Would you like to get paid to shop or to dine out? Some people do make money this way. They’re called mystery shoppers or secret shoppers. They’re hired to try products or services and share their experiences about buying or returning items, or their overall customer experience

Being a mystery shopper can be a pleasant way to make extra money when you’re retired. It can also be a sideline gig to boost your retirement. But only if you work with legitimate mystery shopper companies. 

Unfortunately, there are scammers who target people looking for secret shopper and mystery shopper jobs.  If you fall for their job scams, you’ll lose money instead of making it.

 How Mystery Shopper Scams Work

Mystery shopper scammers often pretend to be from a well-known company.  When they “hire” you to be a mystery shopper, they send you a check.   They tell you to keep some of the check money for yourself and make purchases with some of it. Depending on the scam, they may tell you to wire the rest of the money back to them, or to buy gift cards and then to read the numbers on the gift cards to them.

But it’s all a scam. The check they send may be for thousands of dollars. But it’s fake. And it will bounce. Thus, you wind up losing all the money you’ve transferred to the scammers, whether it was through a wire or by reading off the numbers on those gift card you purchased.

How to Spot and Avoid Mystery Shopper and Secret Shopper Scams

If you’re considering a mystery shopping job, keep these suggestions in mind to spot and avoid scams:

• Research the job first. Search online for the name of the company or person who’s hiring you, plus words like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” See what others are saying.

• Never agree to deposit a check to buy gift cards and send the numbers back or to wire some of the check money back. Only scammers will say to do that. It can take weeks for a bank to figure out that the check is fake. By that time, you’re stuck repaying the money to the bank.
• Don’t believe guarantees that you’ll make lots of money. Only scammers make these guarantees. Mystery shopping jobs are usually part-time or occasional work — not something to replace a full-time job.

Other Mystery Shopping Job Scams

The fake check scam isn’t the only scam to watch out for if you are considering working as a mystery shopper. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns you to also be on the lookout for these mystery shopper scams:

• Don’t pay to work. If you have to pay an upfront fee to become a mystery shopper, that’s always a scam. Honest companies pay you, not charge you, to work for them. Even if they say the money is really for a certification, training, or a guaranteed job, don’t do it. No real job, including mystery shopping, involves paying to get the job. You’ll find out the certification is worthless, and there’s probably no job.
• Don’t pay for a list of mystery shopping jobs. 
• Never wire money as part of a mystery shopping assignment. A scammer might send you a check for buying products, tell you to deposit it, and wire money back for “taxes,” “fees,” or some other reason. This is a classic scammer move. Wiring money is like sending cash — once you send money through a company like MoneyGram or Western Union, you probably won’t get it back.
• Never deposit checks into your bank account and send money back. It doesn’t matter who it’s from or what they say it’s for — don’t do it. This is a fake check scam. Any money withdrawn from your account is your own money since the check is worthless.
• Don’t apply for mystery shopping jobs that guarantee you’ll make a lot of money. Only scammers make these guarantees. And only scammers say that you’ll be able to quit your job and do this full-time. Mystery shopping jobs are typically part-time work and don’t usually pay enough to replace a full-time job.
• Don’t respond to a job notice saying it’s with MSPA. The Mystery Shopping Professionals Association (MSPA) is a trade association for the customer experience industry. MSPA doesn’t hire or advertise for mystery shoppers.

Report It to the FTC

If you spot or lose money to a mystery shopping scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general.

Image source: Depositphotos