Sheldon, Iowa — Another day, another scam. Or so it would appear. Sheldon Police Chief Lyle Bolkema says scammers have come up with another way to make a quick buck and maybe separate you from your hard-earned money.
The chief says some local residents have received what appears to be a check or money order that has been written out to them. Accompanying the check is a letter addressed as being a “Customer Service Evaluation Tool” and is labeled as a “Mystery Survey”. He says the instructions ask the person to cash the check at their local bank and then go purchase Google Play Gift cards. They say you can keep a specified small portion of the cash for yourself.
Bolkema says the scammer asks that you then scratch the cards to reveal the numbers on the back of the cards and to send them pictures of the scratched cards. They ask you to observe and evaluate the stores that sold you the cards and give the person instructions not to disclose to anyone what you are doing.
The chief tells us that what will happen is — first of all — the bank may not even cash the check. But if they do, you could be on the hook for the entire amount of the check when it doesn’t clear the bank. And he says, in this case, it was made out for nearly $2000. Next, you’ll buy the gift cards, if the store will sell them to you. When you take the picture of the cards with their numbers revealed and send them to the scammer, the scammer will then have access to the funds on those cards, even though they didn’t pay for them with real funds.
Bolkema says, “This is clearly another scam attempt. If you receive one of these checks in the mail, tear it up. If you have extra money lying around that you wish to part with, give it to your favorite charity so it can be used for something good.”
