The Greater Sudbury Police is advising Sudburians to be aware of a new Secret Shopper scam that has garnered complaints from residents.
Here's how the scam works:
A fraudulent organization signs up individuals to be Secret Shoppers via their personal email accounts.
Citizens are asked to provide their mailing information in order to receive payment.
The citizen is sent a cheque in the mail that is accompanied by a letter with instructions.
The letter instructs the citizen to deposit the cheque into their personal account.
The citizen is told to keep a portion of the money deposited as payment for being a Secret Shopper. They are then asked to visit two or more local businesses making purchases with the money.
Once the citizen has completed all the steps outlined in the letter that accompanied the cheque, they are asked to send the remaining amount back to the fraudulent organization.
The cheques that are enclosed with the letter have stolen banking information from various businesses and the fraudulent organization uses this information to gain access to the businesses’ funds.
If you receive a cheque in the mail from a random business, accompanied by a letter with instructions to this effect, you are asked to contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre via www.antifraudcentre.ca where you can report an incident.
