Hi there, has anybody heard about a company called, "Shopping Research Inc." I applied to a company called, Secret Shopper Inquiry, and the next day I received an email from another company that I didn't feel was legitimate. I'm uncomfortable giving my credit card number, so I haven't responded. Has anybody on this form given their credit card number out to companies? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you, Trisha

This is the email that I received:

- You had applied for a mystery shopping job, we are presently looking for mystery shoppers in your area, if you are still interested please fill out the application on our website www.shoppingresearchinc.com to start shopping immediately.


REASON FOR CREDIT CARD INFO:

AS STATED ON OUR WEBSITE: YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL NOT BE CHARGED BECAUSE WE DO NOT REQUEST YOUR CVV (WHICH IS THE LAST 3 NUMBERS ON THE BACK OF YOUR CARD) WHICH IS MANDATORY TO BE ABLE TO CHARGE A CREDIT CARD)

WE REQUIRE YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION DUE TO THE FACT THAT FUNDS FOR YOUR SHOPPING TASKS ARE SENT BY DIRECT PAYMENT TO YOUR DESIGNATED CREDIT CARD IN ORDER TO PERFORM YOUR SHOPPING ASSIGNMENTS.

YOUR CREDIT CARD MUST HAVE AN OUTSTANDING OR OWING BALANCE OF A MINIMUM OF AT LEAST $2000 TO QUALIFY, IF YOU HAVE A ZERO BALANCE OR LESS THAN $2000 IT DOES NOT US ALLOW ROOM FOR FUNDS TO BE PAID TO YOUR DESIGNATED CREDIT CARD.

WE DECIDED ON THIS POLICY BECAUSE IT IS AN EXPEDIENT AND SAFE METHOD OF SENDING FUNDS TO OUR SHOPPERS TO PERFORM ASSIGNMENTS.

WE INITIALLY USED TO SEND FUNDS BY DIRECT DEPOSIT OR CHECKS TO PROSPECTIVE SHOPPERS, WE INCURRED LOSSES AND FOUND THE PROCESS SLOW WHICH RESULTED TO A CHANGE IN POLICY.

WE HAVE BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR MORE THAN 10YRS, WE HAVE AN IMPECCABLE REPUTATION IN THE MYSTERY SHOPPING INDUSTRY, YOU CAN DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE BY DOING A GOOGLE SEARCH (SHOPPING RESEARCH INC)AND YOU WILL FIND THEIR ARE NO COMPLAINTS ABOUT OUR COMPANY.

HOWEVER IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE PROVIDING THAT INFORMATION WE UNDERSTAND AND WISH YOU GOOD LUCK!

Regards,

Certainly does not sound legitimate to me. What very very VERY few legitimate companies that advance money usually do it in the form of a gift card or a Paypal deposit. I would not give them the time of day.

Trisha, I'm not familiar with the company, but the offer sounds weird. I believe it would be wise to not respond to them. No No.

Take their Good Luck and run.

Thank you for your responses. After reading this forum for a few weeks, I think that if the company was established; some of the members would have heard about it. What bothered me was the need for my actual credit card number so that someone could give me money (like that happens a lot), when paypal is the safe and secure solution.

I think I will forward my email to the BBB.

Trisha2528 also send this info to the local police and the FBI as both can psiibly trace this e-mail back. It sounds like the old scam, but instead of send M.O or Checks they are now using your credit card. Don't reply to them in any way.

I received that email as well. It looked fishy, so I just deleted it.

Good move! If in doubt, throw it out.

I sent the email to the Federal Anti-fraud Department which shares it with the appropriate police agencies. Hopefully they'll investigate and protect other people if the company turns out to be bogus.

My wife has gotten involved with this company. So far she has given them he credit card info, they have transferred $2800 onto her card. And sent her a few assignments, to buy any items she wants from Walmart, petstart, petrocanada (gas station), and then go to 2 western unions to send $1200 from each to a fictitious person she makes up in london england. She doesnt have to record much of anything for the shops, and gets to keep the items plus $240 for payment for herself.

Neither of us have done anything like this before, so abit of help from you guys on weather or not we are going to be out $2800 would be greatly appreciated.

She just got a call from the credit card company saying her card was frozen by securities, she just talked to securities a couple minutes ago and they froze it cause of the large payment from an unknown account. She is waiting to hear from the shopping research contact (Derick Boone) if he can provide her with a financial institution the funds came from the credit card company said it would all be ok.

I'm not sure how they are doing it, but I sure as heck would not do ANYTHING with ANY of that money until several weeks to a month have elapsed. The credit card company was smart to freeze the account and that is a truly good thing for your protection. This is NOT the way that any legitimate mystery shopping company does business. They pay and reimburse AFTER the work is performed. Use some common sense. Would any legitimate company send someone they didn't know and with whom there was no track record money up front? When was the last time your boss gave you an advance on your paycheck? And your boss knows you!

Hey Kdodman, I hope that it all works out well for your wife. It sounded too good to be true and a little too complicated for me. I was leary of giving out my credit card number, especially when they wanted it to have a high balance, when putting money into my paypal account would have been easy and secure.

As I posted, I did report them by email, but I haven't received any update from the Anti-fraud Department; and I have no further information on the company. Please let me know what happens. I'm hoping for the best for you both.

I have done work with three Mystery Shopping Companies so far. One pays via Paypal in the month following the shop, and the other two use direct deposit and put the money directly into my bank account the month after the shop.

Since no one on this forum, which seems chalk full of experienced shoppers, had heard about the company, I decided to stick with the companies that they are familiar with. It seems safer that way. So far, so good.

