Re: Mystery Shopping: AVOID CONSUMER CONNECT LTD AND STEFEN ZUBAC!
Hi everyone,
Today I was almost the victim of fraud and could have lost a lot of money, so I wanted to post this message to warn everyone else out there.
I applied for a job as a secret shopper on gumtree to earn a little extra money. After I had applied via gumtree the company CONSUMER CONNECT Ltd sent me a text to fill out an online application form. The director of the company is STEFEN ZUBAC. All of this looked very legit and asked for the usual details- name, address etc. Once the form is filled out they email you to say if you've been successful after your "credit check". They then will email you with your secret shopper assignments and a bit about the company, once again looking professional and legit. They then proceed to tell you that the money for your first assignment is in the post and to call when you receive the letter. The first assignment is for Travelex to exchange your travellers cheques back into cash whilst scoring the assistant that serves you. The next day sure enough a letter arrived along with 2000 euros in travellers cheques, which was meant for your wages and money needed to buy the shopping. I then contacted Stefen Zubac to say it had arrived. He told me the assignemnt had changed slightly and that I was to pay the cheques directly into my bank account and to call when I had done so.
Here's the cunning part!
The cheques are fake. If they get paid into your bank account he will then ask you to transfer the money to his account. If the cheques are fake obviously the money isn't really in your account but you are able to send the 2000 euros any way. Meaning you have dealt with fraudulent travellers cheques and are now 2000 euros down having tansferred the money to the little rat.
Lucky for me the cashier at the bank recognised that they were fake and called Amex to double check this. I showed her the letter that was sent to me from the company and she said these types of letters are becoming more and more popular.
In a nutshell if you ever come across CONSUMER CONNECT LTD OR THE NAME STEFEN ZUBAC AVOID AT ALL COSTS! DO NOT GET INVOLVED UNLESS YOU ARE REPORTING HIM!
I googled his name and he comes up as "owning" three companies- Consumer Connect Ltd, SZ Media ltd and Datacr8 (this one no longer exists). A few different addresses come up too- one in London, one in Buckinghamshire and one in Brighton. Non of which match the address on the email he sent out...
I am usually switched on with fraud, ID theft and scams but this one got me. It all looked very legit from the start, which is why I went along with it. In hindsight I should have been suspicious about being paid up front and about not going in for an interview etc etc. So be careful!
Hi everyone,
Today I was almost the victim of fraud and could have lost a lot of money, so I wanted to post this message to warn everyone else out there.
I applied for a job as a secret shopper on gumtree to earn a little extra money. After I had applied via gumtree the company CONSUMER CONNECT Ltd sent me a text to fill out an online application form. The director of the company is STEFEN ZUBAC. All of this looked very legit and asked for the usual details- name, address etc. Once the form is filled out they email you to say if you've been successful after your "credit check". They then will email you with your secret shopper assignments and a bit about the company, once again looking professional and legit. They then proceed to tell you that the money for your first assignment is in the post and to call when you receive the letter. The first assignment is for Travelex to exchange your travellers cheques back into cash whilst scoring the assistant that serves you. The next day sure enough a letter arrived along with 2000 euros in travellers cheques, which was meant for your wages and money needed to buy the shopping. I then contacted Stefen Zubac to say it had arrived. He told me the assignemnt had changed slightly and that I was to pay the cheques directly into my bank account and to call when I had done so.
Here's the cunning part!
The cheques are fake. If they get paid into your bank account he will then ask you to transfer the money to his account. If the cheques are fake obviously the money isn't really in your account but you are able to send the 2000 euros any way. Meaning you have dealt with fraudulent travellers cheques and are now 2000 euros down having tansferred the money to the little rat.
Lucky for me the cashier at the bank recognised that they were fake and called Amex to double check this. I showed her the letter that was sent to me from the company and she said these types of letters are becoming more and more popular.
In a nutshell if you ever come across CONSUMER CONNECT LTD OR THE NAME STEFEN ZUBAC AVOID AT ALL COSTS! DO NOT GET INVOLVED UNLESS YOU ARE REPORTING HIM!
I googled his name and he comes up as "owning" three companies- Consumer Connect Ltd, SZ Media ltd and Datacr8 (this one no longer exists). A few different addresses come up too- one in London, one in Buckinghamshire and one in Brighton. Non of which match the address on the email he sent out...
I am usually switched on with fraud, ID theft and scams but this one got me. It all looked very legit from the start, which is why I went along with it. In hindsight I should have been suspicious about being paid up front and about not going in for an interview etc etc. So be careful!
