Not even the government is safe from being a victim of the relentless Fake Check Scams. A company calling itself “Fulton Marketing Logistics” with a telephone number of 514-576-4731 and fax number of 801-780-1724 is sending consumers a check from the “Board of Commissioners Of Fulton County, Georgia to be mystery shoppers. The check is received via mail, no return address, with a stamp from Canada.
The check is for $3,800 and is made to appear to be a check from Wachovia Bank of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. The letter received by consumers tells them they have been “selected” to participate in a paid Retail Research Program in their area as a Mystery Shopper. Consumers will be “Consumer Service Evaluators” at such stores as Wal-Mart, Esso, Exxon, Chevron, J.C. Penny, and Target. One of the consumers first assignments is to contact or drive to one of the gas stations to check out their pump prices. This is to locate gas stations that are participating in price gouging against government regulations.
Of course, you will be asked to deposit the fake check and send the bogus company part of the $3,800 – the rest you keep for yourself to do your job. The Big Problem – there is no job! Once the bank finds out the check is bogus, the scammers have been paid and you are responsible for paying back the bank the money they have sent. The bank is not responsible for this scam or to tell you this might be a bogus check.
Remember, anything that sounds too good to be true is! Always check out any offer with BBB before doing business at bbb.org.
General Information On Fake Check Scams:
Scams involving fake checks typically require the victim to deposit a check into their bank account then wire money back to the scammers. While the check may initially be deposited into the victim’s bank account—leading to a false sense of security—the fake check will ultimately be discovered within a couple weeks and the bank will take the funds out of the account. The victim of the scam is out whatever money they sent to the scammers and will be responsible for paying the bank back if their account is overdrawn.
Mystery Shopping Scam General Advice:
The victim believes that they are going to earn a few hundred dollars by working for a company that provides mystery—or secret—shopping evaluations for businesses. The victim receives a letter in the mail along with evaluation forms, a check and detailed instructions. The victim is to deposit the check into their bank account, and then use the money to purchase items from specified stores and evaluate the customer service the rest of the money is theirs to keep for the work they did. Included in the list of stores to evaluate is Western Union or MoneyGram and the victim is told to wire as much as a couple thousand dollars back to their “employer” and rate their experience with the money wiring service.
BBB advises extreme caution when dealing with any company that sends a check and asks you to deposit the check in your account and then send them money. We know of no instance where the consumer actually made money and consider this to be a scam.