Recipient Considered Employee

Every mystery shopping company that I ever worked for or considered working for said that I would be an independent contractor. If I earned more than $600 in a year from them, they would send me a 1099; but that was it. They were very specific to indicate that I was NOT an employee. However, the fine print on the back of the Sterling Consumer Surveys letter said things like, "We expect every employee to read and understand. . .", "Every employee is expected to develop a sense of commitment. . .", "Any employee who violates the standards in this Code [of ethics] may be subject do disciplinary action. . .", "Our success depends upon each employee operating within legal guidelines. . .", etc. They even warn that mismanagement/imbursement of funds will result in termination of employment and legal action. This is a big red flag. If you are an employee, they would have to take out takes, or at the very least have you fill out a W-4.

Company Name Non-existent

I googled the name "Sterling Consumer Surveys" and found not one link to such a company. Surely they would have a website if they were legitimate, or at least a listing in the yellow or white pages. Nope. Not there. I couldn’t find them on the Better Business Bureau, either. I sent the BBB a letter asking them to investigate.

Letter and Check Names Don’t Match

While I won’t tell you the name of the company on the check, I will say that it is a major steel processing plant, with its own website and all. I am sure they have nothing to do with the scam. And the words sterling, consumer, and surveys are not found anywhere in their company name. This is another big red flag. The address on the check and the address on the letter are also in different states.

Assignment Too Random

When a mystery shopping company assigns you to do a shop, you are told to go to a specific location during a specific time period. The exact day is sometimes given, or even a span of hours during which the shop must be completed. They wouldn’t tell you to just go to MoneyGram or to Wal-Mart or to Sears. They would say, The MoneyGram store located inside Wal-mart at this location, or the Sears at this address, etc. Also, the sheet I was supposed to fill out and send in was too generic. It consisted of 1 page of questions. Most mystery shops have several pages worth of evaluations and a ton of questions. For example, when I mystery shopped my local grocery store, the evaluation form referred to the employees as "partners", a term that particular company uses instead of associate or employee.

Money Sent to Fake Name

To be able to pick up wired money, one must present an ID. If I am sending money to a fake individual, then they must acquire a fake ID to pick it up. If I were truly mystery shopping MoneyGram, I would be sending the money to a real person (probably an employee of the mystery shopping company), and I might be given a scenario as to who this person was (my aunt, my married sister, etc). The scammer said in the letter that I was to "pose as a potential customer sending money to a relative of yours JENNIFER (YOUR LAST NAME) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada." This is not how mystery shopping companies work.

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