I did a banking phone shop this week. The banker was OK but did not provide required licensing number which I noted in the report. I used an alias and provided an alias email for him to send me his contact details. He sent the email to the address that corresponded to the alias I provided.
Today he called my home and left a message asking him to call me back. . I did not reply as I have no reason to speak with him.
Immediately thereafter, he sent a text to my husband's cell phone I have no idea how he got the number- as the name is not the same as the alias provided. It said I know your wife is a secret shopper. Tell her to stop calling me. (I made only one call for the shop and no others- I have done many such phone shops and never been suspected of being a shopper) I was shocked as in my many y ears of shopping this has never happened!

I am totally freaked out about how this man got my husband's cell- he is quite annoyed to received texts like this

I believe this man is not playing with a full deck- making calls and then sending texts like this is quite odd.

I am considering letting the mystery shopping company know what happened but then wonder if they will think I did something to make this man think I was a shopper

In any case it is not right to conatct someone and send such a text.

Any suggestions?

IN RESPONSE TO THE MANY REPLIES:

My son called me last night and asked why Mr. from the bank shopped called him and asked me to call him. My son was annoyed as he does not live with me and is quite a private person who does not want to be annoyed on his job with texts from some obviously unbalanced banker. My son wanted to know why I gave him his number- which I did not. The fact that he bothered my son at his job was quite upsetting to me. My son is a busy professional person who is under a lot of stress on his job without being annoyed by some crackpot banker. Strangely, the text sent to my husband (we all live in the same town) said your wife is a secret shopper. Tell her to stop calling me. Then he sends my son a message asking me to call him?? This man is obviously disturbed.

In terms of these shops they are mortgage compliance shops. There is a requirement to disclose an NMLS number at the start of the call. This was NOT done. I am very cognizant of this requirement and carefully listen- most bankers will provide their number and say that it is required to be disclosed due to federal regulations. . This was NOT DONE!


The shop also requires that rates be discussed in both rate and APR terms. The banker gave a rate only and it was very vague- even when I asked for a more specific rate rather than a ballpark which he said "probably will be lower" he restated the rate only. Prior to discussing the rates, he asked me many questions, price of home, my income, down payment, if I was a first time buyer, credit score. In the approximately 50 or so such shops I have done over several years, once all these details are provided, I am provided with a rate and an APR as well as an approximate monthly payment. This was not done here.

So the reality is this man did a poor job on the phone. I reported the facts. I have done I would estimate 50 of these types of shops. I have NEVER to the best of my knowledge been suspected of being a shopper as I often get follow up emails which to me indicate that the banker thought I was an actual prospect.

I am rethinking doing any more of this type of shop. I enjoy doing them but as a senior citizen with a husband who has many health issues, I am not willing to be put into a position of being harassed and having my husband and son disturbed by irate bankers who are upset over the reporting of their poor job performance.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2024 01:20PM by Fatlady.

Block their number in your mobile phones unless you want to wait and see what happens next if anything.

Added:
With the new information, I see no good that could come from returning his calls. I doubt that the MSC or the client would do anything with any post-report supplemental information, other than to ban you for being outed as a mystery shopper.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2024 02:57PM by jgardn02.

You gave him your real tele # not a alias tele? Do you have or have you had an account with the bank (same branch or another?) where by keying in the tele # in their system he could see your real name vs alias and husband's telle #? Its not so unusual to receive a follow-up call but def unprofessional to contact your husband.

I would be so curious (albeit freaked out) I'd call back to see what the guy had to say or have husband text to ask how the person got his mobile # before blocking or reporting to someone.

I wonder if the MSC provided your real name in the report? Either way just about anybody can be found with some internet searching. Especially if the banker or his bank subscribes to one of those people-finding databases.

Oh, that is really freaky.

I glean the following relevant information from your post: The banker called your home phone number. You did not sound alarmed by this, which makes me think that is the phone number you called from. It alarms you that the banker tracked down your husband's cell phone number and texted him. Please update if any of this not correct.

There were really two issues here. First, how did the banker figure out you were a mystery shopper? Second, how did the banker get your husband's phone number?

It will be hard to say for certain how the banker knew you were a shopper. Maybe it was something you said during the call, maybe it was the questions you had to ask, maybe he got the report and pieced together the time and day, or something else. You stated you've never been suspected as a shopper, but I would qualify that statement by adding that, as far you know, you've never been suspected as a shopper. That would go for any of us.

As far as how he tracked down your husband's number, that is a much easier question to answer. If you called from your home phone and the number showed up on caller ID (it isn't always blocked if you have to go through a recorded line), then that is all he needed to find out just about everything about you. With a phone number, one can find out every other phone number you've had, every address you have lived, every e-mail address you've had, where you have worked, and so on. It's not just your information, because one can also learn who lives with you, who is your spouse, who are your kids, and all of their information, too. Social media accounts, voting information and more is all reliably available and a phone number, even if it is "unlisted," is all that's needed. If you gave me your home phone number, I could have your husband's cell phone number in hand and send him a text message in less than 30 seconds. It is that easy.

