"There's got to be something wrong with this:" New twist on an old check scam

MILWAUKEE — Your opinion matters and sometimes you can get paid to give companies your two cents. They might ask you to be part of a focus group or maybe fill out a survey, but would you know if it was a scam?

Bobbie Boyd shares her story about a survey scam with FOX6's Contact 6 reporter Katrina Cravy.

Some people, like Bobbie Boyd, don't mind sharing their opinions if it comes with some perks.

"They would pay you give you $50, $75…maybe some little trinkets and stuff like that, but that's all it was," Boyd said about taking surveys.

Recently, Boyd received an express package in the mail. Inside the package, a letter and a big check for more than $2,000.

"I was like, 'Wow!' I felt good at first because I was like, 'What kind of survey? It must take a long time to do this survey for this amount of money, '" Boyd recalled.

But, the devil is always in the details.  Boyd was asked to deposit the check and take $300 for herself. After that, her job was to wire the rest of the money back to the survey company and provide valuable feedback about the employees who helped her do it.

"I was supposed to go to Walmart and Western Union, but they told me not to let people know. They were being watched," Boyd said.

Boyd saw that as a huge red flag and she reached out to FOX6's Contact 6.

"That's what I love about what you do. You let us know these things," Boyd said.

Counterfeit check sent to Bobbie Boyd as part of a survey scam.

The survey scam Boyd received is a new twist on the secret shopper scam or the international shipping scam. The con artists want you to cash a fake check for them and send them a huge chunk of money. Typically, once your bank realizes the check is fake, the scammer is long gone and you're the one paying it back.

"There's got to be something wrong with this," Boyd said about the package she received.

A warning so you don't take the big check survey bait.