New Scam Stealing Thousands Of Dollars From Victims (Photo)

A new scam that’s costing consumers nationwide thousands of dollars is prompting victims to speak out to ensure that others don’t make the same mistake they did. 

The scam is a twist on an old trick that used to be known as the Secret Shopper scam. The new version is called the Secret Surveyor, and it has conned people out of serious money. 

“This is very alarming,” Kim Cordero told WPIX after her parents received a priority envelope with the scam inside. The envelope was addressed from Smart Shopper in Santa Clarita, California, and showed that the sender paid $6.65 in postage.

Included in the envelope was a cashier’s check for $2,400 and a set of instructions. The check had an address included for the University Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas.

“Not only was it a cashier’s check, but it’s a bank that actually exists, which makes the offer that much more compelling,” Cordero said. 

The idea behind the scam is to deposit the check into a bank account, then take $2,000 of the funds and purchase 20 iTunes gift cards valued at $100 each. The money is supposed to appear in a victim’s bank account immediately, as law dictates that cashier’s checks be deposited quickly. 

The instructions tell the victims that once they’ve purchased the cards, they must take pictures of the front and back of all of them and then fill out a form with information about where the cards were purchased. Finally, the victim is told to send an email including photos of the cards and a scan of the completed form to an email address provided in the letter.

The extra $400 left over is supposedly the reward for doing the survey work for the company, but Cordero’s mother, Irma, said she was skeptical about its legitimacy.

The skepticism, it turns out, was entirely warranted. The address listed on the envelope does not exist, nor does the company that supposedly sent the survey. In fact, an actual company called Smart Shopper has received complaints from across the country about the scam.

The most important aspect of the scam is the check. Though the bank on the check is real, the check itself is fake. Once the bank becomes aware of a counterfeit check being deposited, the money spent on the gift cards is taken from the victim as the check is invalid. 

According to postal inspectors, most of the criminals behind such scams operate from outside the U.S., making them very difficult to track down and arrest.

Sources: WPIX, AWM America/Facebook / Photo credit: 3dman_eu via Wikimedia Commons