If someone claiming to
represent the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) OR any
Mystery Shopping company sends you a check and asks you to cash it, wire most
of it to someone else, and report on your experience with the wire
service....don't do it! It's a scam! Someone is doing that very thing and, in
some cases, is providing a toll-free number for their scam targets to
call...and they answer the phone as if it were really MSPA. It is not.
Fake check scammers
have been around for many years, adopting identities that suit them, trying to
appear legitimate. They may represent themselves as officials from a lottery,
telling you to cash a check they send you and wire a portion back to them
because the check mistakenly was for more than you supposedly won. They may
respond to your ad to sell your car by sending you a check for more than your
asking price, then contact you to ask you to wire the difference back to them
so they can fly out to pick up the car. Fake check scammers have a thousand
stories. Don't fall for them. Especially don't fall for a claim that MSPA wants
you to cash a check and do some mystery shopping! We will NEVER send you a
check and ask you to wire a portion back to us. Anyone who claims to be MSPA
and asks you to do that is a fraud.
If you receive a
check, regardless of who it is from, asking you to cash it and wire a portion
to someone else, DON'T! Instead, immediately contact the organizations listed
below.
Call police (they may
not be able to do anything, but filing a police report can help if discover
later if the scammers are caught)
File report with your
state's Attorney General
File and report with www.phonebusters.com.
File a report with the
Internet Crime Complaint Center www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.
File a complaint with
the Federal Trade Commission by telephone at 1-877-FTC-HELP or at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.
If the package with
the check came by U.S. mail, contact your local post office and ask for the
Postal Inspector (be sure to take a copy of the stamped envelope and its
contents).
A useful resource
about avoiding mystery shopping scams and finding legitimate mystery shopping
opportunities may be found on the Federal Trade Commission's website at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt151.shtm
Mystery Shopping
Providers Association (MSPA)-Mystery Shopping jobs
http://mysteryshop.org/shoppers/