I just finished completing 3 assignments today. They put $2950.00 on my cc and I was to go to walmart and spend $75 and 2 transfers to Western Union for $1200.00. I have talking with Derek Boone as well as kdodman's wife has and he seems legitimate but I am realllllly concerned now after hearing everyones input. I told Derek to call me asap as I have a question about one of my assignments and I am going to ask him about the financial institution that the money came from. Fingers are crossed but hopefully if I don't get a reply it is not too late to stop the money transfers!

I did however; upon recommendation from the bank that I got the cash advance from call my credit card company and confirmed that the money was cleared on my credit card and they said that it was.

tsccdiamond thiat has all the earmarks of a scam. Mystery shopping you can make money but it is generally at the 5 10 20 bucks at a time route.

Please make sure you keep us posted on how well or badly it goes. I personally am very concerned for you because it does have all the earmarks of a scam. Unfortunately we have had folks come onto the forum with the scam checks absolutely certain that the scams were legitimate because the funds 'cleared their bank'. Only a very few have come back to tell us that the check subsequently bounced and they are personally responsible for $4000 to $7000. And once you have wired away the money, it is gone never to be recovered.

now i am concerned i was looking into being a secret shopper and saw this company and applied and derek seemed real 2800 was put on my credit card and i was to spend 75 at walmart 50 at canadian tire and 45 at petro canada(funny thing was the petro i was to go to has been torn down for 2 years) i am to transger 1200 at 2 differet locations to western union tomorrow now i am concerned. any advice?

I can only suggest that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. I don't know quite how the guy is getting money transferred onto your credit card but I suspect it may well be by using the credit card information former 'shoppers' have provided him with. If you were my sister I would tell you to close the credit card immediately so that no charges could be made against it and I would tell her to have a discussion with the fraud protection folks at the credit card company. I would encourage her to perform none of the shops. She would be likely to get threatening phone calls from this wonderful Derek guy, but she should work with the credit card company closely to find him and most likely prosecute for fraud.

If you look at the Shopping Research Inc website at [shoppingresearchinc.com] you will find an address given of 420 Lexington Ave, Ste 200
New York, NY. 10170

If you google that address in NYC you will find that office suite is listed to:

Kelly Services

Bringing the Best Employees and Employers Together

(212) 949-8545

420 Lexington Ave Ste 200
New York, NY 10170

well i called my bank and they cancelled my card and are going to wire the money back and check up on him for future refrence but after explaining sending money to a fake name they said they dont know how that would work also said some companies dont need your last 3 numbers to take funds out on you hmmmmm

Years ago a single mom friend was traveling and her purse was stolen. She had the toll free phone number to the office so she could use a pay phone without cost because she only found less than a dollar in the seat cushions of the car. We sent her money by Western Union and she needed no documentation to pick it up. I don't know that Western Union has ever changed those policies.

My wife left another message for Derik Boone asking for details on the bank the money came from so mastercard securities can be happy, but she still hasn't heard back, and I image she wont. She also thinks that all the locations she was asked to shop were locations she has used her card in the past, so maybe wondering if they got those details off the cards history.
I've googled Derik Boone and he is an actor, I also googled the name of the companies president from on the letter and he is a USDA forestry guy. And with the address from the website being for Kelly Services, I think that is more then enough evidence for me, at least one of those things should seam legitimate, and none do.
Now I'm just worried that some goon is going to show up at our door asking for his 2800 back. lol

I talked to my bank and they closed my card and are sending me a new card number and pin etc. And they are going to wire the money back to them. Hopefully your bank can figure something out so that u dont have lots of trouble.

tsccdiamond, How have things worked out with you with these guys?

I finished all my assignments and sent Derek the receipts. I called my cc company again and they said that the payment on my cc can't be cancelled without my authorization; however I think I will call them back again and cancel the card just in case this Derek guy tries to take a payment off it. He told me that the funds came from TD Bank for the payment on my card. But I"m concerned because he told me that I would get more assignments today and I haven't heard from him yet and left 2 email messages so far.

I called my cc company back and another rep told me that they can retract a payment; so this is NOT good! However there will be an investigation if this is the case. The phone number is a landline and not listed and the address given is for a different company! Since I have finished the assignments I haven't heard back so I guess I will look forward to a retract on my cc and an investigation :-(

Thanks to everyone on here for opening my eyes, I wish I had read this forum sooner; but hopefully I will make out okay in the end! I am definately doing my research first from now on! I was advised from a friend but it turns out when I went to the website she referred me to it directed me to "Shopping Research Inc."

Tsccdiamond, that's what happened to me. I applied online at Secret Shopper Inquiry and the next day I received an email from Derek at Shopping Research Inc.

I did forward his email to the Government Anti-Fraud Department but after reading your post, I think I'll go back to the Secret Shopper Inquiry website and fire off an email to them. They're either an innocent player in all of this or they're part of an elaborate con.

Thanks for the update. I hope it works out ok for you.

The people who run this "company" are idiots. They really are. They're the same people who scammed me. They had a previous made-up mystery shopping company called Shopping detective Inc. They used the same phone number for that one as they did for this new one. Unfortunately, they shut down the new website they made. Absolutely report them to everybody. I want these jerks to get caught so I can get my $986 back. I doubt it will happen, but I also want them to stop taking advantage of people who work hard for their money. I hope some day these losers get caught.


Just out of curiosity, did anyone else speak to these people on the phone, particularly to a "Janice Hoskins"?

tsccdiamond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I called my cc company back and another rep told
> me that they can retract a payment; so this is NOT
> good! However there will be an investigation if
> this is the case. The phone number is a landline
> and not listed and the address given is for a
> different company! Since I have finished the
> assignments I haven't heard back so I guess I will
> look forward to a retract on my cc and an
> investigation :-(

What is the phone number of the people who are scamming you?