Fraud Alert – Mystery Shopper Scam

Westfield Bank (Ohio) has been informed that scam artists posing as legitimate Mystery Shopping firms are sending letters to consumers offering a job to evaluate one or more leading money wire services.

The letter is accompanied by a cashier’s check with the Westfield bank logo and an incorrect toll-free number.  The check is for several thousand dollars and the letter contains instructions to cash the check at a local bank and then wire the cash to a designated location.  The letter directs the consumer to keep several hundred dollars as payment for services received from the money wire services.  The cashier’s check ultimately bounces and the consumer is left liable for the funds.

Please be cautious of anything you receive that seems too good to be true.  A legitimate Mystery Shopping firm will never send you a cashier’s check out of the blue or require you to send money to someone you have never met.  The scam artists use realistic looking documents, the ‘secret’ nature of the job, and the 48-hour deadline to pressure consumers into cashing the check and wiring the money quickly before the bank or the consumer can determine it was a fake check.  By then, it’s too late.

The FBI and FINCEN have been contacted and notified of this fraud.  If you receive one of these fraudulent letters, please contact Westfield Bank via email at bank [at] westfieldgrp.com or via phone at 800.368.8930.

Do not deposit the ‘enclosed check,’ as it will be returned unpaid.