Dear Mr. Bulk,
Your text message surprised m. I had no recollection of applying to be a Kmart Mystery Shopper, so I could not immediately confirm my interest in the position as you requested. I mulled it over for a few days before receiving your unexpected text notification of an official Assignment Package in route to me via USPS.
Sure enough, a priority envelope hit my mailbox shortly thereafter with instructions as well as what seemed to be a Chase Bank cashier’s check in the amount of $1986.
Dear Mr. Bulk,
Your text message surprised m. I had no recollection of applying to be a Kmart Mystery Shopper, so I could not immediately confirm my interest in the position as you requested. I mulled it over for a few days before receiving your unexpected text notification of an official Assignment Package in route to me via USPS.
Sure enough, a priority envelope hit my mailbox shortly thereafter with instructions as well as what seemed to be a Chase Bank cashier’s check in the amount of $1986.
As I understand it, you want me to accept $250 from this sum in exchange for evaluating the customer service I received at the institution where I cashed/deposited the check. You further request an evaluation of the store I choose to spend another hundred dollars and purchase two money orders totaling $1,500. Lastly, you ask that I evaluate the FedEx or UPS transaction I use to overnight the money orders to the address you specify.
Please know that I have postponed taking on this assignment until a few things are cleared up.
You’re welcome/instruction letter is certainly packed with information. But why was it necessary to change font sizes randomly from one line to the next?
For store evaluations, you give the choices of Wal-Mart, Kmart, Kroger, Rite Aid, Target, Costco, Best Buy, or CVS Phermacy. I assume you meant “CVS Pharmacy,” and find it difficult to understand how the esteemed Market Research Foundation could allow such shoddy proofreading. Also, “shipment” is spelled with one “p,” not two, and “are” is the verb form you are looking for in the phrase, “after funds is withdrawn from bank…”
The enclosed cashier’s check is puzzling. The paper on which it is printed certainly seems more lightweight than any such checks I’ve seen. Further, the back of the check states that the document includes security features like invisible fluorescent fibers, micro-print, and UV dull. I regret to note that under UV light this check fluoresces just like ordinary, commercially brightened paper, and I cannot for the life of me find any micro-printing.
Lastly, I am perplexed why your unsolicited text comes from an area code in the Riverside/Temecula/Sun City area while the phone number you list in the welcome/instruction letter’s closing originates in Rhode Island. For that matter, the letter’s heading address is Irving, Texas, and I am to send the money orders to someplace in Rockaway, New York.
Mr. Bulk, I have to conclude this is a scam. Your “cashier’s check” is a forgery that will bounce, and I’ll be on the hook for $1500 and more.
Does this work very often? Are people that desperate and gullible to believe in your unsolicited offer, one that is, quite literally, too good to be true? I suppose it is worth the brief time it takes to word process, photocopy, text, and mail your deceitful offers. But doesn’t this deception cost your integrity?
That said, if I am wrong about your intentions, and you are just a sloppy businessperson in a very complicated business arrangement, all is forgiven. Just send the $1986 in cash and I’ll be your Mystery Shopper for life.
Sincerely, Pat
Pat Grimes, a former South Bay resident, writes from Ypsilanti, Mich. He can be reached at pgwriter@inbox.com
