WARNING: Mystery shopper scam costs local man hundreds of dollars

In a FOX 32 special report – a scheme that's been around for years is still having success in Chicagoland. Mystery shopping companies promise to pay you to shop at places like Walmart as long as you report back on the quality of the store, and the service.

But how do you know if it's the real thing?

Joseph Hammond says he's been rebuilding appliances for more than two decades.

“Stoves are my specialty. I take em and I clean em, find out what's wrong with them,” Hammond said.

But sometimes, the pay just isn't enough. So he looked for another way to make money - taking online surveys.

“During the survey, there's an offshoot section on there that asks if you want to be a mystery shopper,” Hammond said.

Hammond says he filled out an application and days later, he got a FedEx envelope in the mail with a check and instructions inside.

“I read it, had on the top of it the letterhead said Walmart to Walmart, money transfer and money gram so I’m thinking everything's real, everything's authentic,” Hammond said.

The letter instructed Hammond to send some of the first check through a money transfer at Walmart to a charity in Texas. He'd get to keep about $100 as his own pay.

And while he was there, he was to evaluate the conditions of the store.

“I’m like an undercover spy checking on the Walmart people,” Hammond said.

But after Hammond sent the check came bad news.

“I was upset because the bank called me, maybe, four days later,” he said.

Turns out the check was no good, Hammond was scammed and now he was on the hook for the money he sent.

”I work too hard. I work hard every day,” he said.

FOX 32 reached out to Walmart, which confirmed it does not use mystery shoppers. It says these scams usually involve a fake check and to never deposit checks you receive from a mystery shopping company.

And Hammond now has a message for anyone else looking to make money online.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Hammond said.

A few more red flags - watch out for any opportunities that ask you to wire money or want you to pay to be a mystery shopper.