Mystery shopping or secret
shopping is a legitimate job and
a fun way to make extra money but
scam artists are giving the
industry a bad reputation.
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 Wendy Bradshaw
has been a contributing editor to the
Consumer Journal since 2004. An award
winning consumer advocate, Wendy is
relentless in her pursuit of fair
business practices and honest marketing.
She is currently assigned to home
employment and online business
investigations.
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Doug Oakley, Denver, CO
I never thought I'd be writing to a web
reviewer but I wanted to share my
experience with you. I found your
investigation last Friday when I was
looking for info on mystery shopping. It
was a real education, I'll tell you. I
visited your suggested websites and
decided to try out Mystery Shoppers
America. You were right, they're the real
thing. I was offered my first shopping
job on Monday morning. I accepted two
more assignments since then. My hat's off
to you. Thank you for the education and
the honest information.
Barb Franklin, Racine, WI
Nice work Wendy! Keep fighting the good
fight.
Merle Garbe, Naples, FL
Your reviews saved me from getting ripped
off by an envelope stuffing scam a couple
of years ago. Now that I'm looking to be
a mystery shopper, I find you again! This
is more than a coincidence. You're like
my online guardian angel. Thank you
Wendy. I'll try out one of your approved
companies. I know you won't steer me
wrong.
Vicki Coulis, Knoxville, TN
Thank god for your report! You
saved me a lot of money. I foolishly
signed up for a free list of mystery
shopping companies thinking they'd help
me find work. Sure enough, they sent me a
fake check for $2,200 and an assignment
to send money through Western Union at
Walmart. I'm so glad I read your warning
about this before I got taken. Thank you
so much.
Peter Krug, Baltimore, MD
Your a real life saver. I amost wasted 35
on a scam agency. Good thing you warn
people and tell us where the real jobs
are. Thanks!
Jennifer Bachinski, Rockford, IL
Just letting you know that I've written
about you on my blog and linked back to
your investigation on mystery shopping.
Your report is a must read for anyone
interested in getting started as a paid
shopper. I truly appreciate the time and
effort you put into your research.
Sincere thanks for your service.
Jeff Tindall, Provo, UT
Thanks for the tip on Mystery Shoppers
America. I joined them last month and I
been getting shopping jobs every day. The
money is great and Im having tons of fun.
You know your stuff. Keep it up!
Velusia Alba, Oxnard, CA
I'm writing to express my gratitude.
Thank you again for helping me get my
money back from that scam shopping
agency. I still can't get over how they
take advantage of people especially when
times are so tough. Anyway, I took your
advice and joined PSP and it's been
great. It's good to know there's still a
few honest companies online. I'm glad
you're on our side. God bless.
Nicole Carter, Dayton, OH
Hey Wendy. It's been 1 year since I
started mystery shopping thanks to you.
Your the best!
Serena Ortega, Mesa, AZ
You saved me from joining a scam
mysterty shopper agency. I found your
website and saw the businesses that
weren't recommended and there they were.
You really opened my eyes. There are sooo
many sites on your not recommended list
that I thought were legit. I'm glad I
found your website before I wasted my
money on those scammers. If I joined that
site I would've lost $40. I just got laid
off and I can't afford to lose any money.
So thanks alot. I'll never join any site
without checking here first.
Anita Conti, Clifton, NJ
I got a fake check from one of the scams
you wrote about. It was for $1685 and
they said I could keep $400 of it for
doing mistery shopping at a moneygram. I
got really excited but my husband didnt
beleive it so he did some looking around
on the internet and found your artical. I
was so mad when I found out the truth.
But Im glad I found out before it was to
late. You stopped me from making a big
mistake. And I found out about the real
shopping companies because of you. I
joined the msp company and I got lots of
offers to do shopping. I did my first
shopping job today at Sears. It was alot
of fun. Your information really helped
me.
Got a question or
comment?
Contact
Wendy
Next: Wendy does an
investigation into Rebate Processor
work-from-home jobs.
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By Wendy Bradshaw, Consumer Journal
. . . It's supposed to be a secretive
industry, yet the ads are all over the Internet:
Mystery Shoppers Wanted! With so many online
scams, the mystery is - are these jobs real?
