A company had a posting online for an opportunity to make money doing mystery shopping. Since I had done mystery shopping at a call center it seemed like a legitimate job offer and a way to make some extra money on the side. The assignement was to cash money orders and go to an assigned store and purchase something. For my first assignment I was asked go to a Walmart and buy at least 30 dollars worth of merchandise. I was then supposed to transfer any remaining money via money gram (after taking a considerably large amount for myself. 150) and report about various aspects of customer service (how long it took, knowledgability of the employees, patience of employees, cleanliness of the store, etc). After a few weeks I received an email saying that they were sending money orders for me to complete the assignment. When I clicked on the details for the email's sender I noticed that it wasn't from a corporate email adress like you would expect but was from a personal email adress from the UK ([email protected]). Which is odd because Joshua Consulting is located in Atlanta, GA. A week or so later an overnight delivery envelope is on my door and there are two money orders both worth 850.20. There was an email I received during the day that said I was to complete the assignment within 24 hours. I began to be really uncomfortable with the idea of walking around walmart with 1700 dollars in my pocket since I feel like I'm going to get robbed anytime I'm remotely close to a walmart. Because of my concern, I sent an email asking if I was supposed to cash both. Since it was saturday, I exepected to not hear anything back till monday and reasoned that this would buy me a few days to figure things out. Oddly enough, even though it was a Saturday I received an email back within an hour. The money orders themselves look authentic. What concerns me is that the money orders themsleves are from an individual in Indiana and the company is in GA and the person sending me an email is in the UK. What makes the legitimacy of this even more questionable is the fact that the email I received on friday asked me to send the remaining money via moneygram not to Joshua Consulting but to an individual (Kelli McAdams) in a completely different state from the individual who sent the money orders in the first place. I looked online for situations like mine and after a while I found out that people had been taken advantage of before.
The following is the actual text that was sent to me.
I just got words from Fedex that payment will be delivered today. Tracking number for the payment package is 871593744460 Below are the details you will be needing to complete your assignment at any Walmart location of your choice. * Convert money order to cash, then you can proceed with the evaluation. * Deduct your service charge for this assignment ($150) *Proceed to any Walmart location of choice with the cash. * Make a purchase of any product of choice to the tune of $30. * Request to utilise Money Gram money transfer service system with whatever amount you have left after deduction of your service fee, and purchase fee. * On the Money Gram form, you will write your name as sender of the money * Receiver will be KELLI MCADAMS * Receiver city will be SEATTLE * Receiver state will be WASHINGTON * Receiver zip code 98122 * You will inturn email me a scanned copy of your purchase receipts, and Money Gram receipt. * In a case where you do not have access to a scanner, you will email me the exact amount sent after deduction of Money Gram money transfer service charges, and also email the REFERENCE number, which is the 8 digit code number on the Money Gram Receipt, and also what product (s) was purchased and the cost of each. * You will be require also to email detailed report how long it took you to get services done. (purchases and Money Gram) * Ambience/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet * Smartness of the attendant (s) * Customer service professionalism * Reaction of personnel under pressure * Information that you think would be helpful * Your comments and impressions. * Rudeness and agents inefficiency to customers. * High Transfer charge. * Late opening and closing Hours. You are expected to email your report within 24hrs. As soon as the assignment has been completed, you will be receiving payment for another assignment asap.
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