As you may know, scammers have been posing as my company as part of a check-cashing scam that has resulted in many people losing thousands of dollars.
Fortunately — those very scammers may have been caught!
Just a few days ago Canadian authorities arrested two people suspected of fraud. The description of the case matches the fraud that has attacked my business and my subscribers.
Hopefully this will mean the worst is over.
I am currently in the process of contacting the Canadian authorities. Hopefully they will be able to verify that the 2 people arrested are indeed the sames ones who were impersonating my company. I will also be able to pass on all of the valuable information my subscribers have sent me, and hopefully help you get in contact with them if you have any evidence related to these crimes.
Here is a copy of the press release announcing the arrests:
Competition Bureau and Toronto Strategic Partnership Investigation Leads to Arrests in Secret Shopper Scam
OTTAWA, ONTARIO– The Competition Bureau announced today that following a search conducted yesterday with its law enforcement partners in the Toronto Strategic Partnership, two operators of an alleged “Secret Shopper” scam have been arrested.
Christopher Nduka and Alicia Obermuller of Brampton, Ontario, operated an alleged counterfeit cheque scam out of their home by mailing letters to U.S. residents stating they had won a lottery or were selected to be a secret shopper. The recipients were instructed to deposit enclosed cheques and wire a portion of the funds back to the operators of the alleged scam. However, after the victims deposited the counterfeit cheques and sent the funds, the cheques bounced and victims lost their money. It is estimated that hundreds of U.S. residents have fallen victim to this alleged scam, and have been bilked at least $150,000 in total to date.
Nduka and Obermuller were arrested yesterday after officers found shredded copies of the “Secret Shopper” solicitation letters in their home. A cheque printer and blank cheque stock were also found. The two accused have been allegedly operating fraudulent schemes such as “The Advance Fee Lottery” and “The Secret Shoppers” since January 2005.
“The Bureau is pleased to have undertaken this enforcement initiative against mass marketing fraud in conjunction with its partners,” said Andrea Rosen, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Competition.
The Bureau is one of the founding members of the Toronto Strategic Partnership, which also includes the Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto Police Service, the RCMP, Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, PhoneBusters, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the UK’s Office of Fair Trading. The partnership is a multi-law enforcement agency, formed in response to ever increasing cross-border mass fraudulent marketing schemes.
The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency. We contribute to the prosperity of Canadians by protecting and promoting competitive markets and enabling informed consumer choice.
For more information, please contact
For media enquiries:
External Relations and Public Affairs Branch
Pamela Wong
Communications Advisor
819-953-7734
or
For general enquiries:
Competition Bureau
Information Centre
819-997-4282 or Toll free: 1-800-348-5358
TDD (hearing impaired): 1-800-642-3844
Received a check from Alcan Consumer research Inc. Check was on a company out of Texas. Got any idea?
To the prevois commenter: Do not deposit the check! Do not wire any money! Find the bank’s phone number (do not use any phone number on the check) and contact their fraud department.
Ireceived a check also. When I called the company Public Interest Research Group a women answered. She was very unprofessioal, could not anser my question of why I had to fax my evaluation sheet back and not mail it and over all had a bad attitude. She was enough to stop me from depositing the check. Thank you for this additional information.
I received a check last August. The company represented was “Paid 2 Shop”. I did not cash the the check. I notified my local police department and also the Secret Service. A mystery shopping company that I shop for told me to contact the secret service, so I did. A week later I received another check from the same people and the secret service had me send it to them unopened. I hope these are the same ones that tried to scam me. They give legitimate companies a bad name. They shoul pay big time for what they have done.
i received a check for mistery shopping ,the bank is in misouri and said maxfin investment and the letter from oakville canada, i called canada to confirm the address and does not exist.
i sent an email to the bank asking for verification of an official check…
now i am waiting to the police contact me to get them
i sent a complaint to the bureau that you guys mentioned above :
hi i received a letter from this person offering me a mistery shopper job, i called him, i gave him my name ,phone, a check number that they sent me .he ask me to deposit this check in my account as soon possible and call him to let him know .
after he said he will log me in his sistem.imy job is going to expend money in walmart and sears and do a money transfer with moneygram to any name that i want to inventno relate to me after he said to call him and give him the order number and fax the paper.
i did not do anithing yet ,i want to be sure this is not an scam, so i called to oakville police and confirm the address and does not exist, any way if this is working to get this people do what you can if you need any other info let me know
the legends bank confirmed there is not branch in missouri,and fraudulent peolpe are using them to do money scams,they dont have official cheks ether
i called my local police and post office
I think Ibana gets scammed often. Look at her spelling, caps (Lack of)and sentence structure. Ibana , just by looming at your post, I expect an easy target, you write like a child. with Down’s!
I received a check in the mail and did deposit it and now that I have found out that the account the check was wirtten on is closed. I am now out around $3,900.00 and some how have to figure out how to repay this. if this is the two that scammed me I would really like to get my money back somehow. I still have all of the paper work and even a copy of the check that was sent. I even have the information to where I was supposed to wire the money.
