Seniors Scammed By Mystery Shopper Fraud

Several Woodbridge senior citizens have been hit by an internet "mystery shopper" scam.

Contacted via email, the seniors were offered jobs as mystery shoppers with flexible hours and good pay, police said. They were told to shop at area stores and write up reports on how they were treated as customers, to help business owners and large corporations keep track of customer service in local store branches.

The victims were sent checks for large amounts of money and told to deposit them in their personal checking accounts. They were then told to withdraw part of the money - keeping the balance as payment for their mystery shopping - and wire the remainder via Western Union to mystery shopper headquarters.

After several weeks, the checks were found to be fraudulent and bounced, with the victims on the hook to their bank for the money they withdrew.

The mystery shopper scam isn't new, and it's just a reworking of similar scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which put out an alert on the fraud.

"It’s a good idea never to deposit a check from someone you don’t know, especially if the stranger asks you to wire money," the FTC alert advises.

Legitimate mystery shopping firms do exist, but do your homework first. Some tips the FTC gives are:

• Do your homework about mystery shopping. Check libraries, bookstores, or online sites for tips on how to find legitimate companies hiring mystery shoppers, as well as how to do the job effectively.
• Search the Internet for reviews and comments about mystery shopping companies that are accepting applications online.
• Don’t pay a fee to become a mystery shopper. Legitimate companies don’t charge people to work for them – they pay people to work for them.
• Never wire money as part of a mystery shopping assignment.

Township police warned residents to discard any such solicitations. Anyone who was victimized should report it be calling Woodbridge police at 732-634-7700.