. . . Mystery shopping, also known as
secret shopping, is in fact, a very legitimate
job that has been around for more than 50 years.
It’s a $1.6 billion a year industry that
employs over one million shoppers.
. . . A mystery shopper is someone who
gets paid to visit a store, restaurant or
service. While in the establishment, the mystery
shopper secretly evaluates things like customer
service, store cleanliness and product quality.
After the visit, the shopper fills out a brief
questionnaire (shopper report) describing their
shopping experience and gets paid for their time
and opinions.
. . . Mystery shoppers are paid very
well and quite often, they are treated to free
merchandise and free meals as part of the job.
Professional mystery shoppers can earn over
$60,000 a year, not to mention all the free
products, perks and free meals they enjoy.
. . . A shopping career can be very
exciting, and for those who love to shop or dine
out - it's the perfect job. But the biggest
challenge for a new shopper is avoiding the scams
while looking for honest work.
"Current
investigation reveals that 82.3% of ads
for mystery shoppers are fraudulent."
. . . Over the years, I have
conducted 12 full-scale investigations into
mystery shopping. With each investigation, I am
surprised by the growing number of scams
attacking this industry. In the past few months,
the scams are at near epidemic levels.
. . . In my recent investigation, I
joined 62 websites that were advertising mystery
shopping jobs. And I uncovered one of the worst
scams I have ever seen. At first, the scam looks
like a helpful free service but you won't believe
what's really going on.
Beware of Websites
Offering
Free Mystery Shopping Opportunities
. . . In your search for
mystery shopping work, you’ve probably come
across some websites that promise you free
mystery shopping jobs. All you have to do is sign
up for their “free service” and
they’ll send you mystery shopping jobs or a
list of mystery shopping companies - right to
your e-mail inbox.
. . . They’ll send you stuff
alright. But you won’t want it. These free
offers are just scams designed to obtain your
name and contact information.
. . . First, your name and contact
information will be sold to every spammer and
scammer out there. Soon, your e-mail inbox will
be flooded with junk mail and you’ll get
annoying phone calls at all hours of the day from
tele-marketers. But it gets worse. Much worse.
. . . Within a few days of signing up
with these “free” sites, the scammers
will send you a letter offering a mystery
shopping job to evaluate a money wire service
like Western Union or Moneygram. Included with
the letter is a cashier's check for a large sum
of money. The check looks real - but it's phony.
. . . The “assignment”
requires you to cash the check at a local bank
and then wire the cash to a designated location,
typically outside the country. Your
"reward" is that you get to keep a
percentage of the original cashier's check as
payment for the shopping job. But guess what?
. . . That check you cashed will bounce
and you'll be held liable for the entire amount
of the money you wired. This scam could cost you
anywhere from $1,200 to $3,500 - or more.
Beware
of Mystery Shopping Check Cashing Scams
These Websites Are Not
Recommended
. . . Again, I strongly advise against
signing up for a free mystery shopping service or
a free list of shopping companies. All you'll get
is headaches. These are the worst scams running.
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How to Find Real Shopping
Jobs
. . . The safest way to find
real shopping work is by joining a registered MSP
(Mystery Shopping Provider) Membership Site,
which will set you up with hundreds of legitimate
companies that will pay you for shopping.
. . . The best sites of this kind offer
a qualified support staff and online training for
new shoppers. Certified MSP membership sites
usually charge a small, one-time administration
fee (roughly $30) for new shoppers but it is well
worth the investment because these sites will
connect you with legitimate work right away.
. . . But here’s where you
have to be careful. 95.2% of the
so-called “membership” website are
outright scams or downright suspicious.
. . . The owners of these bogus sites
have nothing to do with the mystery shopping
business - they are just online marketers looking
to make money by selling you an outdated list of
non-existent companies for a fee.
. . . They have no interest in helping
you get shopping work, they offer no real
customer service and sadly, they have no
knowledge of the mystery shopping industry.
Here’s
what you’ll get with a Scam Membership Site:
| X |
Worthless Content.
All you get for your money is an outdated
list of companies and links that don't
work. The majority of the companies
listed in their “databases” are
either not in business any more or simply
not using mystery shoppers. |
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No Customer
Service and No Help finding jobs.
