Help Possible Mail Scam - Mystery Shopping

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Subject: URGENT - Job Position - Approved - First assignment
From: jeff morris <[email protected]>
To: Removed - CW
Bcc: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=f46d043bdeccdc00e704b83ccf43

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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

The first assignment is to ascertain a customer service evaluation of Old
Navy.
Your duties are as follows;

1}You will receive their product in your home and you must fully inspect it
and tell us the state
of the item when you received it.i.e The packaging and the detailing of the
receipts included.

2}The time the courier delivered it at your location.

3}You will take it to any local fedex store around you where you will mail
the item out.
We will send you a fedex shipping label which will use in mailing the item
out in fedex.

4}Your general assesment of Old navy.

N.B ; PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL BY RESPONDING VIA EMAIL
ASAP

This first assignment will be effected on Tuesday contingent on your
response


Dr Jeff Morris
Director of Recruitment.

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Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The first assignment is to ascertain a customer service evaluation of Old N=
avy.<br>Your duties are as follows;<br><br>1}You will receive their product=
in your home and you must fully inspect it and tell us the state<br>of the=
item when you received it.i.e The packaging and the detailing of the recei=
pts included.<br>
<br>2}The time the courier delivered it at your location.<br><br>3}You will=
take it to any local fedex store around you where you will mail the item o=
ut.<br>We will send you a fedex shipping label which will use in mailing th=
e item out in fedex.<br>
<br>4}Your general assesment of Old navy.<br><br>N.B ; PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE T=
HE RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL BY RESPONDING VIA EMAIL ASAP<br><br>This first ass=
ignment will be effected on Tuesday=A0 contingent on your response<br><br>
<br>Dr Jeff Morris<br>Director of Recruitment.<br><br>

--f46d043bdeccdc00e704b83ccf43--

So far Last week he sent three Items all by FEDEX. One Tuesday it was returned to him Wednesday containing a high price of shoes. thursday I recived 2 boxes (both my thursday box and my Friday box) one contained two high end leather belts but no receipt, Suppoedly to see what my reaction would be and how I would write it in my report(I called and asked). The other a $800 Gold watch. Both those were shipped back to him in same box to same address as first box. I was asked yesterday if I had a Tiffanies near where I lived in IL? Closest one being in MO he said no had to be IL since I live in IL only others are in CHicago. He said he would figure out what to do since couldn't do the walk in like he had planned. Today I received a box from Tiffanies with jewlrey worth $1250 via UPS. Normally receipt is made out to same lady in company this one made out to me. Normally he asks for me to ship items back same day FEDEX I told him the other day that is hard sometimes as we only have one car and live 30-40 min from nearest FedEx store. When this package came he is calm and cool said I would be sending it back this next week to keep in safe place. Package was paid by credit card. I am suppose to be paid $200 for each assignment I do which is $1200 every 2 weeks. I have done LIGITIMENT MYSTERYSHOPPERS before for $200 each and the one I applied for was advertized as being a "High End Mystery Shopping Assignment/Surveyer Assignment but honestly I have never done one like this before. I have done some once a month for $200 each not 3 a week for $200 each. I am suppose to be getting check in mail the 20th.I refused to give him banking information to have him pay me direct deposit to protect me just in case. I have not given major personal info like SS.# or bank Account info I am independent contractor and DID NOT want him doing anything with bank account. He has name, Address and Email and phone# Which I think is about all I gave the other mystery shopping job when I did it for the Mall. So am I being scammed or did I just get lucky and doing one for a mail order group that wants to check out their mailing services from a mall that happens to be high end?

Given a part of the email header has been forged, I would say this one is a scam.

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=20190
I wonder if this being one and the same?

Hi brb6504,

I agree with jolly_roger, this is extremely suspicious:

Some red flags:
1. It is EXTREMELY uncommon for legit business to seek for employees via unsolicited email
2. It EVEN MORE uncommon for legit business to handle valuable goods to someone they never saw in person
3. Most legit business use their own email, instead of a free one

It is possible that the shipment you received was paid via compromised payment methods.

You should bring all shipment you received, with all emails exchanged with them, to the police, and ask the police for more advice.

I tend to agree especially after my latest packages of being all Tiffany stuff I DID apply for a high end Mystery shop job about two months ago but never heard from them I assumed this was them I lost the address of the place. I will talk to my husband when He comes home we may have to have a police officer come out I have another package that is suppose to be delivered today and it is all Tiffany stuff also and I am to return THREE boxes full to them probably worth several THOUSANDS of dollars back. Im not feeling good about this.

This reads like standard credit card fraud. The scammer is using you as a mule to forward merchandise purchased with stolen or fake credit cards.

You are correct in thinking you need to step away from this now. By receiving and forwarding the merchandise, you are an active participant in a crime. When the owners of the credit cards discover they have been compromised or the banks realize the cards are fraudulent, the trail will lead straight to you, and you could be in for much more than you bargained for.

UPDATE: Talked with police.... no help whatsoever. seemed very disinterested. said as long as it was paid for when I got it I'm fine they saw no problem. Said if I still felt uneasy I could ask the advice of a lawyer if I have one (which I don't) otherwise they said sounds like I just got lucky with a easy job in these times. Wonder if I need to try a different officer?

I have kept ALL emails and I have taken some pictures of receipts and merchandise.

Unfortunately, what you describe is not uncommon. Many law enforcement officials are not well-versed in this type of crime, and we have had several victims report a similar reaction from local police departments. Because this type of crime is usually in the jurisdiction of IC3 and/or the post office (if US mail is involved) local police departments have little to no experience with the crimes.

You could contact the retailer themselves, explain the situation and that you have reason to believe that the payment was fraudulent--they may do some more investigation of the payment, or ask you to return the merchandise to them. Make sure you keep all of the emails that show how this progressed either way.

I've received the same emails. It came through Careerbuilder, which my resume is on and I did apply for a mystery shopper position. Supposedly my first package is on its way. Something about this sounded too good/easy to be legit. I think I will just refuse the package and be done.

I also received the same proposition. Received a night shirt from Victoria's Secret and a Dell Laptop within a week. I have not returned either yet. Had planned to tomorrow but given when i have just read i decided to confront him via email. Havent heard anything yet. I plan to attempt to find out who's merchandise this really is and return it to them or Dell. Did anyone actually get paid?

Hello Daniarr!

There is no point in confronting the scammer. He is a liar for a living and is not going to admit he is a scammer. The scammer is just using you to move stollen merchandise. There will be no payment for the "job". The only thing you will get is the police knocking on your door if you participate. Eventually the fraudulent charges will be reported and it will show your address as to where the stollen merchandise went.

Just stop all communication with the scammer. As stated previously you may try and contact the retailers and explain the situation.

Justin

Heard back from him. He stated that i should look into it but that i would be deducted from "pay" each day that i am late in sending the merchandise. I tried to call the number on the merchandise and it was a lock smith. I tried to locate the address but couldnt find who lived there. The computer came to my address but to someone else's name. I was told it was a computer printer glitch but i think it could be the victim's name. I tried to seach that person's name but found too many to contact. What should i do now?

[AlanJones]

Hi Daniaar,

It sounds to me like (as Justin said) you are receiving stolen goods (paid for with stolen funds) and being asked to ship them on to someone else.

When the person(s) who is shipping them find out they have been scammed, and go to the police, it will be your details that they have.

I would recommend that you print out all of the emails that you have received from the scammer and take them along with the goods you have received (including the packaging) to your local police station and explain the whole thing to them and that you now suspect the goods have been paid for with stolen funds.