I recently took some surveys online looking for a "work from home" type company to make a little extra income. One of the businesses I was interested in was about "Secret Shopper". Until recently, I hadn't thought much about the survey.
September 17 I received a letter and a check from Linx Marketing Research Company. The letter informed me that I had been selected to participate in a paid consumer research program.
Enclosed in the letter was a check in the amount of $3400. I was to deposit this check in my personal checking account and make predetermined purchases in the amount of $200, evaluate customer service and keep $300 for my salary. The remainder of the money ($2900) was to be sent Moneygram or Western Union to a yet undisclosed receipiant.
It was nice to see a check with my name on it for that amount of money, but as you can guess I was skeptical. I tried looking the company up on the web and found nothing. The check was from a different business that I did find and is legitimate. My next thought was that maybe the check was from the parent company. I decided to contact US Bank, the bank the check was drawn on. The company exists, the account exists and the funds were available.
In one last effort to put my mind at ease, I took the check to my own bank. I told them it sounded fishy and had them look at the check. They told me that they have heard of scams like these. Most likely the checks were stolen, not counterfeit. The check had all the correct security features a check should. They even ran it through their authentication machine and no problems.
The reasons these scams work so well is time. After depositing the check it only takes a day or two to clear, but it takes a week or more to come back as stolen and the only person to come after is you.
After turning the check over to my bank I decided to find out about the address and phone number on the letter. The address came back to a road with no buildings. I google mapped it and the sattelite picture showed nothing but a road. When I looked up the phone number it came back from a company called Fido Solutions Inc. From what I can gather, Fido Solutions Inc. Is a pre-paid cell phone company in Quebec and has nothing to do with Linx Marketing Rsearch Company first hand.
Please be wary of things that sound to good to be true and do your research before cashing a check from anyone you've never heard of.
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