Is "Internationalservicecheck.com" a legitimate business

[Unregistered]

My wife registered with the above to do some survey work. She gave (unknown to me) a lot of personal information. She then received the following email and I immediately suspected identity theft. I have looked at the website and there are obvious omissions that would be present in a legit site - any views please?

Dear Service Checker:

Some time ago you registered as “Service Checker” / mystery shopper in our homepage. Thank you for your interest in working with us. Our web site is: www.internationalservicecheck.com

We could offer you a new task now. The task consists in visiting a well known shoes store. Now we are looking for checkers to visit the stores below in the next couple of days.



Mahon Point Shopping Center
IE-.... Mahon, Cork City,Unit 26



It would cost you approximately 45 - 50 minutes of your precious time to shopping and finish an online questionnaire. You would be paid 16€ for each store's visit. Are you interested? Would it be possible for you to do all of them? It would also be fantastic if you could tell somebody else and get them register on our home page. Thank you!!!



Form:

https://www.multisearchweb.com/registration/account/new.jsp



How to mystery shopping in this project:

You need go to a store and check their sale's service quality. During your visit, please ask more questions to make the sales associate talk. Please also check is the store and product display(s) clean and tidy? Are all lights in working condition and is music playing? Observe the Window Display of this particular store. Is the window display neatly arranged? Are the products displayed in the store window fitted with price tags? ln this visit, you must buy a pair of shoes for yourself and remember to pay cash for them! You will not have to bear the costs in purchasing a pair of shoes. 30mins after you finished your check, go back to the store and simply tell the sales that you just changed your mind (make an excuse) and ask for a refund.



ATTN: If you bought a pair of shoes for yourself, please record the receipt details before asking for refund. (Receipt number/Date/Amount. e.g. DD.MM.YYYY / EUR 99,99 / R123432T4B). Please write down in you personal report about what happened during you visit and in the end of the report please just write if you returned the shoes and received their refunded.



Payment:

After you finished your tasks, and send us your information on the web page, you will be asked for you bank details. Please ensure you have the following details avaliable: Name of Bank, Place of Bank,SWIFT code and IBAN number.



How to apply for this job:

In case you are interested, please reply to this mail, indicating your Tel number, the place where you would like to check and when you are available. After that we will consider you for the job and give you all necessary information. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!







Look forward to hearing from you!



Alexandra Mrak


A.Mrak@internationalservicecheck.com

With Kindest Regards,
Alexandra Mrak
lnt. Project Manager

[joewein]

This website appears to be legitimate. It has been around for six years. Typical scam domains don't last much longer than two to three months:

Domain: internationalservicecheck.com
Created: 2000-03-17 15:08:57
Last_changed: 2006-01-23 14:09:44
Expiration: 2008-03-17 15:08:57
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK

[Registrant]
Handle: DNSNET-20422
Name: Martin Villgrater
Organization: Multisearch GmbH
Address-1: Stiglmaierplatz Dachauer Strasse 37
Address-2:
Address-3:
Zip: 80335
City: Muenchen
State: DE
Country: DE
Phone: +49-895-4558228
Fax: +49-895-47443
Email: m.villgrater@multisearchweb.com

[Administrative Contact]
Handle: DNSNET-20423
Name: Reinhold Auer
Organization: Multisearch GmbH
Address-1: Dachauer Strasse 37 Stiglmaierplatz
Address-2:
Address-3:
Zip: 80335
City: Muenchen
State: DE
Country: DE
Phone: +49-895-4558228
Fax: +49-895-47443
Email: r.auer@multisearchweb.com

[Technical Contact]
Handle: DNSNET-20424
Name: Christian Storch
Organization: InfraNet AG
Address-1: Postfach 20 10 40
Address-2:
Address-3:
Zip: 80010
City: Muenchen
State: DE
Country: DE
Phone: +49-897-435230
Fax: +49-000-000
Email: vertrieb@infra.net

[Zone Contact]
Handle: DNSNET-20425
Name: Christian Storch
Organization: InfraNet AG
Address-1: Postfach 20 10 40
Address-2:
Address-3:
Zip: 80010
City: Muenchen
State: DE
Country: DE
Phone: +49-897-435230
Fax: +49-000-000
Email: vertrieb@infra.net

[Nameserver]
Nameserver: NS.INFRA.NET
Nameserver: NS2.INFRA.NET


Here's a press release about them:
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=163453

It looks like a real company.

Personally I would have an ethical problem buying something in a store without any intention of keeping it, but at least there is no indication that these people are doing anything illegal.

