By Randy Hutchinson
President of the BBB of the Mid-South
Reprinted from The Commercial Appeal
Many of the scams I write about are increasingly high-tech, such as those powered by Artificial Intelligence or that ask for payment via cryptocurrency. But a low-tech scam involving a UPS delivered letter and check must be making a comeback. A friend of mine recently visited me at the BBB to show me the materials he received.
It’s called the Mystery Shopper scam and can seem particularly enticing to people looking for a part-time job or desperate for any kind of job. My friend received an unsolicited text asking if he’d be interested in being a mystery shopper who is paid to visit retailers and restaurants, buy an item or a meal, and rate the experience. There are legitimate mystery shopper jobs, but the compensation may simply be keeping the item or enjoying the meal or perhaps getting paid a little extra; it’s not lucrative work.
But messages like the one my friend received hold out the promise of earning hundreds of dollars a week to be a mystery shopper. He was sent a very official looking check for $3,770.23 with the name of a real bank and its actual routing number, instructed to keep $710 as his pay, use $3,000 to buy six Walmart Money Cards, and complete a survey evaluating his experience at Walmart. He was told to unseal each card and send a clear picture of the front and back to his “task coordinator.” The letter contained Walmart’s logo, as well as those of CVS and Walgreens.
If asked why he was buying the money cards, my friend was instructed to say they were for gifts, not to complete a survey assignment. He was told to hold onto the money cards for use in his next assignment.
The check would ultimately bounce even though the bank may have made the funds available and the crooks would use the information from the front and back of the cards to loot them, leaving him $3,000 in the hole.
The BBB and FTC offer these tips to avoid becoming a victim of a mystery shopper or other kind of job scam:
- Don’t apply for mystery shopping jobs that guarantee you’ll make a lot of money. Only scammers make these guarantees. And only scammers say that you’ll be able to quit your job and do this full-time. Mystery shopping jobs are typically part-time work and don’t usually pay enough to replace a full-time job.
- Don’t pay to work. Honest companies pay you, not charge you, to work for them. Even if they say the money is really for a certification, training, a uniform, or equipment, don’t do it. No real job, including mystery shopping, involves paying to get the job.
- Never deposit checks into your bank account and send money somewhere else. It doesn’t matter who it’s from or what they say it’s for. It’s a fake check scam. Any money withdrawn from your account is your own money since the check is worthless.
Search online for the company name with the words “review,” “complaint” or “scam.” Check to see what others are saying about the company before you pursue a job with them. And talk with someone you trust to get their opinion before you take a job.