The internet has made it easier than ever to scam people, and to be scammed by people. Some of the most sophisticated cons ever have been carried out on the world wide web, and have ruined lives around the world.
Advertisement - story continues below
One of the most recent scams to become a problem has actually been around for a while. It’s called the “Mystery Shopper” scam and it has been stealing money from its victims for quite some time now.
A “mystery shopper” is a person who is hired by a company to shop at a store and report back as a means of quality control. The emails you receive from scammers trying to engage you in this shenanigans are generally misspelled and have poor grammar. Steve Weisman wrote an article on his experience with this particular scam, and included the offer he received.
Stop the censors, sign up to get today's top stories delivered right to your inbox
Advertisement - story continues below
“Hello, We are a company engaged in the mystery shopper field.
We need a team filled some people with age, residence location, experience and other different.“Description;
“You will be assigned to visit the shop, store, bank, etc
You have to pretend to be a normal potential customers who’re looking for a specific product/service
You will then complete questionnaires online to share with us your customer’s experience
Get $350/assignment, at least 2 assignments/week will be assigned.“Requirements;
“18 years old or above
Can read and write English
Can speak the local language well”Advertisement - story continues below
“Registration;
“If you are interested reply this email fill out information below to get started:”
The “information” requested includes names, addresses, etc.
According to the author of this piece, the biggest reason this scam works so well is because mystery shoppers are actually a thing. People believe that they are actually being recruited, and are willing to do whatever the scammer says.
Advertisement - story continues below
Once they send in their information, the scammers send the person a check for the amount of money they’re required to spend at the store of choice. They were instructed to buy the required items and wire back the remainder of the cash, and it isn’t until after they send the money back that they realize the check had actually bounced. They have no way of pursuing legal action against the scammers, and the money they sent is now gone.
This works because banks provide provisional credit to deposited checks so it actually looks like the check has cleared, despite being counterfeit. It isn’t until it’s too late that people notice the funds have been withdrawn by the bank.
Please do not fall for this scam. If you receive an email, immediately mark it as spam and do not even open it. Life is hard enough as it is without having money stolen from your under false pretenses.
