Scam alert: fake Conjointly mystery shopper letters

Last updated on: 14 October 2026

Criminals are using the Conjointly name and logo to send fake job offers to people in the United States and elsewhere. These letters have nothing to do with Conjointly. We are a market research software company and we do not run mystery shopping, retail evaluations or “brand audits” for anyone.

What the fake letter looks like

The letters we have seen so far are headed “Mystery Shopper Task Instructions” and arrive in a parcel together with one or more cheques (US “checks”). Typical features:

• The Conjointly logo at the top and www.conjointly.com at the bottom, to look legitimate.
• An introduction describing “Conjointly Inc” as a “provider of Brand Audit and quality assurance services”. There is no such business. Our legal entity is Analytics Simplified Pty Ltd, based in Sydney, Australia (see our company details).
• Two cheques totalling a few thousand dollars (for example, $3,335.00), which you are told to deposit into your own bank account.
• An “assignment” to evaluate a local Post Office by buying Postal Money Orders (for example, three of $900 each) and books of stamps, then mailing them to an “evaluation officer” by FedEx or UPS.
• A “breakdown of funds” showing that you keep a few hundred dollars as “wages”.
• Instructions to keep the assignment secret, avoid “drawing attention” in the Post Office, and text a mobile number such as 346-268-7504 to confirm receipt and get further instructions.
• A signature from a “Corporate Customer Service Specialist”.

Scammers change names, amounts, phone numbers and the shop you are asked to “evaluate” (it may be Walmart, a pharmacy, a gift card retailer or a cryptocurrency ATM instead of the Post Office), so a letter that differs from this description can still be fake.

How the scam works

This is a fake cheque scam. The cheques look real and your bank may make the money available within a day or two, but that does not mean the cheque has cleared. Weeks later, the bank discovers the cheque is counterfeit and takes the full amount back out of your account.

By then you have already bought the money orders and sent them to the scammers, so the money you lose is your own. You may also be held responsible for the bounced cheque, charged fees, or have your bank account closed.

Remember: a legitimate employer will never send you money and ask you to send part of it back, buy money orders or gift cards with it, or keep the arrangement secret.

What to do if you received one of these letters

If you have not deposited the cheques:

1. Do not deposit or cash the cheques, and do not text or call the number in the letter.
2. Keep the letter, cheques and envelope or parcel as evidence.
3. Report it (see Where to report the scam below).

If you have deposited a cheque or sent money:

1. Stop. Do not buy any money orders or gift cards, and do not post anything to the address you were given.
2. Contact your bank immediately. Tell them you think you deposited a fake cheque and ask them to stop or reverse anything they can.
3. If you already posted money orders, contact the post office or courier straight away with the tracking number. It may be possible to stop delivery or cancel the money orders before they are cashed.
4. Stop all contact with the scammers. They may pretend to be from your bank, the police or Conjointly and offer to “help you recover” the money. That is a second scam.
5. Report it to the authorities below, even if you have not lost money. Your report helps stop the people behind it.

Where to report the scam

In the United States:

• U.S. Postal Inspection Service for scams that use the mail, Postal Money Orders or the Post Office.
• Federal Trade Commission (ReportFraud.ftc.gov).
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) if you were contacted online or by text.
• Forward any scam text messages to 7726 (SPAM) so your mobile carrier can block the sender.

In other countries:

• Australia: Scamwatch and ReportCyber.
• Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
• United Kingdom: Action Fraud.
• Elsewhere: your local police or national consumer protection agency.

How to tell if a message really is from Conjointly

• Conjointly is a software platform for market research. We do not offer mystery shopping jobs to the public, and we do not recruit through letters, text messages or messaging apps.

• We never send cheques or ask anyone to buy money orders, gift cards or cryptocurrency.

• Conjointly staff only ever email you from these two domains:

  • @conjointly.com
  • @conjoint.ly

  Any email that claims to be from Conjointly but comes from any other address is fake, including Gmail, Outlook and other free email accounts. A matching address is not proof on its own, though, because scammers can fake the sender’s address. If an email from one of these domains asks for money or personal details, check with us first.

• Emails sent from the @conjointly.email domain are sent by our users (for example, survey invitations from a company running research on our platform), not by Conjointly staff. We are not responsible for their contents, and a genuine survey invitation will never offer you a job or ask you to deposit cheques or send money.

• If you take part in surveys hosted on our platform, any reward is handled by the panel or company that invited you, not by Conjointly. See Information for Respondents.

If you are unsure whether something is genuine, contact us using the details on our company details page, not the contact details in the message you received.