Richard Banks ([email protected])
Complaint 123735 Details

Richard posted an opportunity to be a Mystery Shopper. He offered to pay $150 to evaluate a Wal-Mart MoneyGram purchase. He sent me a check by ExpressMail for $996. I cashed the check at my bank and kept $150 for my pay. I used the $846 remaining to purchase an $800 MoneyGram to the name that Richard Banks gave me in the directions he emailed to me. Then I wrote an evaluation of the store, the store personnel and the time it took to go through the process of buying a MoneyGram. Then I emailed the evaluation to Richard. The next day Richard emailed me and said that there was a problem and that I needed to change the name on the MoneyGram because the person was not there to receive it because he was at a business summit. So I went to Wal-Mart and made the name change which didn't cost anything extra. Richard said that I would receive an additional $50 for my next evaluation to compensate me for my trouble. Four days later I was informed by my bank that the check was returned by The Bank of the West and that the money was taken out of my account to reimburse the bank plus a $12.00 returned check charge. A total of $1,008 was taken out of my account. On Saturday, June 1st when I advised Richard of this by email and a text message he assured by that I would get every penny back. He said that it was a mistake and asked me to do another evaluation that he had to get done before the end of the day. Supposedly Richard's office is in Brooklyn, New York. He was so convincing that I agreed to do the second evaluation using my ATM card to purchase the $600 MoneyGram. I was to be paid $200 for the second evaluation. He promised to send me a pre-paid VISA card for $1,900 on Monday, June 4, 2012. It is now five days later and I haven't heard from Richard since Monday when I sent him a text message that the VISA card didn't arrive. He sent me a text message and said that I would get it on Tuesday. I have emailed him and sent him text messages every day this week with no response since Monday.