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  • 2022-10-21 (xsd:date)
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  • 'Whole Foods Market Research' Secret Shopper Email Is a Scam (en)
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  • In October 2022, we received reader mail about a Whole Foods Market Research scam. The scam arrives in the form of an email, text, or mailed letter, and claims that the recipient has been chosen to be a secret shopper for Whole Foods Market. The goal of the scammer is to get the recipient to deposit a check into the recipient's bank account. However, unbeknownst to the recipient, the check is fake. The scammer is to quickly task the recipient to buy gift cards and then provide the identifying details on the front and back. Alternatively, the scammer might ask the recipient to initiate a wire transfer or money order to send back a partial amount of the funds from the check. The scammer claims that the recipient can keep a portion of the funds for the work. However, again, the check is fake, so recipients are spending their own money to buy gift cards for the scammers. We reviewed one example of this scam that arrived as an email. It came from wholefoodsmarketresearchllc@gmail.com, which was not an official Whole Foods email address. It claimed to come from a person named Jerry A. Wallace, a purported human resources (HR) representative. A previous version of this scam named Wallace as a project manager, according to scampulse.com. We found no evidence of a person with this name being a real employee for Whole Foods. The original email, which contained several store name misspellings, read as follows: We called the phone number listed in the email. After several rings, a voice message was played that said, The TextNow subscriber you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave your message after the tone. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) previously published a full report on this scam back in 2020: The FTC said this scam can be reported at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. They also added, If you already cashed a fake check and sent money to a scammer, find out how to report to gift card, wire transfer, and money order businesses. In sum, both we and the FTC advise consumers to not respond to any emails, texts, or mailed letters that invite recipients to work as a secret shopper for Whole Foods Market Research. (en)
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