Only nine of the 62 sites I signed up
with even bothered to respond to my
e-mails. To add insult to injury, most of
the scam companies that ignored my
e-mails were spamming me every day -
trying to sell me more junk! |
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No Contact
Information. None of the shady
websites lists a phone number and they
bury their e-mail address so that it's
difficult to find. These scammers don't
want to hear from you after they've got
your money. If you ever have a problem or
question, it's next to impossible to
reach them. |
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Poorly Made
Websites. The scam websites are
all poorly laid out and hard to navigate
through. Many have non-working pages and
Advertisements! You'll have to click
through page after page of annoying ads
for get-rich-quick schemes before you
even find anything to do with mystery
shopping. |
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Ongoing
Monthly Charges. Many of the
fraud sites will keep charging your
credit card a recurring fee every month
to milk you for every last penny.
Legitimate MSP sites charge a one-time
only activation fee for unlimited use of
their resources and do not re-bill you
for anything. |
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No Refunds.
Forget about getting your money back if
you're not satisfied. Most of these
fly-by-night membership websites won't
respond to your refund requests. And once
their website gets shut down due to
complaints, they just start up another
fake site under a different name. |
Beware
of Questionable Mystery Shopping
"Agencies"
These Websites Are Not
Recommended
Investigation Summary
. . . Of the 62 Mystery Shopping
websites investigated, I found 51 to be obvious
scams, while 8 were suspicious or questionable. I
have reported the scam sites to the proper
authorities who assured me that these sites will
be dealt with accordingly and probably shut down.
I will continue to monitor the 8 suspicious
sites.
. . . Now for the good news. You
can get paid for shopping - without getting
scammed.
. . . Based on my research, I can
recommend three websites out of the 62
investigated, as they have met my stringent
standards to be legitimate sources of work. And
they are all still accepting new shoppers.
. . . Although I only rated three
websites as reputable and legitimate, you can
have absolute faith that the companies I
recommend will deliver. I wouldn't risk my
reputation if they did not.
. . . The legitimate mystery shopping
provider sites charge a small, one-time
administration fee because they offer legitimate
resources, qualified support and full training.
They offer a valuable service and do not sell
your information to anyone. These companies will
never send you a cashier's check out of the blue
or ask you to wire money anywhere.
. . . In short, you’ll get
real shopping jobs from real companies.
Depending on where you live, you'll probably be
offered shopping assignments right away. And each
of my recommended companies offer an iron-clad
money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied
with their service.
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The Legitimate Shopping
Providers
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1) Mystery
Shoppers America
. . . Mystery Shoppers
America has received my rating as the
best shopping provider for the past three
years running. In business since 2002,
with almost 19,000 shoppers in their
network, they are the largest service of
their kind. This company is a certified
shopping provider and they give
outstanding service to their shoppers and
clients alike. Their resources are the
best available, they have an excellent
support staff for their team of shoppers
and they even offer training for new
shoppers. You are guaranteed to get
shopping jobs with Mystery Shoppers
America. Quite simply, they’re the
best at what they do.
Click
here to visit Mystery Shoppers America
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2 ) Paid
Shopping Providers
. . . For the second
year, Paid Shopping Providers has
impressed me enough to earn my number two
ranking. PSP is a smaller company with
just over 8,000 shoppers but they’re
very good just the same. The helpful
staff at PSP are a real joy to deal with
and this is reflected in their fun and
light-hearted member’s area. This
company meets all my criteria of what a
shopping provider should be but because
they’re a smaller company, new
shopper positions get filled quickly. At
the time of this writing they were still
accepting new shoppers.
Click
here to visit Paid Shopping Providers
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3) Shop Til
You Drop
. . . Although Shop Til
You Drop is one of the oldest mystery
shopping information websites, this is
the first year they made the grade. They
have recently boosted their resources and
made a number of improvements that have
made enough of a difference for my
recommendation. Their website is a little
flashy but they provide a decent service
and can connect you with some steady
shopping work. Their member support is
adequate and their resources are well
maintained. They also offer some
worthwhile bonuses to their members.
Click
here to visit Shop Til You Drop
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