By: Sentry Marketing Group

November 29, 2014

Since access to the internet and email has become widespread, we have all seen hundreds of scams involving strangers asking people to transfer money, make deposits, cash checks, etc., on someone else’s behalf. When it comes to mystery shopping, companies asking you to deposit, transfer, or otherwise handle large amounts of money are not to be trusted.

In the early 2000s, when access to the internet and email was really starting to take hold, we started to see hundreds of scams in which strangers would ask people, usually via random emails, to transfer money, make deposits, cash checks, etc., on someone thier behalf on the premise that some portion of the amount could be kept by the recipient of the request.

Companies asking you to deposit, transfer, or otherwise handle large amounts of money are not to be trusted.

Consumers got wise to the scams pretty quickly, but the scammers have continued to evolve and are always coming up with new ways to try to trick people into sending money they will never get back.  In a few of these scams, people receive emails or mailings from individuals or companies—many of which appeared to be legitimate—asking them to participate in a mystery shopping assignment involving money transfer services.  In most cases, the companies provide the “shoppers” with a check for a large sum of money, instructing them to keep a portion and wire the rest to a specified recipient, then answer some questions about their experience.  As you might guess, the checks would be cashed by the bank only to come back as fraudulent days or weeks later, after the cash had already been transferred and collected.  The would-be shoppers were then left holding the bag.  These scams are easy enough to avoid by bearing a few simple things in mind:

1. Legitimate agencies will never give you money before an assignment is complete.

It’s just not the way we work, and it’s one of the reasons it is important to do your research before participating in a mystery shop.   A legitimate company will typically give you some guidelines about what you should buy and how much you should spend before sending you out to an assignment.  Once the work is complete, we will reimburse you for whatever you have bought (which you also usually get to keep) and add a small payment as thanks.  Under no circumstances would we cut you a check first.  You can see why that wouldn’t make sense.

2. Legitimate agencies do not use SPAM.

As we mentioned in the first part of this two-part post, we rely on our field evaluators to provide quality information for our clients.  While we welcome shoppers from all backgrounds, we are not simply casting out a net to see what we come up with.  We recruit shoppers very pointedly, through dedicated websites, referrals, and professional mystery shopping organizations.

3. Legitimate agencies will have legitimate email addresses and websites.

In this day and age, you can never assume that an email, even one that appears to be from someone you know, has come from the person or company it claims to have come from.  Crooks have become experts at hacking emails, impersonating genuine companies, and creating masks of legitimacy.  The website bankinfosecurity.com, a division of the Information Security Media Group, offers some basic tips on avoiding online fraud:

• Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail.
• Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
• Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders. Virus scan all attachments, if possible.
• Avoid filling out forms contained in e-mail messages that ask for personal information.
• Always compare the link in the e-mail to the link you are actually directed to and determine if they match [and match with the email address from which the email originated] and will lead you to a legitimate site.

What do you do if someone tries to rope you into a mystery shopping scam?

There are a number of agencies concerned with protected the populous from scams and their perpetrators, and you can report any fraudulent behavior to any or all of them, as you choose:

If you have received checks or money orders from a scammer, you can report it to the National Consumers League and, if the check came through the U.S. mail, to your local postal inspector.  Fraud committed through the U.S. mail is a Federal crime.  Emails can be reported to mail hosts like Google, which can also be a good resource if you suspect and email might not be legit.  You can report suspected scams for further investigation to the Federal Trade Commission, which also provides scam alerts.  Agencies like the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Better Business Bureau, and even your state’s Attorney General’s Office are concerned with these matters, so contact them all.  Even a police report can be helpful in shutting down fraudulent operations if enough people are on the ball.