Mystery Shopper Scam

Legitimate mystery shopping exists but genuine programmes do not require shoppers to pay fees or handle large sums of money. Mystery shopper scams typically contact victims by email or post with an assignment requiring them to evaluate a wire-transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram. The victim receives a cheque or postal order — often convincingly printed — for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 to cover their 'expenses and commission'.

The victim is instructed to deposit the cheque, keep a small portion as pay, and wire the remainder to a specific recipient as part of the 'evaluation'. Banks may provisionally credit the cheque before it clears; victims who send the wire before the cheque bounces lose the wired amount and become liable to the bank for the bounced-cheque deficit.

This scam is a subset of cheque-overpayment fraud. The mystery-shopping framing provides a plausible reason for the large cheque and the wiring instructions. Victims often realise they have been scammed days after the wire is sent, when the cheque bounces and the 'agency' becomes uncontactable.