ASIC warns of shadow shopping scam

While ASIC carries out genuine consumer research including shadow shop, it has been alerted by legitimate market research firm Shadow Shopper of a scam where cold callers are claiming to be undertaking research on behalf of ASIC.

According to the corporate regulator, these scammers claim to be looking for shadow shoppers as part of an ASIC compliance and monitoring campaign.

The scam maintains that it will pay you for your time and may encourage you to meet in person or attend a presentation after which you will receive a questionnaire to complete.

The scammers promote their services at the following website, www.theshadowshopper.com that makes false representations that their work is associated with ASIC.

ASIC says it has no involvement with the website or its operators, and is undertaking inquiries into the activities of the operators.

The corporate regulator is urging anyone who receives contact in these circumstances or is referred to this website to not respond.

You can report scams to ASIC via the report a scam page on Scamwatch or by contacting ASIC through their website.