A scammer is fraudulently using the Confero name, a fake Confero email address and an employee name to try to trick consumers into providing information about themselves. The scammer sends an email that looks like this:

From: Confero Inc <info@conferoinc.com>
Date: August 2, 2022 at 3:26:37 PM EDT
Subject: Your Job Opportunity From Confero Inc
Reply-To: conferoin.paul@outlook.com

Notice that the “reply to email” is different than the email address that the person is impersonating.   Email addresses from an individual at Confero end in @conferoinc.com and the one here is @outlook.com, letting you know that this person is a fraud. This person is not an employee of Confero.

Here is what the fraudster emailed. You’ll notice phrases that do not make sense and there are punctuation errors:

Hi Applicant,
Congratulations on being privileged to be aware of the opportunity to be a part of our organization

Thanks for taking the time to apply for the Administrative Mystery Shopper position through LinkedIn, We reviewed your Job application for our Mystery Shopper job and we’re impressed with your background.

We are currently Reviewing all resumes received kindly indicate if you received this particular message for next step regarding the job description and salary thanks for your time.

Stay Blessed

Paul Jacobi Ph.D

Field Operation Manager      

Email:  conferoin.paul@outlook.com

Phone: (910) 248-3015

© 2022 Confero Inc Market Research  

The phone number is not a phone number for a Confero employee and goes to Google voice, which offers a way to hide your identity through use of different phone numbers.

Please do not fall for this scam. Shoppers who are interested in assignments may register to become a shopper at conferoinc.com, and Confero does not request personal information via email.

Please be aware of this scam and other scams by noting the following:

• Emails from Confero employees will come from conferoinc.com. (This email came from paul@outlook.com. It’s a fake email.)
• Please do not respond or provide any personal information to a person who claims to be with Confero. Please do not text them. Do not provide your social security number or other identifying information.
• Although this email does not mention it,  other scams will ask consumers for payments before they may take on an assignment.  Confero NEVER asks for a credit card payment from the shopper prior to assigning them to a shop. Registering as a contractor with Confero is at no cost and there is no obligation to take on any assignment. Payments are issued after successful completion of the mystery shop.

We thank the consumer who brought this to our attention, so that we can warn others of this scam.