The address and phone numbers I provided in the forms are for the company and individual who directly contacted my via the U.S. mail, HOWEVER the real scam has to do with banks and money wiring services in general. Below is my story.
You may receive a letter, questionnaire form and cashiers check in the mail stating that you recently filled out an application or inquiry to become a secret surveyor or shopper.
The letter I received claimed to be from survey.walmart.com, but it also had surveylot.com included in the body of the letter. I was to call 1-713-481-5081 Extension 202 to get an authorization number. I called the number and spoke with a Michael D. Willis. His name was at the bottom of the letter with the title Coordinating Manager in parenthesis. Per the letter, I was to call Michael and he would give me further information about who to send the money to and where. The scenario was that I am wiring money to a relative in another state, but thanks to the complete lack of training someone at a service counter gets on how to wire money well, ... there were no questions. Upon completion I was to call Michael D. Willis 1-713-481-5081 Extension 202 and give him the MCTN number so that he could have the person pretending to be my relative pick up the money at the Western Union location he provided. I was also to fill out the evaluation form and fax it, but Michael was really not concerned with it when I called him back. He was all too happy to Fed Ex me three more checks with the same scenario, but I was to go to different Western Union and MoneyGram locations.
The checks are real enough to fool bank tellers who, I would have hoped were trained to spot counterfeits, but I guess this isn't a priority for banks. A banker at my bank was even cautious to say for sure that the cashiers check was a fake telling me that only if the check is returned will we know. Unfortunately for me that was AFTER I cashed two of them and wired them off into the 'great unknown'. According to the bank manager, wiring money through places like Western Union or MoneyGram is very insecure and that it cannot be traced!?
Apparently, banks have to cash cashiers checks immediately per federal law. They don't tell you that the money really isn't available' until the check actually clears' so you, the individual, unprotected consumer is responsible for what may happen next which is of course that the check doesn't clear. This all happens at least a week AFTER you've wired the money into oblivion and again, BANKS DON'T AND WON'T do anything about check cashing scams because they can hide behind the difference between funds being made 'available' compared to the check being 'cleared'. And I don't believe anything will be done about the scams until the banks and money wiring services can be held accountable.
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