Saline residents fall victim to mystery shopping fraud scheme

The Rolling Meadows Townhomes complex.

A dozen residents of a Saline condominium complex have become victims of identity theft and unwitting participants in a two-tiered fraud scam that involves mystery shopping, police said.

All 12 victimized residents of the Rolling Meadows Townhomes, located along Lambkins Drive on the city’s north side, told police they had their bank accounts frozen within the past week and were instructed by officials from their respective banks and credit unions to file identify theft reports due to fraudulent activity, police said.

Reports show that in each case the victims had their names, addresses, account numbers, and check routing numbers duplicated on fraudulent checks made to look like they were issued from their local credit unions or local branches of national banks.

The checks, usually for $890, were cashed earlier this month by people all over the country who responded to mystery or secret shopper ads over the Internet, reports said.

Secret, or mystery shoppers, are sometimes hired by companies to test their products or services. Investigators traced one of the cashed checks to an Illinois man who said he was solicited to be a mystery shopper on-line a few months ago. His assignment was to sample a local fast food restaurant and relay his opinions about the product and service.

He submitted the information and received two checks with instructions to wire much of it to a bank in Russia while he kept a small percentage for himself, reports said.

“He didn’t know that he was doing anything wrong,” detective Don Lupi said of the shopper. “The checks appeared legitimate, from legitimate banks and the only thing out of place was the check number, which was out of sequence. But they wouldn’t know that.”

Now both the shopper and the Saline residents are victims of different aspects of the same scheme. Lupi said he is working with management at the complex to determine who had access to residents' checking information and that further investigation is needed.

Managers at the complex left notes for residents in the 70-unit complex urging them to double check bank records and call police immediately about irregularities. It appears that residents who pay rent and association dues automatically from their accounts or online were not affected, Lupi said.

The victims are at first astonished to learn about the broader scam and about how many neighbors are dealing with the hassle of transferring funds, opening new accounts and checking credit reports.

“It’s amazing to me,” said one retiree who did not want his name used. “And I shred my documents. It’s just unfortunate that in this world today you have to live paranoid.” Lupi said typically, personal information is often sold over the Internet overseas, which makes it more difficult to track.

He reiterated the importance of keeping vital information secure and reminded people to resist the temptation of getting a quick and easy payday over the Internet.

“It’s a variation of the typical Nigerian letter scam that was popping up a few years ago, and it all boils down to sending money out of the country,” Lupi said. “Never send money to someone you don’t know.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Don Lupi or Sgt. Kevin Murphy at 734-429-7911, or e-mail Lupi at dlupi@cityofsaline.org.

Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.

For more stories about Saline visit our Saline page.

Comment Now