When a seemingly legitimate check, accompanied by a letter with an offer that seemed too good to be true, appeared in an NBC Chicago employee’s mailbox, she turned to NBC 5 Responds for help.
The letter asked the recipient to deposit the $2,500 check, then purchase several gift cards from stores like Walgreens, CVS or Walmart to help “improve global customer service.”
The so-called “secret shopper” gets to keep $500 for their part in completing the task, with an incentive to act quickly.
The letter reads, “Completing the assignment within 12 hours will earn you additional $150 bonus.”
At the bottom of the letter, it advises the recipient, “At any store chosen for your purchase, under no circumstances should you acknowledge that you are evaluating their services as that will deter the purpose of the whole program.”
“Ninety-five percent of the time, these are going to be fraudulent mailers trying to get unwitting postal customers to do their bidding on their behalf, and ultimately it’s the postal customer taking the financial hit,” said Spencer Block, the public information officer for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Chicago Division.
Block said criminal charges are rare, but the recipient would be on the hook with their bank for depositing a fraudulent check.
“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” he said. “Usually it’s a high amount of financial incentive or reward for you with little to do, little work.”
CVS said in a statement to NBC 5 Responds, “This is not a legitimate CVS Pharmacy sponsored program. Individuals who receive this letter and check should contact their local police department.”
Block said postal customers should be wary of three things: senders that don’t match the retailer listed on the letter and check, different fonts used throughout and any mail that’s unsolicited.
In the NBC Chicago employee’s case, the check appears to be from a company called “Wholesale Jewelry Supply Co.,” which is never mentioned in the letter.
Mystery shopper scams like these aren’t new, and have decreased over time, Block said. Another scam, however, is popping up more frequently, especially since the COVID pandemic.
“We’ve seen a huge spike in job scams in the last month or so, beginning in May, leading up to most recently, it’s almost a 1000% spike,” said Abhishek Karnik, the director for Threat Research and Response at McAfee, an online consumer protection software company.
Karnik said nearly one in three Americans have received a job offer scam like this through text or email, promising high pay for part-time, remote work.
It may seem harmless to send a resume or some personal information, but that’s when the scam starts.
“Because then they’ll ask you to pay for either training services or to buy equipment, and they’ll promise you reimbursements of that amount,” Karnik said. “But those reimbursements you’ll never see.”
Karnik said the texter may try to move the conversation from text to another platform like Telegram or WhatsApp. They may ask the recipient to do simple tasks for small amounts of money, and once they build confidence, they may send an invoice through the Cash App or PayPal.
“You’ll end up paying them rather than them paying you. So, they have a very methodical sort of approach to the scam,” Karnik said.
Anyone who receives a “mystery shopper” letter and check can report it to the USPIS hotline at 877-876-2455.
If you think you’ve been scammed, you should report it to the Federal Trade Commission and your credit card company or bank.
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