Woman avoids Internet scam

April 14, 2008

Scam
A St. Johns woman narrowly avoided becoming a victim to an apparent Internet scam according to an incident report filed by Deputy Sheriff Gabe Bagby this weekend.

The complainant is a “mystery shopper” which is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service.

These companies send mystery shoppers to act as shoppers to interact with a business as a normal customer and to report on the experience.

Mystery Shoppers are usually paid and their purchases reimbursed. These shoppers can also be used for the management of the quality and performances of goods and services.

On 04/06/08, she received an email for a mystery shopper opportunity from an email address with a name of “James Marc”. She replied with her name, address and work address.

She received another email, from a different e-mail address, with the name of “James Marc”, saying she was going to review Wal-Mart and MoneyGram and that she was being sent $2550 to perform her shopping assignment.

The next day she received a UPS envelope with three US Postal Service money orders inside. Each money order was made out for $850.00. Supposedly, the complainant was to deposit the USPS money orders into her account, issue her check to send a $2000.00 Wal-Mart MoneyGram to a person in Ypsilanti, MI and then keep the difference to cover here fees and charges.

The complainant said that she believed the USPS money orders were not real, but she took them to the bank to verify. She went to the Bank of America branch where bank personnel determined that the money orders were not real.

Fortunately, the complainant did not provide any pertinent personal information to the other party, so, no crime was committed against her. The fake money orders were turned over along with tracking information from the UPS envelope.

Written by AuggieNewsHound · Filed Under Crime & Punishment

Comments

One Response to “Woman avoids Internet scam”

Freddy on April 14th, 2008 9:20 pm

From others on the web ……

Scam Using Wal-Mart Money Gram
by ginger t. written to Walmart

My husband received a letter from ‘Survey Absolute’ regarding collecting “feedback on employee’s customer service skills” for Wal-Mart’s Money Gram.

He would be paid $300 for 2 hours training to “pose as a potential customer sending a Money Gram payment to Amanda Talbert, a relative of yours in London, Ontario, Canada.”

The required fund to be sent is $2480 Plus $70 service charge. A check for the total of $2850 was included.

This is obviously a scam. I talked with Money Gram and they acknowledged that it was a scam. Per them the zip code, telephone number, and FAX are all in different places. The person does not have to pick the money up in London, Ontartio. You will never receive payment for the check.

Since this involved instructions to go to Walmart, use services at their location and their logo was used, I thought they would be interested and take some responsibility for stopping. I called their 1-800-WALMART number but was given a total run around. I was told that someone would call me within a couple of weeks, but I have not heard from them.

I submitted the originals to the U. S. Postal Service and FAX’d a copy of the information to the U. S. Attorney’s office.