I received a letter from Reachlocal Marketing regarding being selected to be a Mystery Shopper. I had put my name in to be a mystery shopper at a web site a long time ago and thought that they finally picked me. They sent me a check for $2,945 (bank check that looked very real). They wanted me to go to Wal-Mart, buy some items which I can keep, send the bulk of the money to someone identified in the letter thru Money Gram or Western Union and then fill out a form regarding both transactions. I called the number on the letter and spoke to someone who gave me further instructions and had me fill out an acceptance form. It all sounded real but too good to be true. I did google Reachlocal Marketing and found a company call Reachlocal who sounded good - nothing bad appeared. I then deposited the check in my bank account. Something bothered me and I did some more checking and found usacomplaints.com. This time I searched for mystery shopper and found lots of these scams using a different company name but the same requests. I called my bank and they got a hold of the fraud department who will put a hold on the check. They told me that they have been seeing this type of thing for the last month and the check will bounce. What this company wants you to do is not wait for the check to clear but immediately follow the instructions on the letter sending your money to them which you will never get back. Although I am writing this before the check bounces I wanted to alert others that they use different names but use the same scam. Anything that looks and sounds too good to be true is just that - too good to be true!
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