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Albany woman doesn't fall for scam

By Stephanie Springer  - bio | email

ALBANY, GA (WALB) -  An Albany woman's wisdom saved her thousands of dollars. She didn't fall for it when a scammer sent her a four thousand dollar check.

And she has a warning for all of you.

A recent survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows one in every three Americans has been approached by someone offering a fake check. About two percent of those people end up cashing in and losing thousands of dollars.

When Charenthia Blocker went out to get her mail, one particular letter stood out. "The envelope had just my name no return address nothing." she said.

And when she opened it, she was shocked by what she found.  "I saw a check for $4,985, so I was like 'where did this come from!?'"

With the check was a letter asking Blocker to become a Mystery Shopper, which she admits was an intriguing offer.

"I've heard of the mystery shopper before so I thought okay that's a program I can do but for this amount I was like 'no, it cant be.'"

And after more research, she realized it was indeed too good to be true. "I went into the house and got on the computer and looked up the better business bureau there was no number for them no address so I knew they were not legit."

The letter asked her to call the company once she got the check, and deposit the money into her bank account and then wire back thousands of dollars to the company, and keep 250 for herself.

"I felt like why should I have to send that back, you should have taken that out before you mailed it to me."

And Blocker seems to be on the right track. According to fakechecks.org, the number one warning sign you are about to be scammed is you get a check but are asked to wire back money.

 "To me it looks real because I'm not a professional on checks, so I wouldn't have known just by looking at the check."

Now she wants to make sure no one else falls into the same tempting trap. "This may be their chance to pay their bills off and try to have the money back in before the bank finds it but that's a way to get you in more debt than you are in now."

Charenthia Blocker says if it is fast money, 9 times out of 10 it is bad money.

Mystery shopping is a real industry and employs more than a million people. But mystery shopping is not a big money-maker, and most jobs pay only between $8 and $20. But the bottom line is if you get a check in the mail and it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

• Click HERE to find out more about how you can avoid scammers...

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