Detectives from the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department are warning citizens about a scam involving an offer about being selected as a "mystery shopper."
According to a press release from the KCSD, "The scam works like this: The victim receives an official-looking package of documents appearing to be from an established employment agency or job search company in the mail. The package contains an announcement that the victim has been selected as a 'mystery shopper' and gives instructions about their duties as a mystery shopper."Within the documents is what appears to be a legitimate cashier's check. The check is always a fake and of varying quality. The instructions tell the victim to keep the information in the mailing confidential and may ask the victim to contact the company that sent the package."
The instructions then tell the victim to cash the fake check or deposit it into their bank account and then quickly withdraw it.
Then the victim is supposed to go to a local branch of a money transfer company and use the service to send a large portion of the proceeds to a predetermined location, usually outside the US.
As a wage for their time, the victim is allowed to keep some of the money. The money transfer company fees also are paid with money from the cashed check.
"As a duty of the victim's 'new employment' they are to evaluate the service, professionalism, and condition of the money transfer company facility and fax an evaluation form to the sender of the package," states the press release.
"Within a few days, the fake check is returned as fraudulent by the victim's bank and the victim is either partially or totally responsible to repay the bank the money they received from the check. With this scam there is no way to recover the cash that was electronically transferred from the money transfer company or the scam artist."
People are reminded to be wary of all unsolicited offers of money, especially those that involve transactions to foreign locations.
The sheriff's department encourages people to research the companies involved in any monetary offer and never give out personal information or bank account information to suspicious sources. If a windfall of money seems too good to be true, it probably is.
