As you may know, the Federal Trade Commission filed charges last week against the alleged fraudulent mystery shopping company, Mystery Shop Link. The FTC issued a news release about the charges, and major media outlets across the country have been picking up the story throughout the week.

After hearing about the FTC’s charges, the MSPA immediately issued a media statement to show support of the actions taken by the FTC. The goal of the media statement was to express the MSPA’s views against scams and establish the MSPA as a legitimate mystery shopping resource.

We encourage every MSPA member to get involved in this effort as well. Please post this media advisory on your web site, so anyone visiting will recognize your efforts in combating scams and your involvement with the MSPA. In addition, please send the media statement (below) to your local media outlets. This will provide another way to keep the media informed on the industry and make you a local expert in an ongoing issue. Please update the highlighted sections of the media statement with the date you issue the statement and your contact information.

If you have any questions, please contact Brad Leone or Kelly Hancock at Hart Associates. They can be reached by phone at 419-893-9600 or e-mail at bleone@hartinc.com or khancock@hartinc.com.

Thank you

Brad Leone/Kelly Hancock

Hart Associates

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MYSTERY SHOPPING PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS FTC’S CHARGES AGAINST FRAUDULENT MYSTERY SHOPPING SERVICE

DALLAS, March XX, 2007 – The Mystery Shopping Providers Association, the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources, supports the Federal Trade Commission’s recent action against Mystery Shop Link and the Tangent Group.

Mystery Shop Link is not and has never been affiliated with the MSPA, and the MSPA does not support the practices of which the company has been accused.

The FTC filed deceptive practices and contempt charges against Mystery Shop Link on March 22, which promised consumers hundreds of dollars in income for conducting mystery shopping exercises. According to the FTC, consumers were charged a $99.95 fee for training and to obtain mystery shopping job opportunities. In reality, those who paid the fee had no advantage over others interested in the same opportunities who accessed the information for free, according to the FTC.

The MSPA has cooperated with the FTC in its investigation of Mystery Shop Link and encourages the FTC to continue investigating all mystery shopping-related scams.

The MSPA believes mystery shoppers should not have to pay to find mystery shopping assignments. The association’s 200 member companies around the globe are required to follow a strict code of ethics that prohibits them from charging mystery shoppers a fee or misleading applicants on actual mystery shopping assignment opportunities.

The MSPA has taken steps to warn consumers about this and other mystery shopping scams.

“The MSPA is committed to maintaining the integrity of the mystery shopping industry and will continue to denounce the practices of fraudulent and deceptive companies that use mystery shopping as a cover to take advantage of people,” said John Swinburn, Executive Director, MSPA. “The MSPA is also taking action to combat other mystery shopping scams, particularly scams involving an unsolicited cashier’s check.”

Mystery shopping is a growing field servicing nearly every consumer industry, including restaurants, retail stores, hotels and resorts, travel and tourism, banks and financial service providers, convenience stores, grocery stores and other consumer locations. Legitimate mystery shopping is the practice of using educated, experienced shoppers to anonymously evaluate the customer experience. Businesses use the information to monitor and improve the customer experience.

For more information about the MSPA and its stance on mystery shopping scams, visit http://www.mysteryshop.org/index-na.php. More information about the FTC’s charges can be found at http://ftc.gov/opa/2007/03/mysteryshop.htm. Additional advice from the FTC about how to ensure the legitimacy of mystery shopping opportunities before pursuing them may be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/mysteryalrt.htm.  

About the MSPA

With more than 200 member companies worldwide, the MSPA (www.mysteryshop.org) has a diverse membership, including marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services.  Its goals are to establish professional standards and ethics for the industry, educate providers, clients and shoppers to improve quality of service, improve the image of the industry and promote the membership to other industry associations and prospect clients.