I-Team Investigates: Secret Shopper Scam

It may look like a great job, but some residents claim ads for ?secret shoppers? are too good to be true. Stephane Mozoul said he answered an ad in the Star Ledger for a secret shopper. ?I thought it

News 12 Staff

Jul 12, 2007, 11:06 PM

Updated 6,530 days ago

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It may look like a great job, but some residents claim ads for ?secret shoppers? are too good to be true.
Stephane Mozoul said he answered an ad in the Star Ledger for a secret shopper. ?I thought it was something I could do on the side to make a little more money,? Mozoul said.
Mozoul said the company agreed to pay him $150 an hour and asked him to test money gram stores. According to Mozoul, the company sent him cashier?s checks for more than $2,000 each and told him to keep $300 for himself and wire the rest to Canada.
Mozoul said when he tried to cash a second check a week later, the store owner told him the first one was a fake and that he had been scammed.
Postal inspector Kevin Manley said this specific secret shopper scam is just one of the many run by criminals overseas. ?The whole idea behind this is someone is trying to get you to cash a check,? Manley said. "To convert an instrument from one that needs to be held a few days to clear into cash."
Mozoul said he won?t be charged with a crime, however, since he cashed the fake check, he owes the money mart more than $2,000.
Related Information:Mystery Shopping Providers AssociationInternational Mystery Shopping AllianceNational Shopping ServiceSecret ShopperAboutFaceFederal Trade CommissionBetter Business BureauConsumerAffairs.com