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Mystery Shopping Is A Great Front for Identity Thieves
Posted on Feb 8, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
The first sign of a scam is that you can make a lot of money for only a little work. Mystery shopping happens to be one of those nebulous terms that make people think they can get paid very well just to shop. Unfortunately a lot of mystery shopping opportunities are actually scams. Sometimes they are used to get a victim’s vital information for identity theft purposes and other times the scammer is only after money for "enrolling" the victim in the program. Beware!
There are legitimate companies out there that provide mystery shopping to restaurants, retail stores, hotel and gas stations. But most people do not know a scam when they see one related to mystery shopping because they really don’t know what mystery shopping is. I’ve been a mystery shopper for 14 years and I can tell you what to expect and when to run away from an offer.
I do not do mystery shopping for the money, because there is not much involved. The only reason I mystery shop is because I can get reimbursed for a nice meal. I typically only do dinner shops, but I know of some retail shops that will give a small stipend such as $10 after you answer a questionnaire on the service you received.
For dinner shops, I only get reimbursed for my meals. That means I don’t make any more money than what I pay out. Also, I started out slowly. The first shops I did were for $6 dinners. I eventually worked my way up to $150 dinners, but those dinner shops are far and few between. So if a mystery shopping company gives the impression that you’ll be dining at expensive restaurants from the start or making a ton of money, it may be just a ploy to grab your money or your identity.
There is no reason to pay upfront for anything related to mystery shopping! You should never pay an application fee, and never pay for a directory of mystery shopping companies (you can search for free on the internet then contact the companies directly).
Mystery shopping opportunities are a great way to grab your identity so be careful about any offers that sound too good to be true. If you’re considering any opportunities:
1. Ask the company who their client companies are
2. Make sure they are not making unreasonable promises
3. DO NOT PAY ANY MONEY UPFRONT
4. Make sure you feel comfortable before giving them any personal information
5. If you fear you have been a victim of a mystery shopping scam in the past, check your credit report to make sure there's been no suspicious activity and get free credit inspecting at www.mytruston.com.
Filed under: Fraud, Identity Theft, Scams, Tips
Tags: mystery shopping, scam
Comments
boomersrec on Mar 6, 2007
This is very interesting. I think most people have learned that there are fake PayPal and eBay emails, but I think many people looking to make money seem to think that they should click on any promise of money that comes through their email. But we all should really check out these random emailings fully, most of them are a scam.
Wendy on Mar 7, 2007
Appreciate this article! I do believe you're right my friend. Most of these sites relating to mystery shopping are nothing but a scam. The ones that are legitimate don't promise insane amounts of money, but they do ask for ours! lol
We all need to be careful. It is nice to know that there are legitimate mystery shopping sites. I'm just now getting registered with a few of them, like you for the free meals and whatever small amount I might get paid. :)
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