'Secret shopper' scam circulating

FALLON - For the second time in six months, Scott Young received the same type of scam letter in the mail with an attached cashier's check.

Saturday's mail brought a letter and a realistic-looking cashier's check purportedly from Continental Bank in Pennsylvania. Young said the letter carried the logo and address of Strategic Visions Inc., a business consulting firm based in Alabama.

In the scam letter, people are told they were chosen to be secret shoppers and given a list of items to purchase or services to use with the attached $4,000 check.

Young said the letter urged him to wire money to someone in Canada and to purchase goods at Wal-Mart, which he was free to keep. Following the purchases, the secret shoppers would complete an evaluation form about the service at each shopping location.

Skeptical, Young called Continental Bank in Pennsylvania using a phone number he found online to confirm the account. Although the check contained the bank's proper routing number, the actual account listed was nonexistent. He also said the bank told him it had received 60 calls Monday morning regarding the letter.

Young also placed a call to Strategic Visions using a number he found online. Again, the company was real but the offer was not.

Young immediately spotted the scam, in part, because he received the same type of letter and attached cashier's check in February.

Young said the cashier's checks look legitimate - microtype on the signature line, the correct bank logo and address and realistic paperstock complete with a visible watermark. He said when he photocopied the check, the image showed a "void" mark like a legitimate cashier's check would produce.

Although he wasn't duped by the scam, Young said he is concerned other residents may fall victim to the fraud because the cashier's check looks so real.