“Get paid to shop and share your opinion” sounds like an easy side gig, and mystery shopping is a real industry. Scammers exploit that by mailing you a check, telling you to deposit it, and asking you to “evaluate” a money-transfer service by wiring most of it back. When the check bounces, you are left owing the bank. Our GetMyPassword team explains how to recognize a mystery shopper scam.
How the scam works
You are “hired” as a mystery shopper, often after replying to an ad or an unsolicited message. Your first assignment comes with a check to deposit — supposedly your pay plus funds for the task. You are told to evaluate a wire service or gift-card retailer by sending most of the money on and reporting how it went. Days later the check bounces as fake, the bank reverses it, and the money you wired is gone — out of your own pocket. The “evaluation” was always just a way to move stolen funds through you.
Red flags to watch for
- A check sent before you do any work, with instructions to deposit it.
- A task to wire money or buy gift cards as part of “evaluating” a service.
- Being told to act fast, before the check “clears,” which it never truly does.
- Unsolicited hiring with no interview and a too-easy, high-paying offer.
- Keeping a portion as your fee while sending the rest onward.
Why the bounced check costs you
Banks often make deposited funds available within a day or two, but that is not the same as the check having truly cleared. A fake check can be reversed weeks later, and because you withdrew and wired “available” funds, the loss falls on you. No legitimate employer pays you with a check you must partly send back, and real mystery shopping never asks you to wire money or buy gift cards. Anyone combining “deposit this” with “send most of it on” is running a fake-check scam.
“Available” is not “cleared.” Any job that pays you with a check you must deposit and partly wire back is moving stolen money through your account — and leaving you to cover it.
How to protect yourself
Never deposit a check from an “employer” and wire part of it back, and never accept a job that pays before you work. Verify any mystery-shopping company independently, and treat unsolicited high-pay offers as suspect. If you shared bank details, watch your account and alert your bank. Because these schemes also phish for logins, keep your banking and email behind a unique password from our password generator and two-factor authentication.
Frequently asked questions
What is a mystery shopper scam?
It is a fake-check scam disguised as a mystery-shopping job. You deposit a check, are told to wire most of it back to “evaluate” a money-transfer service, and when the check bounces you owe the bank the amount you sent.
Is mystery shopping itself a scam?
No, legitimate mystery shopping exists, but it never pays you with a check you must partly send back and never asks you to wire money or buy gift cards. Those instructions are the scam, not the job.
What if I already deposited the check and sent money?
Contact your bank immediately to report the fake check and try to stop the transfer, and report the scam. Watch your account for further misuse, and secure your banking and email with strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication.