO GO TO THE BANK AND WAS PLANNING TO DEPOSIT THE CHECK TOMORROW.


We are reaching out to you today to inform you of a very serious matter we are currently facing. We were notified in the recent days of fraudulent checks that are surfacing throughout the US. Unfortunately, these checks are being processed through the same account we pay you, our valued shoppers, through. We take this situation very seriously and are working closely with law enforcement to ensure this matter is handled immediately.

To protect ourselves and our shoppers, we must put a stop to all transactions immediately. Our records show you have a February shopper check that has not yet been deposited or cashed. PLEASE DESTROY any and all National Shopping Service checks you have in your possession. We will be issuing you a new check right away which should arrive within the next 7 to 14 business days. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email payments@nationalshoppingservice.com or phone (800-800-2704). If you call, please reference February Shopper Check Inquiry.

Please reply to this message if you would like to bypass a scheduled automated copy of this message that will be sent to the phone number we have on your shopper profile. By replying to this email, it will help us confirm that all affected shoppers have been notified and help get the replacement checks processed faster.

National Shopping Service appreciates your understanding and patience during this unfortunate situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and we want to assure you that we are taking proactive measures to ensure this does not happen again.

They did call my husband back today and seemed confused, saying that they used to have an old Wells Fargo acct, and possibly the bank tried to process it from the wrong one.

I did not get the above email yet. Interesting. I trust they will straighten it out. They have been a solid company in the past.

[www.complaintnow.com]

wonder if this has something to do w/ it?

This whole situation seems odd to me. What would the purpose be of someone issuing a fraudulent check that is only going to bounce? It's not like the so-called scammer gets anything out of it, other than a chuckle seeing someone trying to deposit/cash the check and the bank not accepting it. It's not like the perpetrator would be making any actual money off it.

Unless, the fraudulent check is merely a substitute for someone on the inside who is swapping the real check for a fraudulent one to buy some time while he/she attempts to cash the real ones.

I would have to ask if the amounts of the "fraudulent" checks are the correct amounts of legitimate checks that are to be issued to the shoppers or if they are simply random amounts, and the shopper doesn't really know what the amount of their check is supposed to be ... thus, simply seeing a check from NSS and cashing/depositing it.

Even then, the check actually went out to a real NSS shopper, meaning the scammer had access to that data. Obviously, that points to major internal issues with that company.

I am going to call them as I still have three jobs to do,and awaiting pay for 6 done, hopefully, this can be resolved by the time I'm to get paid. Mistakes happen, but I don't understand this.

>What would the purpose be of someone issuing a fraudulent check that is only going to bounce? It's not like the so-called scammer gets anything out of it,

What happens is that at first, the checks (usually for $3850ish, for some reason) DO clear because NSS has funds in the bank. Then the recipient wires Western Union back to the scammer. Then NSS (or whomever) discovers the fraud and reports it, and the bank pulls back the funds... from the recipient! Now the scammer has untraceable Western Union and the poor recipient is out money.

[phoenix.about.com]

Got the same email too and am replying to them. Unfortunately I DID deposit their recent check just two days ago!


kittybratt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I JUST RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING EMAIL FROM NATIONAL
> SHOPPING SERVICE. I AM REALLY GLAD THAT I DID NOT
> DEPOSIT THEIR CHECK. I HAVE BEEN TOO BUSY TO GO
> TO THE BANK AND WAS PLANNING TO DEPOSIT THE CHECK
> TOMORROW.
>
>
> We are reaching out to you today to inform you of
> a very serious matter we are currently facing. We
> were notified in the recent days of fraudulent
> checks that are surfacing throughout the US.
> Unfortunately, these checks are being processed
> through the same account we pay you, our valued
> shoppers, through. We take this situation very
> seriously and are working closely with law
> enforcement to ensure this matter is handled
> immediately.
>
> To protect ourselves and our shoppers, we must put
> a stop to all transactions immediately. Our
> records show you have a February shopper check
> that has not yet been deposited or cashed. PLEASE
> DESTROY any and all National Shopping Service
> checks you have in your possession. We will be
> issuing you a new check right away which should
> arrive within the next 7 to 14 business days. If
> you have any further questions, please do not
> hesitate to contact us via email
> payments@nationalshoppingservice.com or phone
> (800-800-2704). If you call, please reference
> February Shopper Check Inquiry.
>
> Please reply to this message if you would like to
> bypass a scheduled automated copy of this message
> that will be sent to the phone number we have on
> your shopper profile. By replying to this email,
> it will help us confirm that all affected shoppers
> have been notified and help get the replacement
> checks processed faster.
>
> National Shopping Service appreciates your
> understanding and patience during this unfortunate
> situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this
> may have caused you and we want to assure you that
> we are taking proactive measures to ensure this
> does not happen again.

I deposited my check from them on 4/11 and just checked my account online and all looks good for now. I did not get that email though. Hmmm.

Should I cancel or do my three jobs, two for tomorrow, guess it's too late to cancel.

edited..I just spoke with them and they reassured me everything done in my time frame will be o.k., this is only a problem for the previous month, and it is now taken care of, so, I'm doing my jobs for them and eveyrone else that is scheduled, I'd say go ahead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2011 09:38PM by Irene_L.A..

I hope everyone is caught up. I just got a full check for jobs done from March 5th thru the 29th...paid in full. Thank you NSS!!!!

They just sent my husband another check so we are up to date too! It cleared. I am glad they made right. Thanks NSS!

I just got a letter from my bank along with the cancelled check from NSS saying 'insufficient funds' were in their account (check was only for $30) AND I was charged $10 by my bank for the check not cashing!!! I have called them today but have not heard back yet!

I received payment from them a few days ago, but have yet to cash it. Does anyone if it should be safe yet?

I have not had problems with any recent checks. As I understand it they have one account for pay, and probably just keep enough in there to cover paying shoppers.

Someone altered or faked checks and cashed them on that acct which dropped the balance low enough that we couldn't cash ours. But after the fraud was discovered, NSS could recover funds from the fraudulent checks / deposit money to cover legit ones.

Well they are dealing with it nicely. When I contacted them they said a new check is already in the mail (haven't seen it yet) and they asked me to send documentation of the fee from my bank and they'll cover that too. So far, i'm really impressed and happy with how they're handling things.

My take is someone is out to get them...I read link and it seems ridiculous.

I am still working for them, am paid up and not going to be frightened off by this craziness.