So I came across some of the Mystery Shoppers stuff too, let me tell you a couple more names to watch out for. Don't know if they are legit or not I doubt it because I haven't heard back from them. Mart Every, Michael Smith, Frank James and David Anderson. Again, I don't know if the other guys are legit or not but Mart Every is not. So watch out people.

It always makes sense for folks to be objective about any communications they receive unsolicited that may involve their time, money or other items of value. Probably the most useful phrase to remember is "Too good to be true." This applies to any confidence game, whether it is that you purportedly have won a lottery you never entered, have had an unknown relative die and leave you tons of money you need to pay some legal fees to have released to you, are being offered too much money by strangers to do mystery shops or other errands.

You protect your identity by not answering pfishing emails that are requesting passwords--legitimate companies tell you to log on at their site to deal with any issues and don't provide you a link to do so. If you don't know how to get to the site on your own then it is probably not worth your time to go and clarify anything anyway.

You don't send your personal information to strangers by email over the internet unless you are 100% certain they are who they purport to be and there is no other way. Certainly in mystery shopping the first step is to register on the website of a legitimate company and most legitimate companies offer a secured website to do so.

If you receive checks in the mail you do not know who they are really from and what they are really for, don't cash them. Mystery shopping pays AFTER the work is done and accepted, so checks received in advance are going to be scams.

Con jobs and other scams appeal to our avaricious natures and our sense of need. Don't be a victim.

Thanks Flash, you have provided so much useful information, for a new mystery shopper like me.

I often wonder about scams and try to be extremely cautious when it comes to providing personal information over the internet, etc.

Flash,
How come alot of the url companies do not have the Https, or the security lock symbol? I have applied for some and they were all cool. Just like right now my url has no s behind the http. Just curious, and I know you are a very smart person.

Generally no 's' or no lock indicates it is not a secured website. Thus there is the potential for the information you are submitting to be intercepted on the web. Most of the time they only have the actual application site secured, not the rest of the site. What companies are you looking at? I know Pinkerton didn't have it and when I raised question they indicated 'duh, we never had anybody mention that before and never had a problem'. I submitted my SS# to them via email to the gal I was emailing with. Otherwise it has been a very long time since I saw an application that was not on a secured site.

Whenever I get phishing email messages I forward it to the e-mail address below. This is part of The Department of Homeland Security


US-CERT is collecting phishing email messages and web site locations so that we can help people avoid becoming victims of phishing scams.


You can report phishing to us by sending email to: phishing-report@us-cert.gov