There is a old scam with a new twist that people need to be aware of. This one involves a mystery shopper site called Value Max Service. It is not yet established if the site is at fault or if a fraudulent client has compromised the information given to the site. As of this writing, no charges have been laid against the site and the person who obtained funds has not been found.
A Red Deer, Alberta Canada women answered an ad in a local paper for mystery shoppers. She went to this site and provided information and then was contacted by a man who gave her assignments. He then sent her a bank draft of approximately $1360.00 and asked her to deposit it, which she did. She deposited the bank draft in an instant teller. She was to wire the money to a woman in Toronto. Then the man sent her another bank draft for over a thousand dollars and asked her to deposit it and then wire him the money.
She caught on to the problem when the bank machine would not take the deposit but informed her that she needed to speak to a bank representative. She found out that the first draft had been a fraud and the one she almost deposited was also a fraud. As she was the one that was depositing fake drafts, she was held responsible for the money lost. She was out almost $1500.00 of her own money.
Several attempts were made to contact the phone number listed on the website but no calls have been replied to as of yet. Another woman in Prince George, British Colombia had a similar experience with this site and is out $3660.00. Although the matter has not been resolved in terms of who is responsible for the scam, the website or another party, this is an old scam that keeps coming up in new ways.
No matter what the work is that you are offered online, you should be aware that anyone that sends you a money order, bank draft or cheques and asks you to deposit it is scamming you.
If you think about it, why would they need you to deposit money for them? You are a relative stranger to the business, why would they let strangers deposit their money? None of the money orders, bank drafts and cheques are real. They make money from getting you to transfer the money out of your own pocket before the money has cleared. When it bounces, they already have your money. The worst part is, these sleazy scam artists slip away leaving little information to track them down and you as the depositor are in fact doing a crime by depositing fake money orders, bank drafts or cheques.
Be aware the same scam is used in different ways. Some "hire" you as a bookkeeper, or another position that seems real. They almost always give you some legitimate looking work to do before they send you the fake funds to deposit. They also use this scam by emailing you that they for some desperate reason have a huge amount of money they need to deposit in another Country or they will lose it all. They generously offer you a percentage to help them out. Of course it is a fake again and you are out a lot of money.
Again, stay away from any work online or off that offers you work and then wants you to deposit funds for them. Call the police if any work you have taken online or through an ad in the paper and they ask you to do this. Do not deposit the funds. Take it to the authorities.
