This is a very interesting article in our paper, check this out and beware!
There's a new type of scam you may want to watch out for. This time it's coming from Canada and you'll find it on the Internet.
And here's one victim's story of fighting back.
Maribel Padilla is what they call a 'mystery shopper' For a small fee, she fills out survey's for companies and restaurants to evaluate their services.
It's something she does online, so when the company said they needed her to check out Moneygrams, no problem. But she had no idea what was in store, a scam she never saw coming.
"They have my name, my home number, my address, and by me signing behind this Moneygram they have my account and my signature," says Maribel.
Just last month, Maribel, signed on with a Canadian online company to evaluate the efficiency of Moneygrams located inside Brownsville Wal-Marts. She was promised $160 for her time.
"They would send two money grams checks to me all prepared for me to just cash and process or deposit. They just fill out one of the Moneygram forms to the person with the address with the amount, because they were covering it. I didn't have that amount," Maribel.
The first two transactions, were legitimate, Maribel deposited the money into her account, she would follow the instructions and pose as a potential customer and send a Moneygram to a bogus relative, which would then in turn be voided out, not affecting her account at all.
"What's interesting about this case. Is you hear about those who get a letter that's usually too good to be true and when they send money off they don't get money out of it. This one they actually baited her," says Lt. James Paschal with Brownsville police department.
Maribel noticed some small fees on her bank statement, when she went to question the bank, she found out the third set of Moneygrams were counterfeit...costing her $1600.
"The first two were voided out, reimbursed. They themselves use the reference number to void it out and Moneygram would just reimburse them. This time they did not do that. This time somebody retrieved the funds elsewhere in Canada," says Maribel.
Maribel says the company had a well thought out scheme. But she worries, because now they have all of her personal information...including her bank account. She says if it can happen to her -- it can happen to anyone.
"I was conned. I've been taking for a ride. Because I let my guard down," says Maribel.
The company's name is North American Service Evaluators. So you want to keep a look out if you get any kind of solicitation from them.
Police say, there have been several other cases reported here in the Valley coming from Canada.
As far as Maribel's situation, her bank account has been frozen and police are continuing the investigation.