Last week, a man reached out to our 11 Call for Action team when he was tricked into thinking he landed a new job as a mystery shopper. It turns out it was just a scam, and he lost hundreds of dollars.

David told me he was excited when he got a text saying he was picked for a new job. They told him he would get to go to stores and give reviews about his shopping experience.

He got a check in the mail for nearly $2,000 with instructions on what to do. “It basically was deposit the check and go buy four $400 gift cards from Walmart,” David said.

“I got $200 out of the $1,950, went to Walmart, bought a Walmart gift card, did what it said to do, scratch off the pin, send a picture of it to them right away,” David said. “They said, ‘OK that’s perfect.’”

David thought everything was going well until the next day when the check bounced. He went back to Walmart and found out the crooks had wiped money from the gift card. “I’m $200 in the hole,” David said. “It hurts.”

He reached out to his bank and froze his accounts to be safe. “I’m angry that I fell for it because I should have known better because if it’s too good to be true, it usually is, and this was too good to be true,” David said.

David has been a legitimate mystery shopper before. He told me there are warning signs in the letter he got that he should have picked up on.

“You’ll get a sheet similar to this, but it will have all the information that the person went over with you — who you’re shopping for, what you’re supposed to get, and you’re paid at the end, not at the beginning. So that’s another hint, I got paid up front,” David said. “That right there should have told me it was a scam.”

The Federal Trade Commission said you should never have to pay anyone to get into the mystery shopper business. The FTC said legitimate mystery shopping companies are out there, but you have to do homework. Make sure to research the company before signing up for anything.

Any time someone asks you to pay them using gift cards or by wiring money, that’s a red flag that you’re being scammed. The FTC also says if anyone asks you to deposit a check and then send them money back, it’s a scam.

If you are the victim of the mystery shopper scam, or any other scam, you can file a complaint to the FTC. You can also report it to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. I put a link to both of those websites at www.KKTV.com, just click on Find It.

I will be going on maternity leave soon for the exciting arrival of our first child! While I’m away, you will hear from guest writers, including KKTV’s Don Ward and Dianne Derby, as well as a familiar voice for readers, retired KKTV anchor Betty Sexton.

If you are the victim of the mystery shopper scam, or any other scam, you can file a complaint to the FTC. You can also report it to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.