Postal Letter

Is this a scam?What's wrong with it? thanks!?

Dear Applicant, we will like to offer you a Job with our Company. STARPOINT TRADING INC is a well established Evaluating Firm,We are a company that conduct surveys and evaluate other companies as our business. We get hired to go to other peoples companies and act like customers in order to make findings of different kinds, which mostly is in regards to the customer relationship their staffs offer. We will therefore like to offer you the job position as a survey assistant. Your Job will involve providing anonymous feedback to companies about the customer experience at their locations. Companies use this survey for many reasons, but all programs involve evaluating whether the company's standards are being met . During a typical survey session, you will make observations at a specific store, restaurant, or other type of location, while blending in like an average customer. What a survey report will entail are listed: 1) How long it took you to get services. 2) Smartness of the attendant 3)Customer service professionalism 4)Sometimes you might be required to upset the attendant, to see how they react to clients when they get tensed(under pressure). Most companies employ our assistance when people give complaints about their services, or when they feel there are needs for them to improve their customer service. Your Identity would be kept confidential and you would be paid $400 for every survey you carry out, and bonus on your transportation allowance, and funds would be given to you if you have to dine as part of the duty. Your job will be to evaluate and comment on customer service in a wide variety of shops, stores, restaurant and services in your area. No commitment is made on this job, and you would have flexible hours as it suits you. If you are interested get back to us with information below information , so that we can add your mailing address to our Regional database. First name.................... Last name.................... Address ............... City.......................... State........................ Zip/Postal code............... Nationality.................. Home phone.................... Cell phone................... Email........................ Age....................... Present Job....................... YOUR PREFERRED MODE OF COMMUNICATION EITHER BY PHONE OR BY EMAIL Your response to this email is needed , so that we can reconfirm your mailing address details we have in our database.We will be updating you as soon as the payment is being sent to you and you will be directed as to where to have the remaining of the money sent to, after the deduction of your $400 pay on every survey you carry out all other Instructions will be sent out to you as soon as Evaluation will commence.

Public Comments

1. Of course it's a scam. Did you apply for a job? My guess is the answer is "No". Look at the information they're asking for... full address, and phone numbers... all to be sent through email, which is NOT a secure server by any means. That sort of information should NEVER be in an email no matter who is requesting it. You can report the email by forwarding it to the address below: phishing@cc.yahoo-inc.com
2. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, it's a SCAM. Never, ever give PERSONAL INFO VIA COMPUTER ! Got it?
3. One major thing is wrong with it - the pay. Mystery shopping (the work that this letter offers) is itself a legitimate type of work. I've done it myself. But NO WAY would you receive $400 for every survey. When I did it, I got £7 (about $10). It wasn't even enough to recompense me for the time I spent doing the survey. When you do a mystery shop at a restaurant, you get reimbursed for the meal, which is why people do it. A free meal, basically, with the £7 covering the travelling costs. It's fun and you get a free dinner. There is absolutely no way you could make a living out of it. And there is no way that anyone would offer you a fulltime job doing it. Furthermore, the standard of English is very poor - so the letter is unlikely to have been written by anyone from a professional company. If you are interested in mystery shopping, contact a legitimate company (the one that springs to mind is Maritz but there are others). But don't expect to get $400 for your time!
4. It's a check overpayment scam. You can tell by this line: "We will be updating you as soon as the payment is being sent to you and you will be directed as to where to have the remaining of the money sent to, after the deduction of your $400 pay on every survey you carry out " What they do is send you a fake check for $1000 then ask you to deposit in your bank, keep $400 and wire then $600 via Western Union or Moneygram so they can test their services. But a week later your bank discovers the check you deposited was a fake check, the $1000 is debited from your account, and you'll never see the $600 you sent via Western Union ever again http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=4407858# Do not send any personal details and report this to your local police, the site where it was posted, and the FBIs Internet Crime Center http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx You DO NOT want to be caught with a fake check. People have been arrested after being caught up in these scams http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/30/BUGTGKRHSF1.DTL Mystery shopping in the US normally just reimburses you for a meal you ate or the product you bought (generally $25 and under) and you get $15-20 for filling out the evaluation form. You don't make anywhere near $400.
5. Yes, it is a scam, and there are SO many things wrong with it, that it is much easier to say that the whole thing is wrong. I assume you did not have contact with them and send them a resume. Never open mail from people you do not know and did not expect. Absolutely horrendous grammar as is here is a HUGE tip-off. They did not address you by name, and stating that they have a "Job with our Company" for you? Poor punctuation and not giving you the position that the job is. NO one will offer you a job, until they have your resume, all the information they want from you, AND at least one interview. Then, they would NOT send you an E-mail, particularly one to "Dear Applicant!" Online job hunting is asking for trouble. It is much too easy to lie and cheat, if you are really serious about getting work, go to an employment agency.
6. All this info isn't needed by a mystery shopper service. Coincidentally it is the same info requested in many of the emails I get saying that there are millions of dollars waiting for me in some overseas account. I've yet to see a mystery shopper company pay that much. Most don't even pay, unless you have tons of experience. Those available to people without experience usually do nothing more than reimburse you for small purchases. I do believe that this is a phishing attempt.