Macdonald and Associates / mystery shopper scam?

I inquired on a vauge advertizement for a customer service job. the email sent back to me said this:







Dear applicant.



Mystery shopper customer service,administrative support and personal

assignments Coordinate some local company and store in your location.





Introduction

-----------------------

Mystery Shopper customer service is a venture that checks reputable

companies performance and services,McDonald Associates is accepting

applications from qualified and UPBEAT PERSON individuals to become

mystery shoppers this is a new company.







We offer a variety of mystery shopper programs and tools that can

assist people in their efforts to increase their sales and company

growth. By utilizing our customer service mystery shopping evaluation

program.





It's fun and rewarding, and you choose when and where you want to

shop.There is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need

previous experience. After you sign up.



One amongst many others pay for Mystery Shoppers to shop in their

establishments and report their experiences.On top of being paid for

shopping you are also allowed to keep purchases for free.



Mystery Shopper? never charge fees to the shopper,training,tips for

improvement,and shopping opportunities are provided free to registered

shoppers though there is a certain level of responsibility and

professionalism required to be an effective mystery shopper, you

should never have to pay to get a job. There are dozens of companies

claiming that by paying them a registration fee they will send you job

opportunities and teach you the steps to becoming a shopper. This may

be true, but is also completely unnecessary paycheck to Evaluate your

fist assignment would be mail to you in advance.





Assignments Example

-------------------------------

Secret Mystery Shopper has available for immediate assignment an

inspection of the customer service of any Walmart,Western Union

outlet,Office Max,Office Deport, and some other local company in your

area. This fee will be paid upfront.During this shopping you will

visit the location and make several observations as regards the

customer service.



*You will be required to interact with the shop clerk.



*You may conduct the shop alone or as a couple.



*We will pay you $400.00 for your first Assignment







Interested Shopper need to kindly fill Out the application form below

and we will get back to you shortly with more information,and be

advise that you need to be checking your mail at least once or twice

everyday.If you fail to respond to any mail for more than 24 hrs you

will miss your assignment.



Note: The money to carry out this assignment would be mail to you upfront.

To sign you up for the customer service fill information below asap today.





First Name -

Last Name -

Street Address -

City -

State -

Zip Code -

Cell Phone Number

Home Phone Number

Age(must be Above 16)

Current Occupation

Alternate Email Address





Please email will highly Appreciated.

obsessed with being the best.



McDonald Associates.

Chris. "



Just curious but i feel like this is another scam? What say you?Macdonald and Associates / mystery shopper scam?
100% scam.



There is no mystery shopper job.



The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "secretary/assistant/accountant" and will demand you cash a large fake check sent on a stolen UPS/FedEx billing account number and send most of the "money" via Western Union or moneygram back to the scammer posing as the "training manager" while you "keep" a small portion. When your bank realizes the check is fake and it bounces, you get the real life job of paying back the bank for the bounced check fees and all the bank's money you sent to an overseas criminal.



Western Union and moneygram do not verify anything on the form the sender fills out, not the name, not the street address, not the country, not even the gender of the receiver, it all means absolutely nothing. The clerk will not bother to check ID and will simply hand off your cash to whomever walks in the door with the MTCN# and question/answer. Neither company will tell the sender who picked up the cash, at what store location or even in what country your money walked out the door. Neither company has any kind of refund policy, money sent is money gone forever.



When you refuse to send him your cash he will send increasingly nasty and rude emails trying to convince you to go through with his scam. The scammer could also create another fake name and email address like "FBI@ gmail.com", "police_person @hotmail.com" or "investigator @yahoo.com" and send emails telling you the job is legit and you must cash the fake check and send your money to the scammer or you will face legal action. Just ignore, delete and block those email addresses. Although, reading a scammer's attempt at impersonating a law enforcement official can be extremely funny.



Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.



Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.



6 "Rules to follow" to avoid most fake jobs:

1) Job asks you to use your personal bank account and/or open a new one.

2) Job asks you to print/mail/cash a check or money order.

3) Job asks you to use Western Union or moneygram in any capacity.

4) Job asks you to accept packages and re-ship them on to anyone.

5) Job asks you to pay visas, travel fees via Western Union or moneygram.

6) Job asks you to sign up for a credit reporting or identity verification site.



Avoiding all jobs that mention any of the above listed 'red flags' and you will miss nearly all fake jobs. Only scammers ask you to do any of the above. No. Exceptions. Ever. For any reason.



If you google "fake check cashing job", "fraud Western Union scam", "money mule moneygram scam" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near-victims of this type of scam.
They are all scams

Stay away from Craigstlist for jobs - if you are going to fall for these things



Most of the type, the scam sends you a fake check, which you deposit

They ask you to wire money backMacdonald and Associates / mystery shopper scam?
Your first clue: "We will pay you $400.00 for your first Assignment"



Mystery shoppers NEVER get paid that high an amount.Macdonald and Associates / mystery shopper scam?
scam, scam, scam.
Yes, of COURSE it's a scam. All those "mystery shopper" offers are scams.
SCAM - that is NOT at all how real mystery shopping works

1 - you always have to register through the real mystery shopping company's website

2 - real mystery shopping pays $5-8 per shop -- NEVER $400 or even $40

3 - real mystery shopping NEVER asks you to send money through Western Union or Moneygram -- even Western Union tells you this is a scam

https://wumt.westernunion.com/WUCOMWEB/s鈥?/a>

"Mystery Shopping

There are multiple ways this type of fraud can occur. For this example we will use one 鈥巓f the most common.



Fraudsters contact victims through employment websites and ask them to evaluate the 鈥嶹estern Union Money Transfer鈥幝€?service. The fraudster sends the victim a check and 鈥巌nstructs them to deposit the check and use the funds to send a money transfer. The 鈥巚ictim sends the money transfer and the fraudster picks it up and when the check 鈥巄ounces the victim is left responsible. 鈥?quot;

4 - NO real mystery shopping company will ever send you out on a job until they have issued and you have returned an I-9 and W-4 form and passed a company training



This is a money laundering scam - if you send your address and they send you a check which you deposit you will be arrested and put in jail http://consumerist.com/2009/07/victim-of鈥?/a>