- If they ask you to cash a check, send a money order or wire, it is a SCAM. Mystery shopping companies would never ask you to cash a check or send them a money order, so beware when anything like this is brought up. Please watch this FTC video on fake money transfers pertaining to mystery shopping scams.
- The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the mystery shopping industry. If the MSPA does not list a member company on their website, they are probably not a legitimate mystery shopping company. This is your best resource to find credible mystery shopping companies and to find more information on avoiding mystery shopping scams.

- Do your research. If you were looking for any other job you would prepare by doing due diligence and checking on the background of the company. Beware that mystery shopping scams often use the name of legitimate mystery shopping companies and even try to recreate their websites with a misspelled URL or a closely spelled URL. Check everything before you begin shopping.
- Typical scam jobs are listed on sites like Craigslist. Beware when you find a mystery shopping job offer on websites like that.
- Get social! Take to social media to find the best (and legitimate) mystery shopping companies to work for.
Have any other tips? Leave them in the comments section! We’d love to hear them!


Data. It’s kind of an ambiguous word that has a lot of meanings depending on what industry you’re in. There’s even two ways to pronounce it! We’re experts in turning customer experiences into data. We take an emotional purchase and quantify it. Did the salesperson drive the mystery shopper to buy because she mentioned, “the diet supplement is endorsed by Kim Kardashian?” Plus 2 points for product knowledge and plus another 2 points for value building!
Yes/No mystery shopping questions are primarily used for scoring. If the mystery shopper answers “Yes” for a question where that answer is considered positive, points are awarded for that answer.
