Screenshot of “Jigsy Shadow Shopper”
Dear WAHFAQ,
I came across this website, Jigsy, and was wondering if it was a legitimate Shadow Shopping company. Is it? Thanks!
For those who aren’t aware, “Shadow Shopping” is just another term for “Mystery Shopping” it also can be referred to “Guest Shoppers”. These are all blanket terms for my favorite way to make extra money by anonymously evaluating customer service. Check out the Mystery Shopping FAQ, (or even the Mystery Shopper Training Program) you may find that it’s a great way for you to earn extra money as well!
Let’s go ahead and dissect this website. First of all, “shadowsshopping” is a subdomain of “Jigsy.com”. (You can learn more about subdomains and why they’re important to decipher real jobs from scams in The Work at Home Training Program). If you take out the subdomain and just go to jigsy.com you’ll see that the company itself (Jigsy) is a website builder. I’m guessing they’re a lot like Wix, in that they provide a service for people to build free websites, but they’re all hosted on the Jigsy platform. Only people who are too cheap to get their own domain and hosting would go this route. No professional business in their right mind would let all of their traffic go to a subdomain on a free platform. (If you do this, you’re hurting your business. Stop.)
Knowing that this is a subdomain, I have to give credit to the person who created it because “Jigsy” is a pretty fun name for a site that promotes earning extra income. Usually we call random jobs, “Gigs” (ie: “I booked a gig this weekend!”) so, “jig” is a fair play on words. Enough to confuse someone 🙂
Reading through the website, you’ll see it lacks any substance whatsoever. It has unsubstantiated claims of being the “premier mystery shopping company” and even has a fancy (R) around its name. (Which, BTW, you can’t put the (R) without paying for a registered trademark, but they don’t seem to care about that.) On their “application” you’ll see that they claim shoppers will make $300 per assignment. Nope. That’s simply not true. Mystery Shopping assignments usually pay $5-$50, with some video shops getting into the $100-$200 range. But they’re VIDEO shops, you’ll need specialized equipment and training.
For shits and giggles, I filled out the form. It’s been about 3 weeks and I haven’t heard back. No job offers, no follow up, no nothing. So, either these folks are completely clueless, or they’re just harvesting emails to sell to spammers.
If you really want to get started in Mystery Shopping, check out The Mystery Shopper Training Program. It will give you all the tools you need to get started so you will never have to ask, “Is this job for real, or a scam?” again!
Think about all the extra money you could make by being a mystery shopper, starting your own business, or working from home for a legitimate company. Take control of your income and check out our LEARN page for a list of classes, books, and more!
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I received an email to my email address indicating an exciting opportunity to be a mystery shopper with this company. I was sent a check for $1,150 to go and buy Walmart gift cards. I did not deposit the check called the bank on check to verify check. The bank indicated it was scam so this company is a fake. I reported them to United Postal Service for mail scam. I report to FTC and submitted an internet crime complaint.
Great job, Sheila!
That’s exactly what you should do 🙂
I signed up like April 17 and got a check in the mail for $2000 with instructions on April 19. But I just now found it in the mail since my parents forgot to check the mail box which they have the keys too. I’m confused whether I should follow instructions or not. They gave me a number to text when I get the mail and told me to buy two $850 gift cards from Apple with the check they give me. The remaining money will be mine?
What website did you sign up on, TT? It looks like the one I had for Jigsy is now down. Did you get a check from a different company?
What you’re describing sounds like a very common Mystery Shopping scam, where they send you a HUGE check (it’s fake) to complete a task and you then keep the difference as you “payment”. Mystery Shopping just doesn’t work that way. Check out these articles for more information:
https://www.workathomefaq.com/i-know-its-a-scam-now-what/
https://www.workathomefaq.com/is-this-a-real-job-offer-or-scam-mystery-shopping-walmart/
https://www.workathomefaq.com/mystery-shopping-faq/
If you haven’t yet checked out The Mystery Shopper Training Program, it’s available both as an online class through Udemy, and a book on Amazon. (Or you can ask your library to see if they will order it for you!) Our books and classes will get you started on the right path and avoid scams like these. Check out: https://www.workathomefaq.com/learn/ for more information.
Good luck!
TT,
I get these checks with large amts printed on them. I just call the bank name printed on them!!
So far… They’ve ALL BEEN FAKE!!
Make sure you call the “Bank” printed on the check. Just look up the name online to get the phone number.
Good luck,
CL