Mystery shopping job scams exposed

Scam victims are being hired as mystery shoppers by fake research companies and dumped with the bill, warns Which?.

Job and recruitment scams continue to plague the public, with those looking for a side hustle particularly vulnerable to these fake jobs. We’ve already warned about task scams, where victims believe they will earn money for completing pay-per-click tasks such as leaving online reviews. 

Now we’re highlighting scams involving mystery shopping, after hearing from a student who faced debts in the thousands when he took out expensive phone contracts as a 'secret shopper' for a sham agency.

Mystery shopping scam tactics

Fake mystery shopper opportunities may appear on social media platforms and online job boards, although reports to Which? suggests that you're more likely to be contacted directly via text, email, phone or messaging platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp. 

Examples shared with us include a job scam text saying, ‘Hi, we've reviewed your resume, and it's a perfect fit! We'd love to invite you as our part-time partner’, an automated phone call apparently from the job site Indeed, and a social media message from scammers posing as the 'TikTok HR department'. 

Some scam artists ask you for money straightaway to pay for ‘training’ or ‘access’ to an online account. Others take it further, sending you to shops to buy goods and then hand them over before disappearing, leaving you out of pocket. 

One victim was approached to help promote unpopular films for the non-existent 'Google Movies', which he was told involved simulating buying cinema tickets. Another was told to buy gift cards from supermarkets and then share the Pins with the ‘recruiter’ who cashed them in and was never heard from again. 

You could even be pressured to visit high street phone stores and take out expensive contracts using your own personal and financial details. The empty promise is that once you've held up your end of the bargain (leaving the devices at a drop-off point or handing them to a ‘courier’), the contracts will be cancelled and you'll get your money. You’ll be left with no devices and potentially heavily in debt. 

Phone contract mystery shopping scams

A cash-strapped student told us he began the year searching for work online, leaving his contact details on various job sites in the hope that he could earn some extra money while he studied. He thought his luck had turned around when he was contacted about becoming a ‘mystery shopper’ for Vodafone. 

After discussing the terms of the arrangement, he agreed to visit shops to purchase various devices with contracts in his name, using his own bank card. At Vodafone, he took out a credit arrangement for a phone costing £833, plus a monthly payment of £23. He was told to do the same again at EE, where he signed up for a contract costing £81 per month for an iPhone and Apple Watch, making him liable for debts of £1,870. 

He then handed over the devices to what he thought was a courier for the bogus mystery shopping company, expecting reimbursement and subsequent payment for his services, which never happened. Once the fraud came to light, he was in debt with both Vodafone and EE, with no way to make the monthly payments. 

Vodafone cleared the debts from his credit file and reversed any charges; however, EE didn’t agree to do the same until months later, after Which? approached the network about this case. 

Vodafone said that while these types of scams are not exclusive to the telecoms industry, it recognises the importance of tackling this issue. It said: 'In this instance, the victim used their own information to take out payments on devices, meaning it can be difficult to spot fraudulent activity. However, the fraud was identified and a flag was put on the victim’s account. We then fully refunded and cleared any balances resulting from the scam, and any marks on the victim’s credit file were removed.’

EE told Which? that it cancelled the fraudulent contracts ‘following a thorough investigation and a recent crime report from the police and offered a ‘gesture of goodwill’, which was accepted.

• Find out more: five signs your loved one is a money mule.

How to spot a job scam

Follow our five tips to stay safe from the sneakiest of job scammers:

1. Be cautious of any messages asking if you're interested in earning 'easy' money, and remember that if it sounds too good to be true, then it’s probably a scam. 
2. Absolutely never pay upfront for training or to access an online account – no legitimate business will charge you to start working for them, only a scammer would do this. 
3. Even if a job offer doesn’t seem dodgy initially, do your homework on the company to see if it has a legitimate presence online, keeping a lookout for any complaints or scam warnings. Check for membership to professional bodies, such as the Mystery Shopping Professionals Association (MSPA). 
4. Don't assume that it's legitimate simply because you found its details on Companies House – this is only a public record of a company's existence, not confirmation of its legitimacy. Scammers could be posing as a genuine business listed in the register, or may even set up a limited company in someone else's name to appear official.
5. If they claim to be a known recruitment agency or an employer you have heard of, contact that business via the phone number or email address on its official website, or via its verified social media accounts.

If you lose any money to a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.