CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WVEC) — A woman in Chesapeake almost fell for an online scam this week. She got an email saying she was chosen by Kroger to be a secret shopper, and she filled out a form with her phone number and address to be part of the program.
Loretta believed it was legitimate because so many Krogers are coming to Hampton Roads. Loretta assumed Kroger got her email from her loyalty rewards card.
"I received an email, the subject was Kroger and in the email, it said mystery shopper. I decided to click on it because in our area, all the Farm Fresh’s have closed and Kroger will be moving in and taking over our area,” said Loretta.
She had a strange envelope with no return address just a few days later with a cashier’s check for $1900 dollars, with directions on what to do.
“Please go to your bank and have the check for $1900 cashed, funds will be available for 24 hours. Survey should be completed within 48 hours,” Loretta said.
The letter was allegedly from Kroger, asking her to buy $1500 dollars’ worth of gift cards from three separate locations. It then asked her to send pictures of the redeemable code back.
Therefore, the letter alleged if you were a secret shopper you would get to keep $300 for doing the job. Then, she got a strange text on her phone.
"The text message stated that this person was from Kroger and that they were following up with me in reference to the secret shopper,” said Loretta.
Loretta realized the routing number on the cashier's check was fake and realized the whole thing was a scam. Now she’s warning everyone to be careful and not fall for the scam.
In a statement, Kroger said: "Kroger is not affiliated with the promotion and we do not recommend that customers interact with it."