Target 11 Consumer Investigator Robin Taylor
Posted: 4:57 pm EST January 20, 2012
Updated: 5:42 pm EST January 20, 2012
Article from wpxi.com
PITTSBURGH -- If you get a check in the mail for a couple thousand dollars, don't get excited -- chances are it's a fake.
I've seen this "mystery shopper" scheme dozens of times, but this is a clever new twist on an old con game.
The thieves are using the name of a New York marketing company to make the checks look legitimate when they ask you to do market research.
“I got $2,400. It's a professional check. I thought I was going to go shopping,” said Todd Cenci, who suspected something wasn't quite right.
He called me after getting a check for $2,425.20. The check and letter were from a marketing company on Eighth Avenue in New York City. The letter said he'd been chosen as a mystery shopper. All he had to do was deposit the check and then send a wire transfer of $1,900 back to them via Western Union.
But Cenci is a retired Pittsburgh police officer and he didn't fall for this scheme.
"It's probably a real check, it's just there's no account attached to it," I said, looking at it. "It has the watermarks on the back, where you sign on the back,” Cenci replied, as we examined the check.
If he had cashed it, it would have bounced after he had already wired money out of the country, and he would have lost $1,900.
"Is there a marketing research company by that name?" I asked.
“Yes there is, out of New York, there is," said Cenci.
Here's the tricky part: The schemers used the real marketing company's name and address -- Wolters Kluwer Market Research -- but they spelled "Wolters" with an "A" instead of an "O."
"It's brilliant, actually, whoever thought of that. It's just very deceiving, a terrible thing to do to somebody," said Cenci.
The retired officer did a little detective work. He called the real Wolters Kluwer Market Research Company in New York, and they told him the check was fraudulent. It looked real, but the account number was a couple digits off. A representative at Wolters Kluwer told Cenci they've been getting a lot of calls about this scheme. They advised him to contact the FBI.
"If I weren't a little leery and a retired police officer, I probably would have fell for it,” said Cenci.
A friend of his nearly fell for the scheme, but Cenci was able to warn him in time.
Investigators said this type of criminal is hard to track down because the money is almost always sent out of the country.
Turn the hopelessness within you into a fruitful opportunity. By RIDO