[Daneel]

Except for that they forgot to remove the zero in the area code for the numbers on their contact page :lol: I can't find anything that points to them being any kind of scam. Just an unusual business model.

[Unregistered]

Thanks to both of you for your response. I still believe there is something fishy about this company. They ask you to fill a very detailed form getting info about yourself - some of which would not be asked for in a normal job application. Then, a week later they ask you to go into a shoe shop (because you selected shoes as a fashion interest) and carry out a very unprofessional survey. The shop is not specified only a unit in a shopping centre 160 miles away (they obviously pick these up from a directory). Then they say they will pay you €16 for the survey but you must now supply all your banking details. Sorry, but I believe this is not legitimate. They have no customer references on their site.

Regards.

[Daneel]

Ok I went through the form. They do ask for a lot of personal information, and they don't seem to have any privacy policy that I could find, which is never a good sign. It's possible they may sell it on to third parties/marketing companies. Though they do have a proper address and contact numbers listed, which makes them much less likely to be a pure scam.

Most legitimate company websites don't have customer references, but a surprising number of scam sites do. That's not really a safe indicator.

I've never run into anything similar before, so I'm afraid I can't say anything for sure. Better safe than sorry, I suppose ;)

[Frazzle]

It's certainly unethical.

Once you've bought a pair of shoes, you own them. The store has NO obligation to take them back. Note that there is no offer of a refund from the service check company. You could very well be left owning a pair of shoes you don't want (and perhaps cannot afford).

They're asking you to lie to the store to (attempt to) obtain a refund. I certainly wouldn't want to work for a company whose business is based on their employees lying.

I wonder whether the company also lies to its own (potential) employees?

I wouldn't touch this with a bargepole.

[joewein]

I think it's a good policy to avoid doing business with companies that behave unethically. If nothing else, if they behave unethically with others they may do the same to you.

[Unregistered]

Thank you again for replies.
I seriously believe these guys are not legitimate but may be a front so can stay in busines. Basically what they ask you to do is drive 300 miles roundtrip to a shop unit number (no name given), lie to the staff, risk money on a purchase and then send an unformatted report with all your bank details and they pay you €16 ($18)!!!!!. My guess is they come back later and get more info and pass all of this to a third party who pay for the info. It would be easy to use the information to write to your bank and request a funds transfer.

Probably worth keeping a watch on these. They list a German office but the email comes from Bosnia or Macedonia. Worth a further probe.

Regards,

Des.

[anonymous]

ISC is NOT a fraud.I have worked for them & recieved my payment on time.

[ladyfly]

I haven't filled in my details for it and haven't really looked very closely at the website yet, but I got their details from the jobcentre database.

I'm still a little dodgy about it but willing to give it a go.

if nobody can say for certain about it though I might give it a go.

[mehgon]

I did a check for them approximately 6 weeks ago and still waiting for the payment :(

[lisburnguest]

A load of crap basically. I signed up a few months ago, EXACT same thing happened to me...Thats why I've googled it and found here. If you want a reputable Mystery Shopping company and your in NI, Scotland, England or Wales (or some border counties in Ireland), try *Removed by the moderator I have carried out numerous shops for them and have been paid and reimbursed etc...Worth a go...

[Minamax]

Internationalservicecheck is a scam / fraud. I got scammed by this website. They also use the url www.multisearchweb.com. They sent me out to a supposed mystershopper job, I had to pay to drive there, spent some considerable time doing the mysteryshopper job, then spent a long time filling in a questionaire and it's been 6 months and not a penny of the miserable $10 has been paid to me. I sent them several messages directly through their website giving them the details of my case and they refuse to respond.

What angered me most is when I received the information about the job I was told I can get paid through Pay Pal, which is why I accepted it, I do not want my full bank details to be given out. After I completed the job I was told to fill in my Account number and Sort code on their website. They will not accept IBAN and BIC codes which is all you need to make an international transfer. Which definately proves they are a scam / fraud.

So my review on www.internationalservicecheck.com is stay clear if you want you bank account not to get robbed and if your still waiting for payment from them, don't give in and give them your full account details, you can go to your bank to confirm that all anyone needs to make a wire transfer to your account is IBAN and BIC codes and someone insisting on your account number means fraud.

Don't be fooled by their detailed information on their company details or WHOIS information, they can take that information from anywhere.

[Minamax]

ISC is NOT a fraud.I have worked for them & recieved my payment on time.

