CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WCMH) – It was last October when Chillicothe resident Lori Howard got an unexpected delivery.
“I received a Priority Mail envelope,” Howard said. “And I wasn’t expecting anything. And then, I opened it up, and it says, you know, ‘Attention: Dear Esteemed Secret Shopper.’”
The packet appeared to come from Kroger, “with respect to the secret shopper offer” Howard applied for.
“And that was a red flag, because I haven’t signed up to be a secret shopper, and I don’t know anything about being a secret shopper,” said Howard.
As she continued to read and sift through the envelope, Howard spotted several more red flags, starting with the postage.
“You know, my dad’s from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I know that’s where their (Kroger’s) headquarters is at,” said Howard. “Well, the priority mail came from San Francisco, California.”
The letter inside stated Howard had been “selected and hired to be a customer service evaluator.” All she had to do was follow the instructions provided. Like, deposit the cashier’s check provided — $1,980 to cover “purchases and transportation costs.” But when Howard took a closer look, she noticed some discrepancies.
The name at the bottom of the letter was “David Jile,” but the purchaser on the check was “David Jiles.”
“And it was telling me, you know, to deposit this in your bank account. That was a big error. No, you’re not getting my bank information, you know? That’s how they get you,” Howard said.
The letter instructed Howard to use that money to buy eBay gift cards, as part of the survey.
“Like, I know, an older couple that got scammed this way,” said Howard. “They actually bought $3,000 worth of gift cards, and by the time they got to sending them the information off the card, which is what this letter’s instructing me to do, is to send them the codes off the cards. That’s another red flag. You never, ever do that.”
Knowing it was a scam, Howard picked up the phone and called Better Call 4 to get the word out and help prevent anyone else from falling for it.
“I feel sorry for somebody that actually didn’t look into this,” she said. “But I think people really need to be aware, because my money is too precious. And I’ll make my penny scream.”
Better Call 4 also reached out to Kroger in regard to the scam and Howard’s experience. A spokesperson responded with this statement:
At Kroger, we take the safety and security of our customers seriously. We encourage our customers to remain aware and diligent of such scams and to report any suspicious activities directly to us. Our teams are trained in fraud prevention and should a customer have questions, they can contact our Kroger Customer Relations Center at 1-866-544-8062.