<prompt> Human: Throwaway account here guys. Im not even sure this is the right place to be posting this, but here goes.For several months Ive been complementing surveys from PineCone Research. Found out about it through rbeermoney. Once or twice a week I get an email to survey my buying habitsinterest and later a survey comes to review a product, usually food. Thats been going great, no problem.The scam came in a sneaky form to disguise themselves as PineCone. I get an email about doing a secret shop for them on a retail store. I used to work where secrete shoppers would periodically come in, so I was familiar with the concept. Actually I was pretty excited about it. I agreed to participate in the email. Several days later I get a check in the mail for 1800. I am to cash the check, keep 300 for my compensation, and use the rest to buy Green Dot money cards. Or, if that isnt available where I live, an alternate survey wiring money via Western Union and survey my experience.Im sure by now you can guess where this is going. Check bounces, I send off real money to a stranger and theres probably nothing I can do about it. The recipient, another secret shopper, picks up the cash on their end. Ive got a name, city, state PA and zip of who the money was to be wired to. I still have the receipts from the Western Union transaction and the emails describing the mystery shop.I suppose the ids required to pick up the cash could be fake. I dont have much experience with Western Union. