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Home > Blogs > Here's the Deal > Archives > 2010 > April > 11 > Entry
Troy woman victim of mystery shopping scam
Shari Davis of Troy was just looking to earn a little extra cash when she responded to an online advertisement for mystery shoppers.
Instead, she ended up spending more than $1,000.
Davis, a married mother of two who is working two jobs, is not alone.
Scams that target job-seekers, such as this one, have been so prolific in our ailing economy that the Federal Trade Commission formed a law enforcement sweep in February called “Operation Bottom Dollar.”
This sweep is intended to crack down on and pursue con artists preying on unemployed or underemployed Americans.
How it can happen
When Davis initiallly responded to the mystery shopper advertisement, nothing seemed amiss.
Davis said she was given an assignment to check conditions at a local store, reported her findings back to the company and was sent a money order as payment.
The money order was for $990, and she was told to forward more than $700 in a money order to “another mystery shopper.”
“It didn’t concern me at first, because it was a money order (that I received),” Davis said. “I thought that was as good as cash.”
She deposited that money order into her account, purchased the requested money order and sent it to the address listed.
In the meantime, the company kept assigning her similar shopping tasks, which she performed.
It wasn’t until the company sent her next payment — four money orders at once, each for $990 — with similar instructions to forward more money that Davis got suspicious.
She took those money orders to a local bank to have them checked out, and found them to be fraudulent.
It was right around then that Davis’ bank contacted her to tell her that her account was overdrawn. The initial money order she had deposited did not have sufficient funds.
Due to the subsequent bank fees, the money order funds she had mailed and the cost of that money order, Davis had lost $1,070.
Davis contacted the company immediately, but they would not acknowledge the financial issue. In fact, she said, they continued to ask her to work for them.
“After that, I stopped contacting them completely,” Davis said. “Then they sent me a cashier’s check for $3,850! Of course, that also turned out to be bad.”
Davis, who kept all the paperwork involved, said she does not plan to pursue the company to get her money back.
Unfortunately, from what experts say, her pursuit likely would be a waste of time anyway.
What you should do if you are scammed
Todd Kossow, assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Midwest Region, said there is little recourse for those who lose money in scams such as these.
“This money transfer scam is one of a series we have been seeing,” Kossow said. “I would encourage people to report it to the money transfer company (if applicable), like Western Union or MoneyGram.”
Kossow added that people also can complain to the FTC, but these individuals are often difficult to track because they change their names and locations frequently.
“The name of the company doesn’t mean anything,” he said, adding that he had never heard of Ram Cole, the company with whom Davis dealt.
An online search for the company also yielded no leads.
Kossow said scammers often target those looking for jobs.
He said a good rule to follow is to not send money to anyone you don’t know.
“If they send you a check and tell you to deposit and wire money to Canada, that is a red flag,” Kossow said.
John North, president of the Better Business Bureau in Dayton and the Miami Valley, also advised people to not blindly trust money orders and cashier’s checks.
“(Scammers) make it look legitimate, and the bank you take it to does not often recognize it until you cash it,” North said. “And that can take days or even a week or so.”
North, who said the local BBB sees probably four or five fraudulent checks a week, recommended never sending money of your own before a check has cleared.
North said there seem to be endless avenues that scammers will take to get at your finances.
“They are very timely,” he said.
The most recent scams use the U.S. Census, health care reform, the lottery and even those donating to natural disaster relief to attempt to get cash from consumers.
“If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” he said.
“There is no easy money.”
For more information on scams, visit the FTC at www.ftc.gov, the BBB at www.dayton.bbb.org or contact the Ohio Attorney General’s office at www.speakoutohio.gov.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Scams to watch out for, Sunday columns
Comments
By Jamie
April 11, 2010 1:52 PM | Link to this
there are actually 3 mystery shopping companies that I have worked for that are legit. You do have to take a test to become certified which cost about $30. I made quite a bit of money while I was off work for a while. so not all are scams
By d
April 11, 2010 10:53 PM | Link to this
Don’t feel sorry for this woman, it’s her own fault. She should know that money doesn’t come easy unless you give up morals or privacy. She deserved this. Natural selection, only in the financial sense.
By Mike
April 12, 2010 7:53 AM | Link to this
“d”, no one cares what you think, and no, she didn’t deserve this. Ok…potential employers should be checked out on the web before any involvement. Our Dayton/Montgomery County library provides computers for people who don’t own one or can’t afford the web.
By d
April 12, 2010 8:00 AM | Link to this
People do care, Mike. People do care.
By JJ
April 12, 2010 9:29 AM | Link to this
I was a mystery shopper for years, and even the lady that paid $30 to get “certified” has been scammed. You don’t need to be certified to get mystery shopping jobs. For the lady that got scammed out of thousands - I have to say in this day and age she really should have known to wait for the deposit to go through before sending out money. That’s kind of just plain common sense.
By tg
April 12, 2010 9:50 AM | Link to this
I got one of those checks and they do not look real. There was no signature or a stamp that would indicate validity. As the saying goes; to good to be true…it probably is! Pay attention next time. Nothing is life is free!
By Mystery Shopping Providers Association
April 12, 2010 5:33 PM | Link to this
Thanks for posting Shari’s story and warning others about scams related to mystery shopping! Mystery shopping is a legitimate, $1.5 billion industry that services most of the top consumer brands across the country. The Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a trade association representing 300 legitimate mystery shopping firms, wants to draw a clear distinction between scams and legitimate companies. Legitimate mystery shopping companies will NOT: *Send you a check and ask you to wire a portion back *Charge you a fee (the MSPA offers a certification, but it is not a requirement to be a mystery shopper) *Promise large sums of money or high-ticket items for small amounts of work (the average shop will pay between $8 and $20) You can find more information about legitimate mystery shopping or search for real companies by visiting the MSPA Web site, www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers.
By David
May 26, 2010 10:43 AM | Link to this
Why would anyone waste time mystery shopping when you can earn Internet Millions with Jeff Paul? Scams wouldn’t work if there wasn’t an abundance of suckers.