Face it, you have been scammed. You will never see any f that money again. Even if the two that got caught are the ones who ripped you off, it will take a PI to prove anything, a lawyer to bring it to trial, and these guys will plead poverty, if convicted. Live, and learn.
There are no honest internet jobs.
I still have a check and letter that I am not doing anything with. These scammers need to be caught so nothing like this ever happens again.
Well guys, Here is an update, Apparently both the scammers, Cristopher Nduka and Alicia Bermuller have walked free. there case was dismissed in the Canadian Courts, based on technicallity. Apparently the police screwed up in their investigation. Only My Christopher Nduka had served some minor time while waiting for a bail hearing. So they are out and free. That should tell you much on how these guys get away with these things.
I also received a check for $4260.00 drawn on a bank in Texas. Letter from Canada, phone # in Montreal. Thank God I stumbled on your web site. The letter was from THE JW RESEARCH GROUP a division of mysteryshoponline.con. Dianna Cross HR, Derrick Wolf, Head Office, all in Bathurst NB Canada. Will speak to authorities and Bank tomorrow. I received check etc. March 23, 2009.
I received a letter with the heading The J W Research Group the check is JW Partners, Ltd. 5400 Dallas Parkway Frisco, TX 75034 the amount of the check is for 3,998.00. I still have the check and the letter.
I just received a check today 10/29/10 in the amount of $2300. Figured it was a scam so I went on line check it out. The check is from the same address in Texas as the others. This one is not the secret shopper scam it is the lottery scam.
i was recently scammed during a mystery shopper online job for ebay. i was notified that the postal money order that was deposited in to my acct was fraudelent. when i notified my contact, he said there was something wrong with my bank. i informed him that if i did not receive my money back by thurs. oct. 28,2010, i was going to call the police. as of this date, i have not received my money or any more emails from him. what do think my next step should be? i really do not want to be identified for very personal reasons.
I got a check like this in the mail today. It was the same address in Texas and for the amount of 2300. Figured it was a scam so decided to check it out. Glad I came across this site, I plan on calling the bank in the morning.
I also received a letter in the mail stating that I had won a sweepstakes with a check in the amount of $2300 asking me to use the money to “pay the winner’s surcharges”. According to the letter, the balance of $37,700 would be sent as soon as the “surcharges and taxes associated with this winning have been received and processed”. Not sure what to do with the letter and the check now but I guess I’ll start with local law enforcement and then rake it from there.
My husband received a check from JW Partners, LTD as well. I went online to do some research because who is going to send him a check out of the blue to do mystery shopping for $2200. Found out there is such a company at the address. I called the owner of the company who is Jim Williams and told him what was going on. He told me his bank told him there was some fraud going on, they were receiving checks. The name on the letter is Jim Davis, he had an accent and the phone number area code was 903 which in Frisco TX is 214. He is given the information to his lawyer. So if you receive a check out the blue, don’t cash it. Do your research. The fradulent also told me they were with the BBB. He asked us questions like are we employed full-time, do we have time to work part-time and have we declared bandruptcy. He had to also activate the check. I didn’t believe a word he was saying. First of all you couldn’t understand what he was saying, that was a hint right there. When I read the company name he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about then he finally said oh yes.
i recieved a check from canad and now owe the bank 3,998pluskept everything gps on pc took it right to there flat and phone calls was like 56,00 but from the raymond copany NY.I LIVE ON 300 DOLLARES TRY TO PAY THAT BACK
I Also received the letter from JW Partner. Check amount is 2250. I deposited it and then read this site, realize something is wrong. No idea what is going to happen next.
I just recieved a check today for 2250, and when I called the number the area code was also 903. The guy on the phone had a non- American accent. He also asked me the same questions like if I worked part time, full time, if I have ever filed bankruptcy. How do i contact the real company to let them know that this is still going on? I know they arrested a couple of people for this, but there are more out there. I just recieved my letter on 7/06/2011 so, it is still happening today and it is a discrase.
the exact same situation as Brandy. I just realized the true situation a little bit later. I also hope that I can contact the real company. If the money come to my account, I can return it definitely.
i receive a letter from this same company out of Frisco TX its a mystery shopper thing it says that i filled out a mystery shopper app. online i dont remember doing that. But anyway they also sent me a check for 2,430.00 it says that the endorser of the check is TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION P.O.BOX 900 BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90213 it wants me to do the same deposit then send money back to someone via WESTERN UNION it seem to me if the people were caught how am i still able to receive this letter is it fraud or not??????????????
what the hell
FRAUD – FORGERY – COUNTERFEIT CHECK ALERT: DO NOT cash or deposit any “SECRET SHOPPER” checks from TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX.
there are a lot of different mystery shopper fraud things out there they may have caught these 2 people but they arent the only people out there doing this and as for whoever said that these 2 walked free that isnt true i was scammed by these people quite a few years back and i have received a letter from US Department of Justice about Christopher Nduka and his upcoming trial. I do not actually expect to get any of my money back from this but i would be truly happy to see these people to go down for what they did.
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This is such a great post, and was thinking much the same myself. Another great update.
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