SCAM ALERT GlobalTestMarket is aware our brand is being used illicitly in a direct mail scam involving Wal-Mart mystery shopping. GlobalTestMarket is not associated with the group operating this scam from Ontario, Canada. The victims are allegedly targeted from job websites. Here are the components of the scam:
Checks received in this scam have been reported as fraudulent. Depositing a fraudulent check can result in grave financial consequences to you. If you have been victimized by this scam or have received such a solicitation, please contact your local police department. If you have been induced to send any money to Canada under this or any other scam, please also report it to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Phonebusters Anti-fraud Call Centre at 1-888-495 8501. The perpetrators of the scam appear to be locating their victims through job websites not associated with GlobalTestMarket. GlobalTestMarket adheres to its privacy policy regarding member account information. GlobalTestMarket only sends payments in the mail that have been requested by the GlobalTestMarket member. The payment will be in the amount earned by the GlobalTestMarket member. GlobalTestMarket will never instruct a member to cash a check, keep a small portion and send back the remainder to GlobalTestMarket. |
| Posted at 11:00 am | Filed under Announcements. |
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September 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Hello Global Test Market:
I am very truly sorry that this kind of stuff is going around. I am sorry that they have soiled your good name. To hear of what people are doing nowadays to rip people off is truly criminal.
I didn’t understand #5-#8 ??????
I am very happy with Global Test Market. You say and do what you say you will do. I have received my first check from you and I am very content. When I check my mailbox I will lookout for the scam mail and burn it on the ground. This reminds me of when a hurricane hits land and someone scam people over the phone begging for money. I will not let that happen to me.
Sincerely Yours
elpaso95
September 5th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Robert,
Here is more detail about steps 5 through 8:
5. The letter from the scammers comes with a bank check in a large amount ($3,000 to $5,000). The letter instructs the individual to cash the check at their bank. Now the individual has the $3,000 to $5,000 in cash;
6. The individual must go to Wal-Mart and purchase an item at that store as part of the mystery shopping exercise;
7. The individual completes a form that came with the letter. They allegedly want you to explain your shopping experience at Wal-Mart. This is a typical mystery shopping task;
8. The individual keeps $100 from the $3,000 to $5,000 in cash. They must purchase a Wal-Mart MoneyGram with the rest of the cash ($2,900 or $4,900). A Wal-Mart MoneyGram is similar to a wire transfer or cashier’s check.
The individual then send the mystery shopping form, and the rest of the money back to the scammers. Since the initial check is fraudulent the scammers just made $2,900 to $4,900 illegally.
I hope that helps explain the process.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Its sad what these scammers are doing to people. Most people that take on mystery shopping does it to help earn an extra income and because they wanna work from home. I hope these scammers get cought soon, but in the mean time I’ll keep a look out for such mails and I’ll continue to trust Globaltestmarket.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
My gosh even Survey companies are not safe, my gosh what is this world coming to, I am glad I came and read this. I am so sorry to hear this is happening.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
There are a lot of people willing to scam others to make a quick buck. Thanks for the heads up.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Bueno, basicamete, este tpio de personas utilizan tecnicas d mercado bien llaadas por ustedes como fraudulentas, si lo miramos de un punto mas empresarial, logicamente este tipo de “emresas” utilizan lo que es llamado como “marketing estrategico”..No esta mal utilizarlo, pero simpre hay que tener en cuenta como usuarlo y cuales seran tus “ganancias”. Por este motivo esta bie el hecho de estar informado sobre distintas formas de “engaño masivo”.
gracias por dejamre un pequeño espacio en el cual expresarme y tratar de explicar istintos tipos de tecnicas usadas fraudulentamente.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
嗯嗯 需要更加小心 謝謝
September 10th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I just received one of these letters today, asking me to go to Wal-Mart and send $870.00 to myself in Ontario, Canada (of course, keeping 100.00 for my “paid training”. I immediately thought this was a scam and “googling” This company I found this result first in line. I am taking this immediately to my local PD and have them take the ball from there.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
My husband received one of these letters in the mail. We took the check to the bank were the check was drawn on. The bank manager informed us that it was a fake. We turned all the paper work over to the bank manager. Who will send it to there corporate office. Who then will turn it over to the FBI. I am also going to contact our local news station and the authorties. I hope that I can prevent somebody from depositing these bogus checks into there account.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Classic scam… New target market.