Yea, right, and you are who? Anonymous from where? And you went straight for this topic.

[Bhing82]

Nope. ISC is not fraud. I have been making checks for them for a year now and has always received payments and refunds for the checks I did.

As to the payment, if you want them in Paypal, you have to request through your coordinator that you want payment to your paypal account and not to you bank account.

[ISC UK]

Hi everyone,

I'm the UK Managing Director for International Service Check and I just wanted to quickly post to confirm that we're in no way related to any scams!

We have found that several scam companies are trying to commit fraud by using the names of reputable mystery shopping companies, ourselves included. The easy way to check if you think you have been contacted by our company is to contact us via or website to check.

Thank you to those who have posted to confirm that we are indeed a genuine company, it is much appreciated!

Samantha MacAulay
International Service Check
internationalservicecheck.com

[ISC UK]

We work for the companies we ask our shoppers to assess, therefore it is in no way unethical and if the scenario requires the shopper to return for a refund, this is what the company being mystery shopped has requested and therefore guarantee a refund to the shopper.

With regards to the comprehensive profile information requested, this is completely normal when registering with a mystery shopping company, we need to know about your interests, shopping habits and profession to be able to offer mystery shops to people fitting the correct profile for genuine customers of the company we are working for.

Payment terms are up to 6 weeks follow receipt of the visit report, payment is by paypal or bank transfer depending on the country you live in.

[Unregistered]

I did several checks for this organisation but was never paid. They find supposed shortcomings in some part of check and then refuse to pay or even offer proof of the supposed problems. DO NOT register with ISC!

[Unregistered]

I did three shops over a week ago, Ive been harassed for more details for over and over again. I responded each time. Two of three checks were confirmed, then I was emailed a termination notice because I complained to management. The shop was to pay $12 and I spent a2 least four hours. They pay you once then harass you and claim reports not good enough then refuse to pay. Don't waste your time. The vendors are the ones getting ripped off even more!! Lets all contact the s+ops assigned and expose these scam artists for fraud and failure to pay!

[Unregistered]

Well I hope it isn't a scam - it was advertised in my local Job Centre Plus so they should have vetted it.

[rainbow76]

I would share some information here:

1. the website registration more info:
Reverse Whois:"Multisearch GmbH" owns about64 other domains
Email Search: is associated with about 981,536 domains
is associated with about 28 domains
NS History:1 change on 2 unique name servers over 3 years.
IP History:11 changes on 5 unique IP addresses over 3 years.
Whois History:24 records have been archived since 2008-03-30 .
Reverse IP:425,868 other sites hosted on this server.

2. Found a link: http://www.complaintsboard.com/byurl/internationalservicecheck.com.html

3. This company also is recruiting people everywhere in China, if like the information from above link, then this company just find more people to buy the products.

4. This company had co-company in Beijing China, which registered for ten years business from 2005, but shut down last year.

[Unregistered]

From my personal experience it might be a scam, so watch out! I was a mystery shopper for them and made a few assignments (which they were satisfied with based on their replies) but never got paid in the end. You first have to go through a small online test (depending on the assignment, I mostly did McDonald's) and after that they start sending you out on missions. You are asked to pay for all the purchases (they ask you to keep the receipt, they have all sorts of similar things to sound professional) and supposedly they would pay you back in the end with an additional amount for your services, but for me at least it never happened! You have to answer a special questionnaire after each visit and write about your visit and submit it online (you have to follow specific guidelines, you don't just write what you feel like writing). I never met anyone from their side face to face it was either by email or by phone. The caller that mostly spoke to me seemed Indian or Pakistani, it's like they have some sort of call center located maybe in India anyway the call was not local . They did take some personal information too, so I don't know if identity theft could be another risk involved in this...Anyway I wouldn't recommend it! Hope this helps.

[Unregistered]

I've just been looking into doing Mystery Shopping with ISC after seeing it advertised in my local Jobcentre. I was made redundant 6 mths ago and have found it impossible to get another job. I came across this vacancy advertised in my Jobcentre and thought it had to be legitimate so thought I'd give it a bash.

Im worried now as I've signed up with ISC... Oh dear

I'll be suing the Jobcentre if I end up having my identity stolen!

[Unregistered]

Joined ISC a couple of months back, here in Australia.

Did the McDonalds certification online.

Within a week I was offered several stores to check... even additional mileage to get to some stores. Whilst it takes between 4 and 6 weeks to get paid, I HAVE been paid for each and every check I have done.

The key is to be able to provide good visit reports!

