‘Very pushy’: You still need to watch out for secret shopper scam

CHARLOTTE — A local woman thought she landed a great birthday gift – a job she was hoping for – but it turned out to be a con.

Michelle Nunley works in healthcare and was looking to make extra money. But what happened left a bad taste.

“I don’t want [it] anymore,” she told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke. “It ruined it.”

She says she found a secret shopper position online.

“When I got the check in the mail, it had a letter with instructions. It told me I was hired, congratulations. It had the date, the company name. It seemed legit,” Nunley said. Plus, she got it on her birthday.

But she read deeper. “It had told me to go to different stores and to purchase eBay gift cards,” she said, which didn’t smell right to her. “And the only thing that literally saved me was because I slept on it.”

She says she cut off communication with the scammer, then contacted Stoogenke to share her story and warn others.

She says the scammer was “very pushy.”

Stoogenke texted the scammer, hoping to learn more about how the con operates. But by that point, maybe he or she knew the gig was up and didn’t respond, at least not in time for this report.

Advice from Action 9:

- Be cautious, even on a legitimate job site. Bad actors work their way onto those, too.

- You shouldn’t have to pay money to get a job.

- Never deposit a check into your bank account and send money back.

- If you really want to be a mystery shopper, click here to learn more about it.

VIDEO: Hickory police warn of scam over $80 PlayStations

Hickory police warn of scam over $80 PlayStations

©2024 Cox Media Group