My boyfriend found an ad in our local newspaper, "The Argus" in the "Classified" section under "Employment" and "Customer Service" called the phone number listed and talked to a guy by the name of Ray Martin.
Ray went on to tell my boyfriend, who I will call Bob, about what the job in-tells. Ray said that Bob would be a "Secret Shopper" and would perform evaluations on employees at different store locations. Ray took some information from Bob, home address and phone number then said he would call Bob back in a few minutes which he did.
Ray said he was going to send/mail out Bobs first assignment and when he receives it he is to call him/Ray. When Bob received the assignment the envelope contained a piece of paper saying:
CONGRADULATIONS! With reference to our earlier conversation, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to become one of our representatives in your region. Please give us a call on 1 306 351 3080 as soon as you receive this package to validate the enclosed payment for this assignment.
It goes on to say: Please be informed that there is one probational training assignment that you are required to complete within 48 hrs. This training assignment takes 2 hours to complete and is PAID training. Training pay rate remains $150.00 per hour. The aim of this training assignment is for you to familiarize yourself with the practical feel of what secret shopping entails.
This assignment has been put together to be completed at any Wal-Mart location. The objective of this assignment will be to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a payment system called "Money Gram" offered at any Wal-Mart location.
You will pose as a potential customer sending a Money Gram payment to a relative of yours in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The funds needed to complete this transaction assignment has been arranged and has been enclosed with this letter. For our verification of assignment completion, please call back and provide the Money Gram Reference Code immediately after completion.
Below is the breakdown of the attached fund:
2 hour Evaluation training pay&&&&&-$300.00
Required fund to be sent&&&&&&&$2420.00
Service Charge by Money Gram&&&&&$55.00
%%__
TOTAL $2775.00
In the process of this evaluation assignment, please take note of the quality of service in order to fill out a fair and unbiased opinion on the Customer Service Evaluation Tool (CSET) form enclosed with this letter. This form should be faxed back to our office after the completion of your assignment.
Also attached is a copy of the weekly time schedule request sheet that will need to be filled out and faxed back to our office so that we may know your available hours for the upcoming week.
HAVE FUN!! HAVE FUN!! HAVE FUN!! HAVE FUN!! HAVE FUN!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Perkins
Now to let you know on the bottom of this sheet there were logos for Pizza Hut, Money Gram International, GAP, McDonald's, Budget, Blockbuster, Sears, Wendy's, Wal*Mart and Starbucks. The paper looked legit and even the check they sent.
Well here comes the bad part. I had to cash the check at my bank so Bob could take the cash to his assignment. My bank called the bank, Pioneer Federal, Credit Union, 250 West 3rd South, Mountain Home, ID, 83647. Phone number 1 888 571-6869. Checked there list for bad checks, the branch manager at my bank initialed it and boom it went through.
Well since my bank clarified that the check was good I decided to apply to Secret Shoppers myself. I called Ray, he mailed out my assignment along with Bobs new one, with checks enclosed, went to my bank to cash them, did the assignment, called Ray and waited for our next assignments to come.
The next day the manager from my bank, the one who put her initials on the check informed me that the checks were "Counterfeit" and before I could even get myself together and have her repeat herself, she told be that I have to replace the funds NOW!!
I was in a state of shock! I told her that I would try to get the funds back to her as soon as I could and I would call her back the next day. Before I knew it she had froze my accounts. I was left with no funds. My credit cards were through the same bank. She even took my disability check to use it to replace part of the funds.
This has been 2 weeks now, Yes I did call our Police Department, a report was made, and an investigation is pending with the Canadian authorities.
Here I thought my bank, Citibank, was insured for this sort of fraud. This really leaves the victims in a state of dis-spare with no funds to live off of. What can we, the victims do?
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