Complaint Review: Research Spectrum Mike Howard

I received a letter dated 06/01/09 in a white envelope with my labeled address and no return address. The envelope was stamped and the post mark was difficult to read with French words and the English words: "From anywhere to anyone". My guess it was postmaked in Canada, as the phone number in the letter is Canadian.

The letter reads as follows:

Research Spectrum
2243 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94114-1612

Dear (my first and last name),

Our online date source has identified you, through our affiliate Consumer Survey Specialist, as a candidate interested in an additional income part-time job. We are pleased to invite you to participate in a paid Consumer Research Project in your area of residence as a Consumer Services Evaluator, also referred to as Mystery Shopper. Mystery Shopping or Mystery Consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks - such as purchasing a product, completing a business transaction, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way - and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences. Just about every kind of shop, service or store uses mystery shoppers to improve their service quality. These businesses need to know what average consumers - just like you, think about their products and services, and tey need to knw what's going on when management isn't looking over their employee's shoulders. They accomplish this by bringing in mystery shoppers.

Our company, Research Spectrum (listed with the Better Business Bureau) is a service provider for the mystery shopping industry. With over 5,700 shoppers and a roster of over 109 companies that we refer new shoppers to every day in US, we are the leading service of our kind. Every company we deal with is fully certified and consistently offers top-paying mystery shopping jobs.

As one of our possible research personnel selected for this project, you will be under cover and visit selelcted businesses in your area and pretend to be an average customer. While there, you will secretly evaluate things like customer service, store cleaniness and prduct quality. If you accept this offer, the current consumer services evaluation you are undertaking will attract a pay of $400 a week to you. After this first assignment, your salary will be reviewed upward to $400.00 per week for the first three months. Additional increment up o $600.00 per week is possible after six months; depending on the company you will assigned and the tasks involved. Upon accepting this offer you must keep your identity and assignment as a mystery shooper CONFIDENTIAL in order not to intoduce any form of bias to the data you collect. You must not take this letter to your assignments.

This assignment has been put together to be completed in two different locations. The first evaluation will take place at a MONEYGRAM or WESTERN UNION agent near you. You shall pose as a potential customer evaluating the MONEYGRAM or WESTERN UNION money transfer agents by sending the two stipulated amount below to one of the following taining agents: 1. ARTHUR FRANK, City:Philadelphia, PA; 2. CARLUS RUBIO, City: Pittsburg, PA; 3. JOSEPH SMITH, City: Philadelphia, PA; 4. DOUG SHAW, City:Pittsburg, PA; 5. LATOYA BENSON, City: New York, NY; 6. BRENDA LAWSON, City: Jersey City, NJ. The objective of this execise is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the payment systems agent you choose to visit. The second evaluation assignment will take place in one of these major retail otlets: SEAR'S, WAL MART, HOME DEPOT, VICTORIA'S SECRET, JCPENNEY, K-MART, TOYRUS, DILLARD'S, AND MACY'S. The objective of this second evaluation assignment is to determine the customer service quality of the retail outlet you choose to shop at. you must complete you assignment within one week after confirming your check.

Please find enclosed a check bearing the required funds to cover your first week's assignments. It must be expended as follows:
1. For your first week pay - $400.00;
2. For the first assignment, to evaluate a MoneyGram or Western Union money transfer agent near you - $2,980.00;
(#3 was missiing from the letter)
4. Estimated sender's fees, to be pai at the MoneyGram or Western Union agent office - $160.00;
5. For your secon assignment - shopping (you will choose the merchandize (spelled incorrectly) to buy, they are your to keep) - $145.00;
TOTAL: $3,685.00

Please call MIKE HOWARD, your coordinator at 514-576-8507 to confirm your check, Please ask for any further clarification or if you don't understand what to do; otherwise go ahead go ahead and deposit your immediately. When your check is clears (bad grammar), usually in a 1 to 3 business days, withdraw the amount required for your assignments (excluding your pay - $400.00); then go to any MoneyGram or Western Union transfer agent near you to undertake your first assgnment. Then, inform your coordinator when you finish the first assignment. Also, do your second assignment and fax your market report form and all receipts to: 1-973-453-8013.

Sincerely,

Tiffany L. Lopland
Director of Human Resources

The check looks legtimate and shows Research Spectrum and their address at the top of the check made payable to me for the amount of $3,685.00.

***The first thing I thought was odd is that the postmark was not San Francisco, CA...but in French (which may have been French Canadian). Also, the moneygram is to go to individuals on the East Coast, while I am located in the West and why does such a large amount of the funds have to be wired (It smacks of a scam). The phone number for Mike Howard is a Canandian area code and the fax phone number is a Northern New Jersey area code. The letter stipulates that the check will clear 1-3 days and my experience is that larger demonation checks usually take 10-14 days to clear....unless you are already established with your bank to deposit larger sums of money. It appears that the company Research Spectrum may also be a victim of this scam. This company has as website on the internet, but they have apparently moved and their phone numbers do have the 415 area codes. I decided to surf the internet for scam information about this and found what I suspected...It is a scam.***

Sharon
Las Vegas, Nevada
U.S.A.