Never accept offers of gifts or money in exchange for handling cash (unless you’re an armed guard working for a real cash couriering company
September 12th, 2008 at 5:47 am
I received a check and some instructions.
one was this to be a secret not to tell anybody cause then you would not then be a secret shopper.
what they wanted me to do was go to wal mart and make a purchace go to target and make a purchace,then this is what raised my eye browes was two money wires that I had to make and the amont of the fees these companies charge!
WAY TOO MUCH!
went to internet to do some checking and found out there were SO MANY MORE people that got the same packet.
called consumer pertection and they said this is not new.
Explained if someone were to wire money they are liable for it and could be arrested for check fraud.so beware. void check take to post office and report.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:14 am
obrigado pelas informaçoes
September 12th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
我没收到过这种邮件，感觉有点小恐怖。只能说时代在进步，人类在发展，今后多注意，尽可能防止此类事件的发生。
September 16th, 2008 at 9:19 am
i have three checks in my possession cost me 10.00$ to the bank to find out that it was a scam
September 16th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
William,
Not sure if you were asking a question, but you have never requested a payment from GlobalTestMarket. That means we would not have sent you a check.
September 19th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
My ex just fell for this scam. She received a check in the amount of $4250.00 along with a letter instructing her to deposit the check into her account, wire transfer $3800.00 to Canada, and keep the rest ($460.00). Soposedly, this was a Mystery Shopping job, and this was her first assignment. The check was FAKE, and now her bank account is overdrawn over $4,000.00!!!! Obviously, the bank is holding her responsible for the money. Had she googled the phone number that was on the letter, and it would have immediately brought up the website “Rip-Off.com”. I think that consumers have to take some responsibility. First of all, who would wire money to Canada to someone you don’t even know? (1) use common sense; and (2) research everything. With the internet at our fingertips, there is no valid reason to get scammed these days. It took me 3-5 minutes to pull up everything I needed to know about this scam on the internet. I feel somewhat bad for these victims, but the scammers could not get over if people just did a little homework.
September 21st, 2008 at 4:02 am
I really don’t know nor heard of those scam thingy.. never received such a notice… good thing… and as for my co-researcher out there who can read my comments, be very very careful guys!!!
September 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Never received any of this spam mails or letter,hopefully it will not happen in the future,Good to have a update on the new method of spamming,I am a member in Global Test Market for two years,I trust your company.
September 27th, 2008 at 6:04 am
谢谢你们的提醒和忠告,因为这给了我们很多的帮助.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:31 am
What a shame to know what lenghths people will go to, to make extra money. Sorry to hear about the people that were scammed and I am glad to have read the paragraph so I can let others know what is going on.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I recieved a check today via fed ex priority overnight the check is drawn on a legite bank account but the funds are not available. The check is for $3240.00 also there was no letter included only the check. There is no return phone number or anything. I have contacted Fed Ex and the Bank…….if this is a scam what are they wanting me to do for them in exchange? strange in deed.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Lisa,
GlobalTestMarket will NOT send you a check in that amount requesting you to do a service. GlobalTestMarket will only send you a check when you request payment by exchanging your MarketPoints for our current money incentive.
Do NOT cash that check. I would go to your bank and ask them to investigate. If it is a fraudulent check then you must go to your local police station and report this incident.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I received a check via FedEx in the amount of $3000.00 I thought I had been blessed because of my religious beliefs I truly thought this was a blessing it was nothing but a check so I deposited the check but knew not to do anything until the check cleared. It still hasn’t I don’t know why someone would do such a thing, that is horrible. The only thing I will be out of is the fee from the bank because I definitely want be touching anything. I’m glad I have a smart bank they want deposit until they have the funds since I don’t have enough funds to cover the check. I can’t really afford the fee but it’s a blessing it’s not more and thanks to this site I have been looking for same thing that happened to some one, I just didn’t feel comfortable and needed verification.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Sister,
To give your verification we DID NOT send you a $3,000.00 check for mystery shopping.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:35 am
All i can say is if someone send you check and you are not expecting it,then by all means try to be careful and not to be duped into their evil scams.
