Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fraud case involving a local victim.

According to Chief Deputy Heath West the victim was contacted by a person or persons claiming to represent Secret Shopper. Secret Shopper is a legitimate consumer agency that contracts with private individuals to rate customer service or products.

The individual—who has not been named to protect their privacy—was instructed that they would receive money to send from various Western Union outlets to rate that companies customer service and the speed of the transfers. Money orders totaling $4,000.00 were sent to the individual through Federal Express and the victim was told to cash those at the bank, and then transfer the funds via Western Union.

Approximately three weeks after completing the transfers the victim was contacted by their bank and informed that the money orders were counterfeit. The victim then had to borrow enough money to repay the money to their bank. Local officials were notified and began investigating the incident.

Through the course of the investigation Deputy West said that tracing the email addresses, and other contact information always led back to the Google Chrome website, and other Google Chrome webpages. West said that none of the leads have produced any legitimate suspects in the case.

West advises that the scammers might still be trying to operate in the area. If you are contacted by anyone claiming to be from Secret Shopper you should confirm their identity by contacting the agency, or contact the Butler County Sheriff’s Office at 270-526-3676. Secret Shopper can be reached online at www.secretshopper.com.