Mystery Shopper Scam

joeKel73

Hey guys,

When I was looking for work a while back I signed up to a few "Mystery Shopper" ads on jobs.ie. Never heard anything back but today I got an email.... not sure if it's because of those ads but I suspect so...

Hello,
Mystery Shopper's needed, Earn between €100-€200 per assignment. Reply for more info.

Recruiting Department,
Secret Shopper®

...thought it might be a chance of some work so emailed back asking if it was in my area and looking for more info...

Dear Joe,

You have been invited to be our Mystery shopper/Survey Agent.

Shopper's Guide wants you to run a survey on three prominent companies in your area.

The 1st is a Western Union Location

The 2nd is a Restaurant

The 3rd is a MoneyGram Location

Your first assignment will be the Evaluation of a Western Union outlet while the 2nd assignment will be on Restaurant dining and the 3rd assignment MoneyGram evaluation.

All locations addresses will be assigned to you in due time.

There has been reports about lapses in the service of their Management and some of their staffs, the complaints were based on reports which their customers forwarded anonymously and phone calls which were also made to the head office.

The Western union, Restaurant and MoneyGram locations were reported for evaluation, Negligence for the following reasons:

Western Union and MoneyGram location/company:

I) Customers have reported their money missing
II) Slow services
III) Unbalanced transfer charges

The 2nd(Restaurant)company was reported to be rendering

(I) Poor services
(II) Rudeness to customers
(III) Excess charge
(IV) Late opening time and Closing before time.

Your Secret Evaluation would be (In a STEP-BY-STEP manner):

1)You will be sent an assignment fund which will cover your commission of £300 per assignment and also for the duty.

2) After receiving the assignment funds, the Name and address of whom the Mystery shopper's transfer will be made to will be forwarded to you.

3) To make a transfer of funds from western union outlet to our Mystery Shopper, and the funds will be picked up by the Mystery Shopper from the other location.

4) You will have to record the time on which it took you to process the service.

5) You will also have to provide me with the name of the cashier that attended to you.

6) You will be receiving 2-3 assignments per week depending on how fast you are in handling/processing and completing your assignment.

7) You will be paid £300 per duty and it will be increased depending on how fast you are in completing your assignments.

8)You will have to keep a comprehensive report on every activity you carry out during your assignment.

9)NO FUNDS ARE REQUIRED FROM YOU.

To get started,kindly fill in the form below with your details and we will get back to you shortly with an assignment:

First name:
Last name:
Full Home Address:
County:
Post code :
Mobile Phone:
Home Phone:
Current Occupation:

After you have emailed your information to us, you should make sure you check your email at least 2-3 times a day to read updates from us.

Thank you and i look forward to working with you.

Hiring Manager,
Mark Younchik

I knew there was something up when he's now talking in £ and the money has changed. But you don't have to spend your own money, so can't lose?

I googled it and it's a SCAM. The first assignment is a western union transfer. They seem pushy that you get the assignments done quick. So they send a cheque for £300 and tell you to keep something like £150 and send the rest through as the mystery shop at western union. The idea is people will do the transfer before the cheque has fully cleared in their account.... then it bounces and they've sent the scammer their own cash.

So if you get similar email - ignore! It's a scam!

Now, should I forward my details and follow through with it but allow it to bounce? Is there any way I can report them or get the scammer caught?

Joe

kilburn

Ya it has scam written all over it