Secret Shopper Email Scams

If you have an email address, chances are you’ve been spammed with email containing any number of identity theft scams.  The key to avoiding these in most cases is simply using common sense.  Any offer that sounds too good to be true, is usually just that.  But another way to stay on top of things, is keeping informed about the scams that are currently circulating the internet.

There’s a new one going around, in which a store you’ve probably shopped at in the past emails you with an offer to become a secret shopper.  This job entails you taking money that the company gives you, to shop at their stores and report back about quality of service, and the set up of the store.  While this is a real job, a store approaching you out of nowhere to do that job falls under the category of too good to be true.

This is the sort of scam where your common sense should really start twitching into play.  First off, how did this store know to contact you about the job?  Even if it’s a store you frequently shop at, thinking logically, how did they get a hold of your specific email, to contact you about becoming a secret shopper.  Even if that store legitimately makes offers like that, what are the chances you’d never been informed of the chances before?

Taking those into account, if you really feel beyond a shadow of a doubt that this offer could be legitimate, there are a few ways you can check.  First look at the address of the sender of the email.  This tells you whether or not to consider the offer as legitimate.  Unless the mail comes from a .com that you know is specifically involved with that chain of stores, already you know the offer is a scam.

But if the mail seems official through the address, there is another step you can take before running the risk of handing over personal information.  Contact the Better Business Bureau about the offer.  They should be able to provide you information regarding whether or not scams have been reported involving that company.  Also they can provide you with advice as to whether the offer is legitimate.