I received a letter in the mail from "Premier Shoppers, " with an offer for employment. Enclosed was also a check in the amount of $3850.00, from America First Federal Credit Union, in Ogden Utah. The letter explained that Premier Shoppers was a paid Consumer Research Firm, hired by different businesses to rate their companies with regard to customer service, cleanliness of store and product quality. My "employment" would involve notifying my "Coordinator, " John Parks, so that he could "activate" the check before I deposited it into my personal checking account. I needed to wait two to three days for the check to clear and then go to my first "assignment, " Western Union or MoneyGram and wire $3255.00 to a "training agent" named Angela D Wells, located at 7804 Uray Dr, Austin, TX 78724. I would also have to pay out of the proceeds of the check a wiring fee of about $215.00. While there, I needed to make note of the customer service, product quality, etc and fill out a "Market Report" sheet, which they provided and fax it to 646-365-3153 upon completion. My next assignment would be a retail store, like Walmart or Sears or JC Penney's and I essentially needed to do the same thing except I would purchase $80.00 worth of items, (which I could keep), and take my time filling out the "Market Report" for that business as well and fax it too, along with all my receipts of purchase.
All of this sounded so incredibly fishy and unbelievable! The letter stated that Premier Shoppers was listed with the BBB, so I checked and they were not. Second, the stamp on the outside of the letter, which was mailed with no return address, was from Canada. A canadian stamp on an US Company letter?
To to sure, I have NOT deposited the check. The letter also states that the offer expires in 6 days since new assignments change weekly. MY advice? Check it out... If it's too good to be true, it usually is.
The end scenario is that your bank deposits the check they send you in your checking account, you wire the money to the "drop" and the original check bounces and you're left holding the $3255.00 debit, plus wiring fees, while they hightail it to the next scam.
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