Confero learned about a LinkedIn scam regarding "Sam Adeson" who claims to work for Confero.  We have no employee named Sam Adeson.  The fraudster’s email was sent through LinkedIn, and he uses an email address of sam.adeson@yahoo.com

The person falsely claims to be associated with Confero and attempts to recruit secret shoppers through emails. His email mentions needing surveys completed on behalf of Apple, Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, and Target, where the shoppers will buy products and then report on the experience.  The scam asks for the person to reply by email in regard to the survey opportunities. Once contact information is provided, the fraudster sends checks via UPS, asking for the recipient to cash the fake checks. Please do not fall for this scam!

Here is an example of the email:

This message is to notify you that the payment for your first survey assignment has been sent via USPS.

The USPS tracking number: xxxxxx

Once the check delivers, we expect you to notify me via email and proceed to deposit the check at your bank and clearance. The funds will be available to you within 24 hours, and your assignment instructions will be ready once the funds are available to carry out the assignment. The assignment instruction is already in the package. The instruction letter will assist you with carrying out the assignment easily.I hope you understand. I await your swift response.

Please do not contact Sam Adeson, as this person is trying to scam people.  These scams almost always result in consumers becoming duped into a fake check scam. In fake check scams, shoppers are sent checks to deposit, and then told to wire most of the funds elsewhere and keep the difference. Ultimately, the check the scammer sent the shopper turns out to be worthless and the shopper is on the hook to cover the entire check with the bank. Some of the checks look quite real – so real in fact that bank tellers see them all the time. BE CAREFUL! 

Please be aware: 

1.    Emails from Confero employees will come from conferoinc.com  (This one comes from sam.adeson@yahoo.com)

2.    Confero does not recruit shoppers through LinkedIn.                       

3.   Confero NEVER issues checks to shoppers for any reason. Our payments to shoppers are sent via PayPal or Direct Deposit.  

We thank the consumers who brought this to our attention, so that we were able to warn others of this scam.