This was send to one of our co-workers after writing to a known scammer applying for the position of a "Mystery Shopper".
At this point she was accepted for the job and was being sent a (counterfeit) cheque which she was expected to cash at her bank and then go and "Mystery Shop" to evaluate the level of customer services at Western Union.
Part of her "assignment" is to send a large proportion of the cheque's stated value onto the next Mystery Shopper.
The truth is that the cheque is fake, and the second Mystery Shopper is part of the scam. When it is discovered that the cheque is fake the bank will take steps to recover the full amount of the encashment, and may press charges against the victim for being an accessory to fraud or money laundering.
At this point she was accepted for the job and was being sent a (counterfeit) cheque which she was expected to cash at her bank and then go and "Mystery Shop" to evaluate the level of customer services at Western Union.
Part of her "assignment" is to send a large proportion of the cheque's stated value onto the next Mystery Shopper.
The truth is that the cheque is fake, and the second Mystery Shopper is part of the scam. When it is discovered that the cheque is fake the bank will take steps to recover the full amount of the encashment, and may press charges against the victim for being an accessory to fraud or money laundering.
From: Richard Benard <[email protected]>
To: xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 9:20 am
Subject: Re: mystery shoppers
Attn Mystery Shopper:
This e-mail is to notify you that we have the first assignment for you for this week. The company has issued out a payment to you for this week's assignment meaning
that your weekly payment of $400 has been issued to you with some funds which you will use in executing this Assignment.
Read and make sure you understand all that is stated below to avoid any mistakes. You should receive a check today and this is part of your assignment and it would be delivered to you today via courier service, Payment was issued to cover the project bills and also part of your weekly wages and Assignment:-
Once you receive the check, you should take the payment to your bank and cash the payment today then deduct $400 as your weekly wage. Also deduct $200 as cost allowance.
IMPORTANT: THE PAYMENT WILL BE IN FORM OF A CERTIFIED BANK'S CASHIER'S CHECK AND CAN BE CASHED INSTANTLY AT ANY BANK WITHIN THE COUNTRY.
The remaining balance should be used for the below assignment. Follow these instructions below.
1ST ASSIGNMENT: Your first assignment is to go to nearest Western union store closed to you and check out and use their western union services.
As a secret shopper, you should go there and study how to send money and memorize all you see at the outlet. We want you to report back to us with the following information:
-Name of the Store/Outlet
-Procedure of attendance:
-How many attendants were at the outlet:
-How many minutes it took for them to attend to you and process transfer:
-Information that you think would be helpful
-Your comments and impressions.
As a secret shopper your job is to observe any thing useful going on in the outlet. Make sure you observe everything you see in there because you may be asked some other questions when you return. So then you would go ahead and make a western union money transfer to another mystery shopper for another assignment.
We want you to deduct your weekly payment of $400 and have the remainder funds sent to the information below for proper preparation of our next Mystery Shopper.
TRANSFER THE REST OF THE FUNDS THROUGH WESTERN UNION TO THE
BELOW INFORMATION:
Name: Steven Norris
Address: 632 dayton Dr
Detroit Michigan 48210
Our Finance department has just established a new system which you might have never heard of and it is called Alert Pay. And this service is been Privately owned and
established under our management since 2004 with many competitors we have a very low rating and few customers and we want to develop and upgrade our service to the best and fullest. So we only need the report you provide so we can work on our service.
Please try as much to be discrete when doing your work as a mystery shopper, just observe all you see and report back when you get back home. Your next assignment this week would be immediately after this one, we would provide you with the details and address and your balance weekly payment.
Also to further finalize this Assignment, you have to get back to us with the below western union transfer information for the money you sent to the other mystery shopper:
1. Senders Name and Address
2. 10 Digit Money Transfer Control Number {M.T.C.N}
3. The amount transferred after deducting western union charges.
This project shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours to execute and the time limit matters to us, with that we can also determine your efficiency and the commitment you show towards working with us. Do get back to me with the Reports and Transfer information.
Looking forward to work with you on this project and remember to pretend to be a client who wants to send money so they wont detect you are a secret shopper. Should you have any other questions or need more Instructions as to your first assignment,
Kind Regards,