November 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I also received one of these checks. Thank you for putting this out there so we are all aware..
December 5th, 2008 at 10:10 am
My wife received a check in a letter last night. It was made out to her for about 3900 or there abouts. It was the same scam. It was drawn against a bank called Comerica. The check itself from from a granite and marble company. The letter came from Canada. So, the check was from this marble company. (Why would THEY want to know about a Walmart, Radio Shack shopping experience?) The phone number in the letter reversed back to a cell phone. As an experiment my wife called them and had them send a packet to her. It will be interesting to see if they want to do the money wire thing. Also of note is when it came… Two weeks before Christmas when most people wish they had more money for gifts, etc.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Mark,
That is the exact scam we posted this warning for. They are not affiliated with GlobalTestMarket. Do not cash their fraudulent check.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I had just recieved this letter in the mail, the only diference I have is that I have to send the majority of the money to someone in NY, and this company is apparently in in Wilimington, DE, I called the number that was on top of the letter, which of course she told me it was ligitament..which to find out by googleing it, that it was indeed fake. If people didnt have a computer and wasnt able to look things up like some of us fortunate ones, they would be so excited to get a check like this exspecially right before christmas..People should be so ashamed of themselves, exspecially the supposed ones recieving the money transfer.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I just recieved a letter and the logo for Global Test Market looked like it was printed on a personal printer so I knew it was bogus. I hope they catch whoever is doing this scam, I don’t need anymore money troubles in my life!! Has there been any action taken so far by the police that have been contacted so far??
January 8th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Courtney,
It was determined that our company does not have legal standing to bring a criminal action against this group. It is up to victims to report this scam to their local police agencies. That agency must contact the Canadian agencies listed in the blog post. We hope the Canadian authorities take swift action.
January 25th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Saturday I recieved one of these checks in the amount of 3650.25 with a letter saying 200 was for training 3121.25 transferred 125 money gram and 200 for shopping. the money gram is to a lady they say is related to me in canada. New it was a scam cuz my last name isn’t the same as hers.. It is my married name. It also says to call and get a validate code to cash the check. Needless to say I am meeting with my local pd in the morning with the letter, envelope, and check. Hopefully my local pd will be able to do something about this.
People really need to start thinking when they recieve a check out of no where and stop cashing these fraudulent things. This is the 2nd time I have gone through this and the first one my bank called the bank and verified the check was stollen.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
GlobalTestMarket is commended for making us aware that someone is using them in a mail scam involving Wal-Mart mystery shopping. It’s good to know that GlobalTestMarket will never instruct a member to cash a check, keep a small portion and sent back the remainder to GlobalTestMarket.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
So, I just replied to an email on craigslist for a “mystery shopper” got a response right away about explaining what I would do and asked me for my address, number and ect. Well, that night I was watching Dr. Phil and he had a show about Scammers. A young married couple were on there and did everything I just did, and she got a check in the mail for just under $5000, deposited it, her bank cleared the check and then within the week, her bank reversed the charges and her acct was negitive $5000. How devistating. Thank GOD I saw that show and realized that I was just scammed. Here is the email I recieved today from them:
Dear Shopper,
You have been Accepted as one of our Mystery Shopper/Survey Agent. You will be evaluating Wal-Mart Stores and Western Union Services in your neighborhood, Kindly check out for one Wal-Mart store and one Western Union agent outlet you will like to evaluate, make sure the store and the outlet you will choose are close to your area as much as possible, you will have to email the names and addresses of the two locations to us. Please note that you are to act Cool,Calm and Confident through out the period which you will be carrying out your survey at the store, in order not to arouse any suspicion. you will be shopping at Wal-Mart stores and also make a transaction at the Western Union, you will write a report about the customer services, you will send your report back to us via Email, you will have to use the following pointers to prepare your report :
1) How long it took you to get services.
