One of our regular readers, Dan K., recently responded to an ad seeking mystery shoppers. When he got their materials, he instantly knew it was a scam and wanted to share it with all of you.
He received what looked like a legitimate check as advance payment for his first shopping assignment.
That almost $2,000 check was to cover expenses and his pay for his first assignment. He was instructed to cash or deposit the check at his local bank. The check included a $75 bonus for completing the assignment within 48 hours.
The instructions that came with the check required him to purchase a total of $1,400 of Apple gift cards at two Walmart stores of his choice. Five hundred dollars of the check was his upfront payment for doing the assignment. The gift cards, he was told, were going to be used later in a second assignment.
Besides writing an open-ended narrative about his experience at the Walmart stores, the assignment required him to do something else very important.
*MOUSE PRINT:
And this was key to the scam. Once the crooks got the gift card numbers, they could drain the value of the cards. Then the newly-minted mystery shopper would subsequently learn that the check they sent him did in fact bounce. In essence, he just gave the crooks $1,400 in gift cards at his own expense.
There were a number of other red flags in the instructions that would signal to veteran mystery shoppers like MrConsumer that the assignment was not legitimate:
The company name on the check did not match the company name on the instruction sheet.
These companies never pay you in advance.
You never get paid generously — most assignments might only pay $10 or $15, or getting a free meal.
You never get to pick any store in the chain to review undercover.
You never are told to simply describe the shopping experience — there is always a long, detailed questionnaire.
If you are interested in becoming a mystery shopper, here are some legitimate companies where you can apply. You may have to provide a writing sample. Incidentally, never pay anyone to become a mystery shopper.
A Google search of the business listed on the check comes back a legit business. Hopefully Dan reached out to the business to let them know that scammers are using their business info in a scam. There is probably not much the business can do but if I would like to know even if I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Good job Dan for stopping and being critical of the instructions!
Yeah, Nick, I absolutely researched that business as named on the check, and you’re right; it’s a legit business. I did contact them in three ways (a direct email, their “Contact Us” form, and a direct phone call (I was only able to leave a message). Well, they never did get back to me. I think they could have figured I was just a scammer myself, or they already know about the check problem. I guessing their name has already been used that way for multiple checks.
And thanks for your nice comments, Nick.
I was a secret shopper for many years. Most of the companies I worked with would send out a list of local secret shops and I had to go online and claim the one(s) I wanted to do.
As mentioned, each shop doesn’t pay a lot. The only time I was prepaid was for a shop at a high end boutique – and it was a gift certificate for the store. I got to keep the item as my ‘payment’.
Of course we all know any mention of gift cards is a major red flag.
I hope no one falls for this scam. It’s not even a very good one. There are so many red flags it’s laughable.
No one is going to send you a large check for work you have not done.
No one is going to ask you to purchase gift cards.
No one is going to ask you to take pictures of the front and back of the cards.
Just use common sense.
Andy, you’re right on every single point of yours–lots of red flags. I’m sure people have fallen for that scam, however, as the scammer has apparently gone to a lot of work to write up the terms, and get everything looking so good. For example, the $2,000 check was amazingly real, as Edgar depicted, and it was made out to me with my correct, full name.