Mystery shopper scam warning

kate83

I received this email this morning and just thought I should post it to warn others.
I'm sure it's a scam but it I thought it looked a bit more believable than others I'd seen, the give away for me was that it was sent at 1am.

Mystery Shoppers Ltd.
International House.
Waldon Way, Holsworthy.
Devon EX22 6HL.
UNITED KINGDOM.

Greetings,

My name is David yang and I am e-mailing you on behalf of "Mystery Shoppers Ltd." which is based in the United Kingdom. We are presently seeking more Mystery Shoppers within the United Kingdom, therefore kindly read the content below:

ABOUT US: Mystery Shoppers Ltd was started in 1991 and currently has offices in London, Reading and Devon. We have a database of over 70,000 agents across the UK with about 200 Mystery Shoppers carrying out assignments at any one time. However, many of our programmes call for agents to be recruited specifically to meet the Client's requirements. We generally receive contracts from several clients whom request several surveys and reports from designated points.

POSITION TITLE: Mystery Shopping

AVAILABILITY: OPEN

START DATE: Immediate

COMMISSION PER ASSIGNMENT: 200Pounds

JOB DESCRIPTION: You will be required to conduct an all expense paid survey and evaluation exercises on behalf of Mystery Shoppers Ltd. Your job will be to evaluate and measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products, service quality and friendliness of the operator/clerk. As our mystery shopper posing as normal customers, you will expected to perform specific tasks—such as purchasing a product or using a service.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: We have presently received a double contract which requires that you hav current account with any banks in uk. We shall then make a transfer into that account in which you shall use to conduct your survey, meanwhile once the funds have been transferred into that account you shall then conduct a first survey at the bank. When withdrawing the funds, you shall be required to take note of the time taken to withdraw funds, how many cashiers were at the branch and also if there was a queue. After withdrawing funds, you shall then proceed towards the next survey in which you shall receive instructions after accepting this position.

You will be directed to outlets, firms and corporate bodies to report on their staff's activities by forwarding us a mail with a record of your experiences such as:

1) The product & services paid for.
2) How long it took before you were attended to.
3) How the attendants and employees related with you.
4) Customer service professionalism level

PLEASE NOTE: It is compulsory to have a current account ,Funds in which you shall use to perform your surveys shall be transferred into the account in which you shall setup, if you already have an existing savings or current account at the above mentioned banks, the account can be used. ONLY 1 of the above mentioned banks shall be accepted due to the contract policy. You do not require any special skills for this opening, however in order to apply for this job you MUST ensure you have access to your E-mails at least two (2) times a day and also have a phone number in which you can be reached in-case of an emergency update.

MYSTERY SHOPPER APPLICATION: If you would like to Mystery Shop for us and you are ready to setup the new account at the above mentioned banks or already have an existing account with the banks stated above, please complete the following form below:

Full Names:
Address Line 1:
Address Line 2:
City:
State:
Country:
Age:
Post Code:
Home Phone Number:
Cell / Mobile Phone Number:
Gender:
Current Occupation:]
Bank Name Info.

Do you have an existing account with one of the following banks: Halifax Bank "or" Abbey National plc? If yes, please state which bank
If you do not have an existing account with the above mentioned banks, when will you setup the account?
Have you had any previous expertise in surveying:


ALL APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: [EMAIL="mysterydepartment@gala.net"]mysterydepartment@gala.net[/EMAIL]


Communications & Human Resources Center, United Kingdom.
International House.
Waldon Way,
Holsworthy.
Devon.
EX22 6HL
E-mail: [EMAIL="mysterydepartment@gala.net"]mysterydepartment@gala.net[/EMAIL]

©2006-2010 Mystery Shoppers Ltd.

icsys

I've received these emails too.

They are very believable as the company exists and the address given is legitimate.

www. mystery-shoppers.co.uk/contact_us.htm (link broken as links not allowed)

So is it an elaborate scam using legitimate details?

The warning signs for me are the several domains being used:

The email return address is to gala.net
The email appears to originate from live.net

If legitimate why not use the correct domain mystery-shoppers.co.uk

Littlegrill

I have just registered with UK Mystery Shopper Employment Agency and stupidly paid the registration fee of £22.99 (originally £34.00 but I got a reduced rate!!). They sent me a list of businesses in the USA when I had specifically stated UK and have since read that they are scammers. They advertise a full refund if you cancel your membership within 60 days which I have tried to do. There was no way of cancelling the membership on their website so have sent them an e-mail and also requested a refund from them through Paypal.

I have now received an e-mail from them saying that I have to print of a cancellation form, complete it (with my name, address etc) and post it to them in India!! Some PLEASE help me. What should I do? Continue to a claim through a Paypal even though the company has provided me with a solution? I dont fancy sending my details through the post to India!

bigpound

Report the transaction to paypal as fraudulant, scammers will never refund you.

Sammyantha

This is even doing the rounds on people per hour, gumtree, linked in, and various other websites where freelancers pick up work.

Not believable in the slightest. Didn't the "which requires that you hav current account with any banks in uk" give it away??? LMAO

Lady_Python

That is a classic Phishing scam letter.

If anyone has answered that, you must get in touch with your bank and tell them immediately - otherwise you could find your hard earned cash is lining someone else's pocket.

Never answer any letters or suchlike that just appear in your e-mail. Delete them.

If a company is genuine, it will ALWAYS address you by your proper name.

Beware. There is also one going around purporting to be from the RBS.

davidjwest

£200 per assignment, yes it's definitely a scam!

As an experienced Mystery Shopper, I can safely say this is way above a typical fee - divide it by ten or twenty and you're nearer the mark!

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Sammyantha wrote: »

This is even doing the rounds on people per hour, gumtree, linked in, and various other websites where freelancers pick up work.

Not believable in the slightest. Didn't the "which requires that you hav current account with any banks in uk" give it away??? LMAO

The £200 per job flagged it up for me.