Do Not Become a Victim of a Secret Shopper Scam

Over the course of the past year or two, we have seen a rise in the number of clients who have fallen prey to the “Secret Shopper” scam or something similar. This is a scam that most often begins with an email offering either a job or sweepstakes win that seems too good to be true. Next, once the person responds, more convincing letters, emails, and phone calls seal the deal and entice the unsuspecting victim into engaging in a task that will ultimately result in a loss of the person’s money and arrest of the person, or both.

What happens is that the person who is contacted is asked to go do an assignment, such as deposit a check or money order at a bank or financial institution. The person is asked to evaluate the service at the location and track down some other information, and then to send the money that is obtained back to the company or person who is initiating the scam. Once this is done, the person is promised a return or fee for their honest day’s work.

What happens is that the checks or money orders turn out to be fraudulent. Many times, the banks or check cashing locations catch the forgeries at the time and the person may be arrested on the spot, never knowing the documents were fakes. Other times, the bank may process the check or even let the person open an account with it. A number of days later, after the money has been withdrawn and forwarded to the scammer, the bank notifies the unsuspecting victim that the documents were fake, the account is overdrawn, and unless payment is immediately made to the bank, an arrest and prosecution will follow for forgery or deposit account fraud.

The other common variety of the scam is not so much based upon a “secret shopper job,” but instead advises the victim that he or she has won $20,000.00, and that by depositing a check for costs or sending a check for costs, the check for the big amount will come in a day or two. The first check is usually sent via FedEx, as are most of the more legitimate-looking documents that the scammers will send.

These scams may sound really stupid. It may seem as if only really naïve, greedy people would fall for it. However, we have seen very smart individuals fall victim to these types of scams because of some of the better “packaging” and presentation of the scam’s perpetrators. Sure, there are many that just send out thousands upon thousands of emails to snatch up anyone that responds, but someone responds. All it takes is one. Of all the victims that we have seen, heard or, and represented at our firm, most lost between $4,000 and $10,000 of their own money. This does not include the costs of their defense to the criminal charges that were brought against them.

How can I be charged with a crime? I was a victim and lost money in the scam.

There is no requirement that a person benefit from a crime in order for there to be a conviction. In many circumstances, the crime does not even have to be completed. In these cases, the person who is a victim is charged with presented forged documents, such as checks or money orders. Sometimes, these people will try to start bank accounts using their real addresses and personal information. Although common sense says that nobody who wanted to perpetrate a crime would use his real information, the fact is that some people do just this. The police do their best to sort out the cases where the people were truly just victims, but it often takes a lot more than just having suffered your own loss of the money to persuade them.

We have successfully handled many of these cases without having our clients plead guilty or nolo to any criminal offense, but they have not been easy cases. In fact, we often are so proactive in handling these cases that we provide the police and investigators with information that they very likely would not have if it was not for our efforts. It is in this manner that we prepare our clients for trial by jury, if necessary, such that we can show that our clients are the real victims in the case and never had any criminal intent.

Ultimately, people should always be wary of those deals and offers that are too good to be true. As we have seen, common victims of these scams are the elderly, people who may be mentally or emotionally challenged, and foreigners. Like I mentioned earlier, I am certain that, based upon how intelligent some of our victim/clients have been, there are many victims who avoid prosecution by simply paying any damages immediately to third parties like banks or check cashing places. This way, the more savvy folks who have the means can also avoid any public embarrassment.