I have also seen an add on craigislist the other day about Mysetery Shoppers needed, so in need of money to feed my children I decided to inquire. I received a reply back with this info the next day:
From: Vincent Addice
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: MYSTERY SHOPPER IS NEEDED (charlotte)
Hello
We are a company that conduct surveys and evaluate other companies. We get hired to go to other peoples companies and act like customers in order to know how the staffs are handling their services in relation to their customers. once we have a contract to do, so you would be directed to the company or outlet, and you would be given the funds you need to do the job(either purchase things or require services), after which you would write a comment on the staffs activities and give a detailed record of your experience.
examples of details you would forward to us are
1) How long it took you to get services.
2) Smartness of the attendant
3)Customer service professionalism
4)Sometimes you might be required to upset the attendant, to see how they react to clients when they get tensed(under pressure).
And we turn the information over to the company executives and they would carry out their own duties in improving there services.
Most companies employ our assistance when people give complaints about their services, or when they feel there are needs for them to improve their customer service. Your Identity would be kept confidential as the job states (secret shopper) you would be paid $100 for every survey you carry out, and bonus on your transportation allowance, and funds would be given to you if you have to dine as part of the duty.
Your job will be to evaluate and comment on customer service in a wide variety of shops, stores, restaurant and services in your area. No commitment is made on this job, and you would have flexible hours as it suits you. If you are interested , you have to fill the list below so we can look at your distance from the locations which you have to put your service into, and your address would also be needed for your payments.
Before you fill the list below make sure you read the INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR AGREEMENT attached to this mail before you will fill the application .
First Name :
Middle Name :
Last Name :
Phone 1 :
Phone 2 :
Address 1 :
Address 2 :
City :
State :
Country
Zip Code :
Birth date :
Mon / day / year
Gender :
--
The Mystery Evaluation Team .
So I did send my info back to them and this is the reply that I got back:
From: Vincent Addice
To: anita.rivera
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 7:08 AM
Subject: Re: MYSTERY SHOPPER IS NEEDED (charlotte)
Hello,
You have been Accepted as one of our Mystery shopper/Survey Agent.
You will be evaluating Wal-Mart Stores and Money Gram Services in your
neighborhood, kindly check out for one Wal-Mart store and one money
gram agent outlet you will like to evaluate , make sure the store and
the outlet you will chose are close to your area as much as possible ,
you will have to send the name and address of the two location to
us,Please note that you are to act Cool,Calm and Confident through out
the period which you will be carrying out your survey at the store, in
order not to arouse any suspicion. you will be shopping at Wal-Mart
stores and also make a transaction at the MoneyGram , you will write a
report about the customer services , you will send your report back to
us via Email , you will have to use the following pointers to prepare
your report : 1) How long it took you to get services.
2)Ambiance/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet
3) Smartness of the attendant
4)Customer service professionalism
5)Reaction of personnel under pressure
6)Information that you think would be helpful
7)Your comments and impressions.
Payments will be mailed out to you,which you will expend in carrying
out all that will be required of you including your compensation and
Transportation fee.
All Other Instructions will be sent out to you as soon as Evaluation commences.
Please reply this Email and give us the name and address of the
Wal-mart and MoneyGram location you will be evaluating .Thank you.
The Hiring Manager
Mr Seth .
Mystery Survey Inc
323 Collins Avenue
PO BOX 120921
St Louis , MO 63114
--
The Mystery Evaluation Team
So, I wondered how the hell someone will just send you the money first if this is ligit, not only that but I have been a Mystery Shopper before luckily, for a Legit Company and I know that it can be very tedious and there is alot of specific information and forms that you have to follow, none of which this company asked for. They just ask for simple things to evaluate and no structure or outline form. That is when I figured that there was something wrong with this. Also, the person's name Mr Seth, was not the same as the email address which was from
addicev@yahoo.com, most ligit companies have an email address matching their actual name and not some one else's and they also have a professional email address and not one that can be created for free by anyone such as yahoo. I am SOOOOOO glad that I had previous experience in Mystery Shopping so that I knew what to look out for already. With my suspicions, I decided to look this up, you can look up anything that is a HOAX but going to
http://www.google.com type in the description of the subject in questions in which I typed "Mystery Shopper needed Walmart and Money gram" then type the word Hoax after that. Sure enough I found this to be a scam! I really hope that my information in this email helps innocent people out there looking to make some well earned money to become aware of what to look out for instead of falling for this BS and getting scammed, this is really ashame and no one deserves to be ripped off for someone elses fradulent intentions. Good Luck and protect yourself, always do research first!