* Alert * Mystery Shopping Scams * Alert*

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I thought it would be wise of me to inform everyone that is not aware of this that Mystery Shopping is a legitimate extra money maker. I myself am a mystery shopper. I am contracted with several companies. I get paid from every company I shop for. However, I do not receive payment until after I've completed my assignment accurately. If you are looking at trying the Mystery Shopping thing, there are a few things I want to warn you about. 1. Never pay to become a Mystery Shopper. Every mystery shopping company is free to contract with. The companies that request you to pay a fee are not mystery shopping companies, they do not find you jobs, they do not register you with mystery shopping companies. The only thing they are doing is selling you a list of mystery shopping companies, but some of the companies on their list are no longer in business. You can actually search the internet and find mystery shopping companies. 2. If you scouring the classifieds on the internet and come across a company that claims to be paying $200 - $300 to evaluate a business it's one of them check cashing fraud schemes. They say will send you the money up front to complete your mystery shop. The check they send you is no good, it will bounce. Not only that they will steel your account number. You will be responsible to repay your bank for this bounced check. 3. I believe some of these scammers buy email lists. If you happen to receive an email from someone (possibly looks like it came from a company) and they claim they are a company that conducts surveys and evaluates other companies, keep alert, more than likely it's a scam. If you notice any of the following, its a scam: a. The senders address is different from the email address they are telling you to respond to. Usually the email address they tell you to respond to is a gmail address. b. The ask you for all your personal information: name, address, phone number, age, gender, etc... c. The company name at the signature line doesn't quite match the website address they are giving you. d. Typing errors: Spelling, grammar and punction (this is a big clue) If in doubt, don't email them to their gmail address, instead, go onto the website they provide to you in the email, go into contact us and call the company or send the company an email. Ask the company if the person who is listed on your email works for their company. More than likely they will tell you no. It's a scam....stay away....do not do business with them. More and more of the scammers are trying to outsmart all of us by listing a website address, thinking we won't check into, we will assume they are a legitimate mystery shopping company. That's not the case. I caught onto this scheme quick and wanted to inform everyone else whom is not aware and who is just venturing into the mystery shopping industry. Should you come across a scam, report them to the Attorney General in the state they are listing they are from, Federal Trade Commission and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. If your not sure if it is a scam, or if you have other issues, questions, feel free to ask, I'd be more than happy to help. Hopefully, with everyone working together, reporting these unethical people, one of these days these scammers will have to pay big time. We won't have so many fraudulent activities being conducted on the internet just for someone else to steel our hard earned money and more people would faith in the legitimate companies. Happy Mystery Shopping!