Secret Shopper Scam

DATE & TIME: 06-05-2020 @ 0800   

LOCATION: Blue Springs

OFFENSE: Secret Shopper Scam

CASE #: 2020-2470

A resident of Blue Springs notified a Gage County Sheriff’s Officer she had been contacted and asked to be a “Secret Shopper” for a national grocery store chain. When she called the company, not the person who called her, she was advised the store was not participating in that program.

The Blue Springs resident has provided information on trending scams to the sheriff’s office before and has also avoided being defrauded by remembering news releases from the Gage County Sheriff’s Office on various types of scams.

In the past, suspects have contacted victims, asking them to be a “Secret Shopper”, which is where they pay to have people shop at stores and report on customer service. The suspects usually require some type of fee or bond and promise large payments, but after the victims send the suspects the money, they do not get hired.

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office urges residents to be cautious and realize that these situations that seem too good to be true, have a very high degree of being a scam. Requiring payments to start work should be a huge “red flag” or warning about a potential scam.

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Investigator T. Hanson #90310