I agree with you, the banker's behavior was completely inappropriate, creepy, and stupid. I would report it to the MSC.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2024 04:56AM by ServiceAward.

The banker's behavior was certainly inappropriate, and might have even been illegal. Report him to the MS company. Somehow he got access to your phone number to triangulate with other identity information about you--like some stalkers and others with behavioral issues do.

The MS company needs to know because there may be a problem with the procedures taken with banks to protect identities of shoppers. With many bank shops (phone and in- person), names, phone numbers, and other identifying information is supposed to be purged from the bank's system after the shop. A smart banker will just use the shop results for self improvement. You got a banker with "issues."

I am sorry this happened to you.

Some thoughts:

1. Try not to freak out. With one real phone number (especially a home phone number), It is relatively easy to find someone's other phone numbers (old and current), addresses (old and current), people who may be related or who live/lived at the same addresses, and those people's phone numbers, etc.

2. The banker was way out of line. Please don't respond. Block him.

3. Save the home message if you haven't deleted it. Save the text if your husband has not deleted it. Saving them will give you options.

4. I would tell the MSC and be factual and unemotional while doing so.

5. Did the MSC approve your report already? If so, how soon after report approval did the banker contact you and your husband? If the banker had access to the report or got negative feedback from the bank, that might be how he figured out you were the shopper.

6. What kind of bank shop was this? Investment? Mortgage?

@Fatlady wrote:

I did a banking phone shop this week. The banker was OK but did not provide required licensing number which I noted in the report. I used an alias and provided an alias email for him to send me his contact details. He sent the email to the address that corresponded to the alias I provided.
Today he called my home and left a message asking him to call me back. . I did not reply as I have no reason to speak with him.
Immediately thereafter, he sent a text to my husband's cell phone I have no idea how he got the number- as the name is not the same as the alias provided. It said I know your wife is a secret shopper. Tell her to stop calling me. (I made only one call for the shop and no others- I have done many such phone shops and never been suspected of being a shopper) I was shocked as in my many y ears of shopping this has never happened!

I am totally freaked out about how this man got my husband's cell- he is quite annoyed to received texts like this

I believe this man is not playing with a full deck- making calls and then sending texts like this is quite odd.

I am considering letting the mystery shopping company know what happened but then wonder if they will think I did something to make this man think I was a shopper

In any case it is not right to conatct someone and send such a text.

Any suggestions?

Totally agree, this should be disclosed to the MSC. This is very inappropriate. If he knows the number, he likely knows your home address. Save everything.

I would probably be concerned about forfeiting the shop/fee (MSC not able to use report if you are made as a shopper) but not worth your personal safety.

I don’t understand; If they know it’s a shopper why not just turn it on and hit all the points? Get great marks and keep it pushing! Crazy. Maybe he didn’t figure it out until after the interactions were completed.

On a similar note I can vaguely recall a video shopper saying a car salesman was very inappropriate/flirting and offering a ‘better price’ for a date or something. She wasn’t made as a shopper but it’s all on video.

@GApeach wrote:

I don’t understand; If they know it’s a shopper why not just turn it on and hit all the points? Get great marks and keep it pushing! Crazy. Maybe he didn’t figure it out until after the interactions were completed.

I also do not understand why employees would give away that they know who the shopper is. If I were in that situation, I would not tell anybody! It is stupid to do so. Loose lips sink ships. Sometimes your own!

Stupid is as stupid does.

It is amazing how much information you can find online - just google your name, or go to whitepages.com. You can remove your name from their database, but other related people probably will show up with full phone numbers and addresses. I am so sorry this terrible incident happened to you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2024 07:33AM by Chix.

You called him from a phone. He knows the phone number you called from unless you have Caller ID blocked. Possibly that's how he found out all of your other contact details.

@ServiceAward wrote:

I also do not understand why employees would give away that they know who the shopper is. If I were in that situation, I would not tell anybody! It is stupid to do so. Loose lips sink ships. Sometimes your own!

As another person commented - it's likely that the banker got a bad report, then looked up the info from that interaction and worked backwards. He looked up the phone number the shopper called him from, saw the name associated with the number didn't match the alias the shopper gave him-then googled the 'alias', found out that person doesn't exist, and put 2 and 2 together, assuming that the name associated with whatever number the shopper used is the real name. Then find out who else is associated with that person.

@STL_shopper wrote:

@ServiceAward wrote:

I also do not understand why employees would give away that they know who the shopper is. If I were in that situation, I would not tell anybody! It is stupid to do so. Loose lips sink ships. Sometimes your own!

As another person commented - it's likely that the banker got a bad report, then looked up the info from that interaction and worked backwards. He looked up the phone number the shopper called him from, saw the name associated with the number didn't match the alias the shopper gave him-then googled the 'alias', found out that person doesn't exist, and put 2 and 2 together, assuming that the name associated with whatever number the shopper used is the real name. Then find out who else is associated with that person.

Which is exactly why it is even more stupid. If you got a bad report, you could already be on thin ice. Why make it worse, potentially losing your job, and do this? The behavior is unacceptable, I do not care how easily one can obtain the information. It is intimidation. That person should be immediately gone. Fired!