Mystery/Secret Shopper Job Scams

Another online job offer is the secret or mystery shopper. This is simply a variation of a common scam. This one comes with a few different title offers, but it is an old and familiar scam with a different name.. The offers may come in your email, or you might happen to see one of their banner ads while browsing. Some of them are even bold enough to pay for a short television commercial. But no matter where you come across these ads they always lead you back to the same situation of trying to get your money.

Secret Shopper
Mystery Shopper
Secret or Mystery Shopper Survey
Survey Focus groups
Work At Home Shopper

These offers come from a multitude of official sounding companies. But it is very easy to see the companies and complaints involving them, here at the Ripoffreport.com website just . Over 200 complaints have been logged in as of this date, and most of the complaints are similar. If you take the time to read a few of the stories you will see why these offers should be avoided. Their main draw is to offer weekly income by participating in secret surveys of different establishments. Although there is no such position, they still pull in prospective participants, and end up getting some of their money in the process.

The way this scam works is there will be an ad out there offering "secret shopper" or "mystery shopper"
opportunities to supplement your income. Once you reply to the ad, they generally send you an official looking check or money order to get you started. This check is supposed to cover your fee, and the possible shopping costs involved. You are requested to deposit the check, take your share out, and then send the rest of the money back to a third party. Western Union is a popular money transferring method in these offers. Sometimes they will even tell you that you are a mystery shopper for Western Union. Then, when the check does not clear, you are faced with losing your own money that you sent out from your account. Some of them offer a discounted free trial, and then you are burdened with a monthly subscription fee of $50 or so. Trying to verify any of the names on the websites is next to impossible. Even verifying the website owner's name is quite a challenge. In a lot of instances they request that you send money to someone out of the country. Often, there are frequent misspellings through out the website and application, and these should consitute a huge clue to you that something is amiss.

Just remember that this is an old scam with a new company name. And as you can see here, The Better Business Bureau does not recognize or accredit any of these offers, so make your own judgment.

And please see other similar online scams in this series that you may be considering :http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6173950/online_scams_a_comprehensive_overview.html?cat=9

Be careful out there, and thanks for reading.