CALGARY – A new scam is circulating in Calgary.
Some people have received a letter from the Global Test Market which states it’s looking for people to rate customer service at Western Union outlets. It also comes with a cheque from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
A Global News viewer received the letter on Tuesday. It asks him to pose as a customer sending money to a friend at a Western Union outlet. It came with a cheque for addressed to him for $989.
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When he took the cheque to the bank he was told the document was real but the corresponding account is fraudulent and not affiliated with HBC.
Consumer advocate Tony Tighe contacted the name and number on the letter to register for the suspicious program. His call was taken by a man named Mark.
Mark explained by registering for the program your cheque could be activated by the Global Test Market.
“If you want to sign up we’ll activate the cheque today. It takes about 24 hours for them to release the funds to your account. So say if you want to do your first evaluation tomorrow we would activate it today. You would deposit it only and then tomorrow you’d go out and do your actual evaluation.”
Mark tells us that the cheque is from Hudson’s Bay because they have stock interest in Western Union.
When told the cheque was determined to be counterfeit and both Hudson’s Bay and Western Union have denied conducting any such evaluation, Mark hung up the phone.
The fraudulent letters and cheques may be sent around Alberta or even across Canada.
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