Greg's Corner

Secret Shopper scam tries to streamline

By Greg Collier

Secret Shopper scams are back again. To be honest, they never really go away, but if the scammers were to be believed there would be more secret shoppers than actual shoppers.

Being a secret shopper is an actual job. Many retailers hire secret shoppers to go to their various stores and review the shopping and customer service experience. It’s a job that’s been around for decades, too. When I was in my late teens, I was working a retail job and was admonished by my manager because a secret shopper caught me not wearing my name tag. You better believe I wore my name tag from then on.

The secret shopper position has long been a favorite tool of scammers. In this latest case reported by the Better Business Bureau of Tulsa, scammers are emailing victims telling them that they’ve already been approved to be a secret shopper. If a victim responds to the email, they’re then told that they need to review a money wire transfer service like MoneyGram or Western Union. The victims are then sent a phony check. They’re instructed to deposit the check in their bank account. Then the victim is told to use the wire transfer service to transfer most of the money back to their boss and are told to keep part of the check as payment. Since the check is fraudulent, the victim who deposited it in their bank account is responsible for the check’s amount and any fees to their bank. Yet, the scammers have made off with the majority of the value of the check.

This is the most streamlined version of this scam we’ve seen in quite some time. Typically, scammers will send you the fake check, have you deposit it, have you buy some items at whatever store they’re imitating, then have you send back the difference. This version of the scam goes right to the heart of the matter and has victims just essentially send the scammers money.

As we have stated, secret shopper is an actual paying job. However, no company is going to email you out of the blue to tell you that you’ve been chosen. The position is actually a lot more rare than the scammers make it out to be. That’s not even taking into consideration that no real employer will ask you to deposit a check in your own bank account before spending it. And any time money transfer services or gift cards are involved, you can assume that everything about the job is a scam.

If you want to actually become a secret shopper, you can check with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association at their website.