Good luck to all who ARE doing checks for ISC!

[Unregistered]

i was contacted by telephone today from an Indian guy saying he was called Robert Williams from ISC.He went on to say that they had detected sum1 trying to load a virus to my PC?..then(without asking me to even verify who i was) expected me to go into my PC files and i presume get sum info.Luckily im not daft..i asked for his details first and phoned the number back he gave..the number is 020 88 199 827.the guy who answered was also Indian..when i asked for details on the company he promptly hung up..i suspect there is sum1 using ISC as a front to scam ppl..my advice..unless ISC can prove they aren't connected to these guys..u wud be crazy to go nowhere near them..the details i managed to get were the phone number and name above and this address 24 baker street kent..

im not suggesting it is ISC doing the frauds..but certainly sum1 is using the name ISC to commit frauds,Ive passed all the details onto my banks online fraud squad..i suggest u do the same

[Unregistered]

Signed with them a few months ago, done a few assignments, been paid via paypal.
No problem what so ever. Online paperwork is tedious and I can well imagine some people do not carry out that part properly or indeed the visit...then you dont get paid

[George Dixon]

<snip> .Luckily im not daft..i asked for his details first and phoned the number back he gave..the number is 020 88 199 827.the guy who answered was also Indian..when i asked for details on the company he promptly hung up.

Although a UK number, this call could originate from anwhere in the world as it is managed by a company that provides linking to the UK PSTN from voip services etc..

[Hightower]

The job centre have no system in place to check the validity of advertisers; anyone can place an advert and ask for you to send them your Cv and details! I asked the job centre to give me the job of checking out the vacancies - they said no!
I have just registered with ISC: will see what occurs.

[Unregistered101]

I have done a lot of jobs for them and have been paid all the time.

They are a legitimate business, just a really poorly run one. They are seriously useless and I'm not sure why McDonalds use them to be honest.

[Kate]

ISC is supposed to be member of MSPA and they are not. I did a check for them and did not received a confirmation e-mail. I have sent them e- mail messages through their site asking why they do not have a page in their website that shows shops conducted and pending payments, but they do not answer. I'll wait 6 weeks to see if they make the payment through Paypal, otherwise, I will confirm what I have been suspecting for more than one week. I hope I am wrong. It is not nice when you have been deceived and have wasted your time as well.

[yogismom]

I have been working with International Service Check for over a yearand a half. I have been paid on time as promised through Paypal. They pay two to four times the going rate. You determine how far you are willing to travel for a Check, not them. The Client owns or oversees the location you are Shopping. It is not unethical. f I make a required purchase, following their guidelines, I know I will either get a refund or the company with take the merchandise and refund my money, as. long as I follow the guidelines. They are the ones who set the standards and want to be sure they are being executed properly. They do this for YOU. Have you ever been to a store or restaurant that had terrible service, bad food or a sales person that you wished you could complain about? My job is to go in, find the issues and the rock stars!!! Then I report my finding through ISC. They work with my schedule and travel dates. Lastly, they ask for detailed informational so you can be properly assigned checks. If you can not pull off End or Luxury Shops, put up money for a couple of hours, this company is not for you :( I have not had one problem with them and have done over 25 assignments without any issues.

[TravelTart]

I did several "checks" for ISC back in 2011. The sign-up was tedious but I was eventually contacted by the "local area co-ordinator" who was definitely not "local" nor even in the same country! I did the online 'training' (what a joke) and as I had some spare time I decided to try doing the checks. It was all done online through their website: www.internationalservicecheck.com

Each time I accepted a check mission the job came with a highlighted payment amount (always low); when I completed a check (and submitted the relevant paperwork) I received an email telling me how wonderful I/my report was! I regularly received requests to do checks, but strangely enough never seemed to receive payment!!!! Whenever I emailed my point of contact I received a reply from someone totally different (names/location always changed); there was always an excuse. I went through my 'local co-ordinator', then the accounts department, then a Field Co-ordination Supervisor and so it went on. Excuses ranged from "payment is being processed" to "we cannot find you on our system". I had done check for them from January through May ... not a penny. When I finally threatened to take it further, I suddenly received a payment through PayPal, for an amount MUCH LESS than the total of the "agreed" fees and with no expenses compensation included. I then refused to do another check for such an unprofessional bunch of liars and cheats.

International Service Check might not be a scam in the true sense of the word BUT they are not totally honest and definitely not professional.. AVOID THEM!!!!!!!!! It will cost you more $$ in the long run.