The unsolicited "SE Network Inc Shop Evaluator" email message below, which claims the recipients can earn extra money by becoming a shop evaluator, is just one of the many phishing email messages sent by cybercriminals or online scammers to trick their potential victims into sending them their personal information. Therefore, recipients of unsolicited email messages like the one below, which ask for personal information, are asked to delete them and not follow the instructions in them.
Sample of the "SE Network Inc Shop Evaluator" Phishing Scam
From: nsmith8@kumc.edu
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2017 5:10 PM
Subject: RECRUITMENT AGENT
Welcome to 1st step - Recruitment Agent Evaluator!,
We have a customer service survey assignments in your area We would like you to join with our project as a shop evaluator
As Evaluator, you will be assigned to visit a shop Most of the time you only need 30min on the visit
Complete the assignment, and you will get paid $45O US /assignment basis.
If you ready to receive the assignment, you will get instructions via e-mail for details your assignment.
Please confirm the following information for sign up.
- Email:
- Name:
- Address:
- City, State, Zip:
- Phones:
- Current Job:
Thank you for participation and being here with us
Regards,
The SE Official Team
Copyright 2017 SE Network Inc. All rights reserved.
Scammers steal personal information from potential victims using bogus emails like the one above. Once they are in possession of their potential victims' personal information, the scammers will contact them and attempt to scam them or sell their information to other scammers.
Victims of these scams usually blame their banks, utility companies, ISPs or even the government, claiming they sold their information to the highest bidder, when in fact they were the ones who unknowingly gave the scammers their information when they fell for their phishing scams.
This is why online users are asked to be careful of messages which ask for personal information, especially the ones that promise quick money with little or no work. Scammers use the promise of quick money and get rich schemes to help lure potential victims into their traps.
Many of the mystery shopping scams that we have come across usually send potential victims fraudulent checks (cheque) and ask them to deposit them. The scammers will then ask the potential victims to take their share of the money from the fraudulent checks and send the balance to them. But, the checks will bounce and the potential victims will be responsible for paying the cost for processing the checks and paying back the money they have sent to the scammers; they may even get arrested.
Persons who have received the same checks are asked not to deposit them and report them to the police, and those who have already done so are asked to contact their banks immediately and let them know that they may have been a victim of the shop evaluator scam.