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Wanted: dupe for organized crime

Secret-shopper job a scam

Posted: 06/26/2011 12:11 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Valerie Hogsden is grateful she once worked for a bank. The North Kildonan retiree says that’s all that stopped her from falling prey to a sophisticated scam.

Earlier this month, Hogsden responded to an employment ad. The unnamed company claimed to be looking for a "secret shopper." She sent them an email.

This is part of the response she received from "Collins Maxwell," assistant manager for CA Shoppers.

"Kindly get back to me asap, so that we can proceed to send you payments. We will be sending you your commission together with payments that you will be using to carry out your first mystery shopping assignment in Walmart.

"Please note that this post require (sic) 100% confidentiality. You must be descreet (sic), secretive and no one should know that you are a secret shopper."

That was clue No.1.

In another email, Maxwell told Hogsden she’d be evaluating the service at Walmart and Western Union. She was to note how long it took her to be served, the appearance of the business, the "smartness" of the staff and any other information that might prove helpful.

She’d be paid $200 for acting as a mystery shopper, $50 for lunch and $100 for transportation. Maxwell said he’d send her a cheque for $1,650. She was supposed to cash it. She’d then test Western Union’s service by sending back the unused portion of the money.

There is no evidence Western Union or Wal-mart knew anything about this con. Det. Julius Kovach, of the Winnipeg Police Service’s commercial crimes unit, says Hogsden unwittingly crossed paths with organized crime.

"They (the victims) are laundering money without knowing it," he said. "We are trying to get the message out not to fall for these things."

The cheque came by UPS, allegedly due to the postal strike. It was drawn on a U.S. bank. Hogsden knew it would take seven to 10 days before the cheque cleared. She sent Collins Maxwell a note and asked if that would be a problem. "It will not create (sic) problem at all but it might affect your monthly salary if the board think (sic) you are not giving report (sic) as quickly as they require it. Your commission of $200 is always guarantee (sic) at the end of every assignment," he replied.

That’s when Hogsden called me. It was becoming clear the cheque was fraudulent and the scammers were hoping she’d write them a large cheque back from her own account.

How fraudulent was this offer? We’ll start with the Bank of America, where the cheque was allegedly written. The bank address is given as 1 World Trade Center, New York. That building is still under construction. A Port Authority agent assured me there are no tenants.

The address of the company doing the hiring is in Charlotte, N.C. The company name was ICBNC, Inc. I called them, too. They exist and at that address. The problem? It’s the Islamic Community of Bosniaks. The phone number connects to the voice mail of someone purporting to be a teenage girl.

I took a look at the return label on the UPS envelope that contained the bogus cheque. It claimed the envelope was sent by a Michael Menard from Rescue, Calif. When we spoke, he said he was a 45-year-old civil engineering student. He claimed he had no idea how his correct name, address and phone number were on the package.

But what about the woman Hogsden was supposed to send the cash to via Western Union? Again, Audrey McGhee exists and looks like a lovely, church-going lady. But she doesn’t live at the Ohio address given to Hogsden.

Finally, I wanted to find out who paid for the ad. At first glance, it looked like a Winnipeg recruiting agency. But when I called them, they said they’ve already contacted the RCMP and their lawyers. Their name was used but they had nothing to do with the ad.

Hogsden is a little embarrassed she was almost scammed. She realizes if the company had really wanted her to test Western Union’s services, they could have asked her to send $20 back. She didn’t fall for it, but if any of you did, the Winnipeg Police Service would really like to hear from you. Don’t expect miracles, Det. Kovach said.

"They do their research," he said. "These are usually crime organizations outside our jurisdiction."

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

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