Mystery Shopper Scam?

Hi all, first time poster, figured I needed to do some research. Got a letter in the mail today from "Research Now Plc.", offering a job mystery shopping. They enclosed a check for almost 4,000 dollars with instructions to send most of it to one of five people on a list, spend another hundred or so whereever I want, and I get to keep 400 dollars.

I'm not stupid, and this seems really really fishy, however this company is apparently an accredited business in the Better Business Bureau, however I imagine it's easy enough to pretend to work there and in reality have nothing to do with them. I suppose it's POSSIBLE it's the real deal and I'd hate to pass it up. Of course I'd hate to get stuck with a counterfeit check and the bill for 4 grand too.

Sounds more than fishy to me. Any transaction where you are supposed to cash a cheque and forward part on is less than legit. Well done for spotting it.

What kind of company is going to send cheques to random people in the post and hope the send the money on or do the job?

Regarding the company name, I should probably tell you I work at NASA, Microsoft, and the Vatican. They are just naming real companies. It may even be that they looked up the name of a real employee too.

Do not cash the cheque. Please post the names listed. They are probably just random names (as most money transfers can be picked up without ID), but if you post them, it's likely that another potential victim will find them and thus not become an actual victim.

Welcome, DrFaroohk. As Newdonym said, the check will be fraudulent. The key to the scam is that they ask you to wire on a portion. Sometimes the checks will clear initially, during which time period you've wired out money. If you were to deposit it, the check would definitely be returned to your bank as fraudulent and you would be both financially and possibly, legally responsible.

You can learn more about check fraud by visiting http://www.fakechecks.org.

You can turn the check over to your local police, it may be forged with stolen account information from a real company. When this happens, the real company is often already aware of it but it may still be helpful for you to turn it in. The police likely won't be able to do anything about the crime attempted against you, but the more these crimes are reported, the more attention they will receive.

Please do post any details on the scammer that you have so that they'll show up in internet searches. Let us know if you have any questions, we're glad to help.

Here's what I got on it: Plain white envelope, canadian postmark. The letterhead says "Research Now Plc., 220 Montgomery Street Suite 1058, San Francisco, CA 94104". This I think is actually a real business and the scammers are just using the name.

The people I should forward the money to are: Chelsea Berry, Philydelphia, PA; Laura Cowen, Pittsburg, PA; Anabel Carlton, NYC; Justina Brandon, NYC; Latoya Benson, Waltham, MA.

It lists a contact, "Mike Howard", phone # 1-514-577-6493. THe letter is signed by "Tiffany L. Lopland, Director of Human Resources". There is another page that is a form to fill out as far as the "Ratings" go with the mystery shopping.

It really looks well set up and legit, but fortunately I've heard of these scams before and was suspicious enough to check. Hurray!

Hi DrFaroohk,

Did they state how you were supposed to send the money to the others?

Western Union? MoneyGram? or what.

The use of these usually rings alarm bells here. If they ask you to send them the NTCN and the Test Q & A then that money can be picked up anywhere in the world, meaning that the names they gave you are fakes.

Could you post those details here so that we can better assess the scam.

And well done for checking before banking the check. There are some people, sadly, who would accept the windfall without question, which is of course what these fraudsters are banking on.
If you bank the cheque and it is accepted before it is found to be fake, and you then withdraw the money and send the amounts on to other by WU or MG, then later on, weeks or months, the bank finds the cheque was fake, it is you they come to for recompense. By that time the scammer is long gone along with your money.

It was Western Union OR MoneyGram. A girl I know fell for a similar scheme where a guy claimed he was overseas on business and the bank there wouldn't accept his money orders, so he sent her the money orders, told her to cash them and then wire him the money and she could keep 10%. She got in deep poop over the whole thing, although I don't know ultimately what happened to her.

The sad thing is that ANYONE can fall for these. A few years ago I got a call from someone about an unpaid student loan I had, and I unwittingly gave her all my bank info to pay for it. As it happens, it was legit and everything was cool, but in retrospect I realized how easily that could have been ANYONE and I just handed my bank information over to a complete stranger. But if people get enough information on you, they can sound like they really are who they say they are.

Well, my friend got this same letter. She opened a checking account and deposited the check last week. We called the number on the letter and they said to call back when they check has cleared. So, if this a fake check, will the bank catch it when they tell her it is "cleared"? Or can it still come back fake weeks after the bank clears it? What does she do with the money that is in her account from this check if she's skeptical now AFTER it was deposited? She did some research online, but apparently didn't put in the right combo of words in google because she didn't find this site. I really wish we knew all this before she deposited it.

Hi, meghanG.

Unfortunately, it can be weeks or even months before a check is discovered to be fraudulent. Banks are required to make funds available in a few days, but that doesn't mean you are safe.

Your friend needs to go to her bank immediately and tell them she now fears the check was fraudulent. She needs to take all the emails with her. If by chance she still has the envelope the check came in, she should take that, too.

If she goes to her bank and alerts them now, she will save herself a big pile of grief in the future.

Hi Meghan,

As Holly said, she needs to report it to the bank asap, and NOT attempt to withdraw any funds or she will be dealing with a big mess (and possibly a lot of additional charges).

The real problem is with the word "cleared". The average person believes that if the bank makes the money available, then the check has "cleared". That is what the scammer is counting on. In reality, that is not the case. A check is actually "cleared" when the bank it is issued on has confirmed that it is authentic, and has transferred the funds from the issuer's bank to the recipient's bank. If the check is being questioned, this can take weeks.

For US citizens, here is part of a summary by the Federal Trade Commission. The full article is at the following link, I am just giving you the key excerpt.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre40.shtm

You and Your Bank — Who is Responsible for What?

Under federal law, banks must make funds available to you from U.S. Treasury checks, official bank checks (cashier’s checks, certified checks, and teller’s checks), and checks paid by government agencies at the opening of business the day after you deposit the check. For other checks, banks must similarly make the first $100 available the day after you deposit the check. Remaining funds must be made available on the second day after the deposit if payable by a local bank, and within five days if drawn on distant banks.

However, just because funds are available on a check you’ve deposited doesn’t mean the check is good. It’s best not to rely on money from any type of check (cashier, business or personal check, or money order) unless you know and trust the person you’re dealing with or, better yet — until the bank confirms that the check has cleared. Forgeries can take weeks to be discovered and untangled. The bottom line is that until the bank confirms that the funds from the check have been deposited into your account, you are responsible for any funds you withdraw against that check.

Hi Meghan, welcome to Scamwarners, the others have this pretty well coverd but if I may reinforce the importance of being up front with the bank, there is no doubt the bank will want their money back, in many cases they will simply withdraw the funds back out and charge a dishonour fee, but if the funds are not available they are likely to contact the police, if the police suspect anything other than you being an honest victim they may prosecute for attempting to cash the fake cheque, be sure to keep all correspondance from and to the scammers and take notes of any meetings or dealing with the bank, in reality it wont be used but there is a chance it will save you a whole lot of grief later.

As to this site not coming up immediately in your search, if you could add any additonal details in a post here it will come up for the next person and you may prevent another scam victim.

I realise the inconvenience of this but there could have been much more inconvenience if money was sent to the scammer.

If you do have any others questions please feel free to ask