Fake ‘secret shopper’ job scams Colorado Springs woman out of $12K

A Colorado Springs woman said she fell for a ‘secret shopper’ scam and now her life savings is gone.

Jessica Simmons is a single mom of two and a full-time student. So, when an opportunity came in her student e-mail to make some extra cash, she applied.

Two weeks later a package arrived at her door.

“It said, you know, ‘Congratulations, you’ve been chosen to be a secret shopper,'” Simmons said.

The package included instructions from Nationwide Marketing Research Program to deposit checks to be a secret shopper, buying gift cards in high dollar amounts, and taking surveys to rate how employees did.

“Bought the gift cards, did the survey, said here’s my information,” Simmons said. “In and out in literally five minutes.”

It seemed like fast, easy money.

Until her third trip to the store, when an employee started asking questions.

“She kept saying, ‘Are you sure these are who you’re buying them for? These are non-refundable. We’ve been having a lot of scams,’ and I’m thinking to myself, ‘How am I scamming you? I’m just buying gift cards.’ Not even realizing I’m the one being scammed,” Simmons said.

More than $12,000 Simmons spent is now gone because she was never paid for her work, the checks never cleared.

“My whole life savings is gone,” Simmons said.

Paul Myers-Bennett is the VP of Marketing and Events at the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado. He says the BBB monitors for scams.

“This is one that’s happening on a national level to the point where we get notified that secret shopper scams are very big in 2019,” Myers-Bennett said.

Myers-Bennett said these scams often require money to be wired to another account, which is a big red flag.

“You are responsible for the fees and also any unintended consequences from sending that money from your own personal bank account.”

While Simmons didn’t wire money, she’s still left with her entire savings gone.

“I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Simmon said.

The tough part about this scam is ‘secret shoppers’ actually exist. The BBB recommends checking to see if the company is affiliated with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association to be sure it’s legitimate.