The Four States NPR News Source
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mystery Shopper job sounds great, maybe a little too great, warns the BBB

BBB Springfield Pamela Hernandez

The job market remains in good shape in southwest Missouri. Regardless, it's likely that fake job listings are turning up in your feed. KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

According to the Missouri Economic and Research Center, the unemployment rate in Missouri for October is just 2.6%. Even better than the national average of 3.7% last month. The market has allowed job seekers to be more selective and flexible with what they want to do with their time.

Scammers, like every industry, see the change and go with the flow. Such as the mystery shopping scam that's been spotted on LinkedInand reported to the Better Business Bureau's Scam Tracker. Pamela Hernandez of the BBB says attracting job seekers is just the tip of the iceberg.

"What can happen is you get solicited for mystery shopping jobs. People start asking for personal information, so they're stealing your information, or they will require some sort of prepayment."

If a company requests prepayment to work for them, that is a red flag.
The BBB also warns job seekers to be wary of companies that require
receiving and returning money.

That could be a front for money laundering. Research any company before you apply and read reviews like you might if you were making a purchase. For 89 9 KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro

Since 2017 Fred Fletcher-Fierro has driven up Highway 171 through thunderstorms, downpours, snow, and ice storms to host KRPS’s Morning Edition. He’s also a daily reporter for the station, covering city government, elections, public safety, arts, entertainment, culture, sports and more. Fred has also spearheaded and overseen a sea change in programming for KRPS from a legacy classical station to one that airs a balance of classical, news, jazz, and cultural programming that better reflects the diverse audience of the Four States. For over two months in the fall of 2022 he worked remotely with NPR staff to relaunch krps.org to an NPR style news and information website.

In the fall of 2023 Fred was promoted to Interim General Manager and was appointed GM in Feburary of 2024.