Asked to be a secret shopper? Be wary

Watch out for the resurgence of a long-standing scam that combines fake checks with secret shopping.

Here’s how it works. You get a check in the mail with an offer to be a secret shopper. You deposit the check and see the funds in your account a few days later. The bank may even tell you the check has cleared.

Now you’re off to the store you’ve been asked to shop at and report back on, often a Walmart. Your first assignment is to test the in-store money transfer service, like Western Union or MoneyGram, by sending some of the money you deposited. Or you might be told to use the money to buy reloadable cards or gift cards, such as iTunes cards. You’re instructed to send pictures of the cards or to provide the numbers on the cards.

Fast-forward a few days or weeks to the unhappy ending. The bank finds out the check you deposited was a fake, which means you are on the hook for all that money.

Banks make money available from deposited checks in a few days, but a fake check can take weeks to discover. By the time you try to get the money back from the money transfer service, the scammers are long gone, and they’ve taken all the money off the gift cards, too. (By the way, money orders and cashier’s checks can be faked, too.)

If anyone ever asks you to deposit a check and then wire or send money in any way, you can bet it’s a scam.

For information about other scams, sign up for the Fraud Watch Network at http://www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork. You’ll receive free email alerts with tips and resources to help you spot and avoid identity theft and fraud.