2) Ambiance/Outlook of the Shop/Outlet
3) Smartness of the attendant
4) Customer service professionalism
5) Reaction of personnel under pressure
6) Information that you think would be helpful
7) Your comments and impressions.
Payments will be mailed out to you, which you will expend in carrying out all that will be required of you including your Compensation and Transportation fee.
All Other Instructions will be sent out to you as soon as Evaluation commences.
Please reply this Email and give us the name and address of the
Wal-mart and Western Union location you will be evaluating .
Thanks.
Smith.
Hiring Manager
So as soon as I get this “check” in that mail, I’m taking it to my police station and hopefully they will take it from there….hope this helps anyone. I know it did for me
March 9th, 2009 at 5:38 am
I was a target about a week ago. It is on its way to the police. Thank -God I researched it. The paperwork looks very authentic.
I do have one question though. Say it was cashed at a check cashing agency instead of depositing it then doesn’t that automatically mean that the other party had it in their bank in the first place?
My bank or even a check cashing agency place would never have done that would they and if they did, and the shopper never complied to the directions…..they would have that money? I can understand if it was deposited into a bank account and I withdrew upon it then it would fail but to cash it and walk with it?
Confused Carolyn -
May 26th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
LOL !
I got it over the weekend. Have been toying w/ them all day long too! Am acting stupid (as they expect from Tx) Broke half the rules as far as the cashing of the check and how they told me to do it. This is so funny,called them like 10 times acting dumb as mud but told them I’d done it all and “where do I wire this $$ to ??”
They gave me two names and cities in Canada..thats it.
I then called again and said that I was outside the store trying to wire the $$ but the dude inside told me that I needed a street adress or the cash could not be wired. The guy called me back w/ two complete adresses ! ,lol I scammed the scammers out of THEIR info !
Am thinking about what I want to do w/ them,,, toy around and waste their time before I declare that I’m w/ the FBI ?? Give it to the cops?? ..Poor Peter and Dan from Edmonton Alberta,,@ 9737 112th street.
Googled them and got a few hits.One perhaps has cancer as he chairs a support group,, if it is him. OR maybe he is scamming them too.
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 am
Hey, is this a load of shit, just wanna check
Could not understand why they would trust me enough to put money in my bank account without
any contract/ID
Dear Charlotte,
Once again, I use this opportunity to welcome you to the team.Like we
told you in the last email, your first assignment will be to study a
western union office and a restaurant.
The details for the western union is as follow;
1.You receive the money needed in carrying out this assignment into
your account from us, deduct your weekly salary of $300 AUD and send
the balance to another mystery shopper there in another country.
2.The mystery shopper’s name and address will be provided to you in due time.
3.The western union office is;
ORION PARK NEWS
SHOP 2, 11 ORION ROAD
Lane Cove, NSW 2066
OR
AUSTRALIA POST
97 PITTWATER ROAD
Gladesville, NSW 2111
4.You are to record the time you went to the location,how long it took
for them to you, the name of the person that attended to you and how
polite they are.
5.Get back to me with these details when you are done.
We will like you to complete this assignment before next month. The
money you need to carry out this duty will be sent into your bank
account.We will need you to provide us with these details.
THE NAME OF YOUR BANK;
ACCOUNT NUMBER;
BSB CODE;
N.B. You may get bonus payments depending on how well you execute the
assignment and also know that you are a secret shopper and you are to
act as one and not give away your identity when you get to the western
union location.
Yours Sincerely
Rev John Franck,
Manager,
Global Test Market.®
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hi Charlotte,
This sounds like a scam! GlobalTestMarket will only send you online surveys to participate in and our survey invitation emails and other email correspondence are SPAM compliant, meaning we always include our physical address at the bottom including opt-out information.
I would appreciate it if you forward us the ‘from’ address of the email you received, so we can follow up and report this scam.
Thank you and regards,
Elisa
The GlobalTestMarket Team
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your account, please contact us:
http://www.globaltestmarket.com/contact.php
GlobalTestMarket . 1100 112th Ave. Suite 200 . Bellevue, WA 98004 . USA