|
The Mystery Shopper Scam
You can easily find advertisements and emails offering you employment oportunities as a mystery shopper. Mystery Shopping is a genuine part-time job - but only if you register with a genuine specialist agency that concentrates in this type of activity. There are currently 2 types of Mystery Shopping scam:-
1. The first variant of this scam is straightforward advance free fraud. You respond to an email or advertisement and after corresponding with the scammer via email or telephone you are then asked for a returnable payment to cover their expenses in registering your employment and for a starter pack to be sent to you. Genuine Mystery Shopper agencies do not charge you - they pay you! Do not be fooled by this type of scam - regardless of what you are promised - as it's always false and you'll never see your money again.
2. The second variant of the Mystery Shopping scam is a little more complex but offers you the opportunity to make 'lots of money!' It sounds so convincing that you may feel it's almost too good to be true - it is! After 'registering' with the company (which is normally free) you are then sent a starter pack with all your instructions. In the pack is a cheque (usually for anything up to £4000) and your 'job' is to cash the cheque (takes notes of the cashier to ensure they meet the quality control requirements of the Mystery Shopper exercise) and then send the money you receive electronically via Western Union or similar to an account in a different country. In reality the cheque is fake and will eventually bounce. However, as it takes longer for a foreign cheque to clear very often the money can be available in your account - before the bank actually realise the cheque is a forgery. So your bank account is empty, you're out of pocket for a large amount of money you have wired previously and you could well be contacted by the police for dealing in forged cheques in which case you will have a lot of explaining to do! Stay well clear of this scam!
|
