PEI

Summerside police warn about secret shopper, Bell rebate scams

Summerside police are warning about two more scams that have recently been reported in the area. The first involves a fraudulent 'secret shopper' program, the second a phony rebate from Bell.

One on the scams offers a job as a 'secret shopper,' the other a false rebate from Bell

Secret shopper victims are told they are hired as a secret shopper and are usually offered a fake cheque or wire transfers for thousands of dollars. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Summerside police are warning about two more scams that have recently been reported in the area.

The first involves a fraudulent secret shopper program, where potential victims are contacted through email and asked to become a secret shopper.

After providing their personal information, they were mailed a cheque for $3,000 and asked to cash the cheque.

The victim was then told to deposit $2,000 back into another account which was provided by the scammer.

They were told to keep $500 and to spend the rest of the money at a local business and report back on the customer service they received.

The cheque then bounced, and the bank account was cleaned out, leaving the would-be shopper on the hook for the $2,000.

The second scam involved the potential victim being contacted through email by someone claiming to be from Bell.

The email tells the victim that they have overpaid on their account and Bell would like to send them back their money.

They are then asked to provide a bank account or credit card number.