I almost fell for a mystery shopper scam, but luckily I called the bank on the checks and found out it was a scam before I had cashed them and western unioned the rest of the money. But here is my problem now. I was sent practically the same e-mail from another person to become a mystery shopper, so what I did was reply to the e-mail not to bother sending me anything unless it was a money order or a cashiers check. I just recieved two money orders yesterday and was shocked because aren't money orders just like cash? They look very real, so should I bring them to the post office and ask them to make sure they are in fact real? and if they are real can a money order come back onto me? Meaning can they be recalled and then I am responsible for the amounts on them? Please anyone have any advice on what I should do. Thanks!
Money orders and cashiers checks - like cash - can be counterfeited. In fact, it's a lot easier to counterfeit Money orders than it is to counterfeit currency. We seldom hear about thefts of money order and cashiers checks paper, but it happens.
Take the checks to the post office or your bank. They should be able to verify if they are real or not. My hunch is they are fake, as they were sent to you by someone who used a format identical to the first scam you received. Do you still have the email that was sent to you for the second mystery shopper job? If you do, can you post it, complete with headers (but with your identifying information removed)?
If you have been asked to send any part of that money by Western Union or MoneyGram, the "job" is a scam, and the checks are absolutely fake. Real mystery shopper jobs do not ask you to wire money back to the employer.