I got a brown envelope in the mail today. After googling shopper's voice, the suggested search with survey scam came up. The outside of the envelope is addressed to 'the main grocery shopper'. it also says 'official consumer product survey of america'. the thing that immediately told me was a scam was on the envelope under my address. it says'RESPOND BY MARCH 1ST, 2010 AND YOU COULD WIN AN EXTRA $2, 500!' red flags flew up. the return address on the outside of the envelope only says 'Laura David consumer research center'. well, u open it up and it does have the appearence of a legitimate survey. it is about 2 front and back pages long. it asks for each category of grocery products which brand u use and why. on the back, it asks for general info about u including annual income, numer of people and children in ur home, etc. well, then i saw the address on the back and discovered it was a company named shopper's voice. numerous complaints are on the internet about receiving junk mail. ALSO, FRAUDULENT CHECKS ARE CIRCULATING, AND ACCORDING TO THOSE WHO RECEIVED A CHECK STATE IT WAS FOR AROUND 2, 500-THE AMOUNT ON CLAIMED U COULD WIN ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE ENVELOPE. CONSUMERS CLAIM THAT THERE ARE DIRECTIONS TO CASH A CHECK AND WIRE BACK A CERTAIN AMOUNT FOR THE ATTORNEY TO DRAW UP AN AFFIDAVIT FOR THE WINNINGS. do NOT cash this check. this is a fake check scheme. it is similar to nigerian 419 scams. u cash it, wire the money, and then YOU get arrested for check fraud. HAND THIS CHECK OVER TO THE AUTHORITIES. DO NOT CASH IT.
Shoppers voice actually admits there's fake checks claiming to be from shoppers voice circulating, and they say to report it to ftc.gov.
WELL, how in the WORLD could these scammers know that uve filled out this survey and are told u could win $2, 500, the same amount the fraud checks claim??? it looks like, to me, that they sell ur info to anyone who asks to buy! the scammers figured out there's a possible $2, 500 drawing, they buy addresses from shopper's voice, and they send u fake checks! that is the only way i see. i would like to see shopper's voice's response as to how the scammers could have gotten the address and known that u filled out their survey without shopper's voice selling the info. it seems the only other explanation would be that shopper's voice themselves are sending out fake checks, and since they claim it has nothing to do with them, the only other way i see is that they sell your info. There's a privacy statement on the front of the survey, and this is what it says
PRIVACY STATEMENT
'THIS IS A VOLUNTARY NATIONAL SURVEY SPONSERED BY SHOPPER'S VOICE, A LEADING PROVIDEROF CONSUMER MARKETING INFORMATION. AS A RESPONSIBLE MARKETER, SHOPPER'S VOICE RESPECTS THE INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO PROVIDE US. THIS IS A CORNERSTONE OF OUR BUSINESS, AND IT IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF EVERYTHING WE DO. THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE IN THIS SURVEY MAY BE SHARED WITH REPUTABLE COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS FOR MARKETING AND RESEARCH USE ONLY. ONE TYPE OF MARKETING USE IS TO PROVIDE VALUABLE PRODUCTS AND SAMPLES, COUPONS, INFORMATION AND SERVICES THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. IF YOU CHOSE TO PARTICIPATE, YOU MUST BE 18 OR OLDER
initially, i didnt see this statement. this is a confusing statement because on the one hand they claim that respecting ur privacy is at the forefront of their business, but then they use confusing words and define these words like 'marketing purposes' as something to benefit YOU. this privacy statement is just DOUBLE TALK. on the one hand they say they respect ur privacy, and then try to bury the fact they freely sell ur info to marketers in their definitions. lemme make this clear, THEY ARE TELLING U THAT THEY ARE SELLING UR INFORMATION TO OTHERS. they sell ur info to scammers who send fraud checks. they sell it to anyone who wants to buy. do not fill this out, and dont mail it back in. just stay away. the only ones benefitting from this 'survey' (really, just a phishing scheme) is shopper's voice because they profit from selling ur info, and the criminals they sell the info to by having u cash fraud checks and wire them money.