Rip Off Scam Alert: Walmart Secret Shopper

Earlier today, my husband opened the front door and there was a U.P.S. envelope in it. Hmm, what could this be?? I thought it was odd, but figured it was a sample or something free that I signed up for. I look at the return address and it doesn’t look familiar at all....

Still thinking it was a freebie or something, I open the envelope and find this:

Wowzers $1,467. Where did this come from??? That’s all that’s in the envelope, just this check, nothing else. I don’t get too excited because I know I’m not expecting something like this. I also notice that the name and address on the check is different from the return address on the envelope. I begin to search the return address on the envelope and it is some sort of fabricating factory. Hmmm..... My husband called them and they had no idea what it was and said a few weeks earlier they had a problem with people hacking into their U.P.S. account or something like that. I then research the return name and address on the check. A bar association? Isn’t that for like.. lawyers?? I find a website for them and my husband calls them and gets the run around because no one knows what is going on or what the check is for.

Then a light bulb went off in my head. I remembered that a few weeks ago, I responded to something somewhere regarding doing secret shopper walmart surveys, where you take a survey about your trip to various walmarts. I filled out the application but then got a very odd email back. The email was full of grammatical errors and sounded extremely unprofessional, saying that I will receive a check in the mail soon and to contact them as soon as I receive it. I immediately deleted it because I knew it sounded way too odd. Luckily, it was still in my trash folder so I pulled it back up and emailed the guy back telling him that I received this check and was it from him? I look in my spam folder and see another email that was sent yesterday, telling me that I should receive my check soon and what I need to do. It stated this was my first “task”, and my directions were to cash the check immediately at my local walmart or bank, then spend $60 at Walmart, keep $40 for gas, $400 for my task “payment”, then send the remaining almost $1,000 via Western Union to:
Cedric Roy
Address:109 Hair St
New Orleans , La 70012

..and when I’m done shopping at Walmart, I’m supposed to answer questions such as: "Smartness of the attendant" ..seriously? Smartness??? … and the end of the assignment went like this: 

You should please make sure you Execute all the

Assignment today immediately you receive the paycheck and get back at us with a details as requested above.

  Happy Shopping.

Warm Regards!

The Hiring Manager

Soo.. you MIGHT be able to cash the check somewhere immediately, but most Walmarts won’t cash out of state checks and most banks will make you wait a few days for the check to clear. IF you somehow find a way to cash it, you get to keep $500 and send the rest to this Cedric guy. In the meantime, the check will end up bouncing and you may be stuck with charges from your bank, and Mr. Cedric gets all of this money.

Yes, I am putting this guy’s information out here for everyone to see. This is obviously a big fat SCAM. I don’t want anyone to fall for this type of thing and get screwed. This just goes to show you, that you DO have to be careful when it comes to trying to earn money via the internet. I also emailed the guy who sent me all of the information back and told him that if he wants to be successful at scamming people, he should try sounding at least a little bit professional. I also let him know that I will be “outing” him and reporting him to the proper authorities. … Don’t fall for this crap!