This is a little off topic from the e-publishing industry, but I had something happen and I wanted to alert people.
In the last two months, my wife has received two letters in the mail with checks in them. The checks were for thousands of dollars. The companies say they are “Secret Shopper” companies for Western Union and other companies. They say we could easily make hundreds of dollars depositing the check and then wiring some of the money back to them. Fortunately, my wife did her homework and discovered that this is a scam. These checks will bounce, leaving the person who deposits them in the lurch for thousands of dollars. (The depositor could also go to jail for passing a fraudulent check…)
Fortunately, we didn’t lose any money on this. But I thought I would bring it to your attention, in case you received a similar letter.
Scopes.com has a relevant page: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
The Postal Service also has a page on this:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/consumer/MysteryShopperScam2.pdf
The postal service has a page where you can report this kind of behavior at:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
(I don’t know that anything will come of having reported it, since the mail is postmarked from Canada…but it’s a little cathartic to turn these people in.)
Let me know if you’d like any more information on this.
Gregg Greer
In the last two months, my wife has received two letters in the mail with checks in them. The checks were for thousands of dollars. The companies say they are “Secret Shopper” companies for Western Union and other companies. They say we could easily make hundreds of dollars depositing the check and then wiring some of the money back to them. Fortunately, my wife did her homework and discovered that this is a scam. These checks will bounce, leaving the person who deposits them in the lurch for thousands of dollars. (The depositor could also go to jail for passing a fraudulent check…)
Fortunately, we didn’t lose any money on this. But I thought I would bring it to your attention, in case you received a similar letter.
Scopes.com has a relevant page: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
The Postal Service also has a page on this:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/consumer/MysteryShopperScam2.pdf
The postal service has a page where you can report this kind of behavior at:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
(I don’t know that anything will come of having reported it, since the mail is postmarked from Canada…but it’s a little cathartic to turn these people in.)
Let me know if you’d like any more information on this.
Gregg Greer
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