Mystery Shopping Scams

Mystery shopping scams abound in these tough economic times. People are desperate and the scammers are taking full advantage. Here's how you can avoid falling for a secret shopper scam and keep your hard-earned money safe.

Most secret shopping scams involve you depositing a check or money order into your bank account and wiring money to someone you don't know or have not dealt with before.

I have heard of one exception to this standard plot:

There was one company that was hiring secret shoppers and actually paying them to go out on secret shopper jobs.

These dangerously clever scammers were doing this in order to gain the shopper's trust before moving in for the kill. After paying for a few shops they would then pull the money transfer scam I outlined above.

Just a few days ago, my husband received an email offering him $200 to shop Western Union. The offer was made in an email attachment that claimed to be from the company Secret Shopper. He asked me to take a look at it and give an opinion on whether it was real or not.

After reading the email and the attachment, I advised him not to proceed. I'm sure this was one of the many mystery shopping scams going around.

These are the reasons I came to this conclusion:

1. The attatchment claimed to be from Secret Shopper--a real mystery shopping company--but the email was from a gmail account. No legitimate company sends email from a gmail account.

2. Nowhere on this form did they ask for a social security number, though they did request other personal information.

   I have never personally worked for a secret shopper company, but I've been working from home with online companies for many years. They need your SSN in order to report the money they pay you to the IRS. Lots of internet companies have my SSN on file.

   This has never caused me one single problem. Just be sure that the page you enter any sensitive information on is secure (look for the little gold lock in the bottom right corner).

   Also, while we're on the subject, never copy and paste sensitive information into forms. Apparently, the clip board it goes to between the time you click copy and the time you click paste is not secure. Type the information in each time.

   In my opinion, any company that doesn't ask for you SSN doesn't intend to pay you.

3. There was no link to the company website in this attachment. When has a company ever sent you an email without a link back to their website in it?

4. The amount of the payment was suspicious. Why would a company pay someone $200 to shop Western Union? People would line up to do it for $25. Legitimate mystery shopping companies do not throw money around like this. No honest company does. They would soon be out of business.

5. I went to the Secret Shopper website. I found a warning there advising people that there are companies running mystery shopping scams and using their name.

What most people don't realize is that just because the bank releases the funds doesn't mean that the check has actually cleared. If you spend any of the money before the check clears and the check fails to clear, you--not the person who sent you the check--will be held responsible for paying the bank back.

The easiest way to avoid mystery shopping scams is not to deposit checks into your bank account unless you know who sent them and have reason to believe they are good. Also, don't accept any shops involving money transfers.

Go to the FTC consumer protection counterfeit check scam site for more information about mystery shopping scams or to report a secret shopper scam.

Mystery Shopping Companies Looking for Florida Shoppers
Legitimate mystery shopping companies are searching for FL shoppers. A mystery shopping company may have clients located in several states. Right now, mystery shopping opportunities abound in Florida.

Mystery Shopping FAQ
The mystery shopping FAQ answers the most frequently asked secret shopping questions. Free secret shopper info is provided as well as guidance on how to get into mystery shopping.

There are at least 400 companies looking for secret shoppers. This is a short list of the mystery shopping companies I was able to find by just searching on the Internet.

I've only listed the ones I was able to find some good feedback on or that I have shopped for myself.

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