Don’t Get Caught up in This Secret Shopper Scam

Secret shopper scams continue to lure in people and fleece them out of their money. It may seem like an easy way to make some extra cash, but beware once you send them your money there is no way to get it back. I know there are some secret shopper companies that are for real but there are just as many scams. One woman in the Denver area found out the hard way.

The woman who only wants to identified as “Stephanie” reported that she was scammed out of $11,000. The scam came to her as an email claiming she could make some extra cash by just being a secret shopper. She responded to the email and a guy named Walter contacted her claiming to be with Wal-Mart. He sent her ten money orders at $975.00 each. He then asked her to deposit them onto her own account, withdraw the money and send most of it back to him through MoneyGram at her local Wal-Mart. It took several days for Stephanie’s bank to find out the money orders were counterfeit. She ended up responsible for the $11,000.

Many of these scams focus on seniors because they are an easy target for these types of things. It seems like a quick way to make some extra cash but beware anytime you have to pay any money up front that should be a red flag. These scams come in waves so make sure you check in on the seniors in your family and don’t let fall prey to these.