Premier Consumer Solutions Mystery Shopper/ Wire transfer scam Brooklyn New York

I received a letter from this company, with a check enclosed. Check was drawn on a bank I had heard of. Though it seemed odd that the business name and address on the check was different from on the letterhead. The name on the check was Occidental Permian LTD in Houston Texas.

Basically they wanted me to keep some of the money as "pay". I was to spend $100 as a mystery shopper, and Wiretransfer the balance back to them. They also had included money to cover the wire transfer fee. I was then to send a report on the service I received. If hired on permanently, I would recieve a good sized paycheck weekly.

My husband and I talked, and I called the number on the letter, and it seemed legit. SO I figured I would go for it. Being that my mama raised no fool, I decided to open a checking account in my own name, with just this money in it. I did not want to attach any of this to our primary account.

A few days later I checked at the bank and was told the money was available. I asked if they were sure, and they said yes. So I took out the $100 they wanted me to use for the shopping trip.

Today when my ATM card came, I tried to activate it. I was going to use it to pay for the wire transfer. I could not activate the card, and was told it had been "captured" and my account placed on hold as they were investigating the check as possible fraud. There was a problem with the bank releasing the funds.

So..I went to my bank branch and was told they could not give me a lot of info as branches have limited access to the fraud dept.

The teller did tell me it was a good thing I put it in a separate account.

Marie
Rochester, New York
U.S.A.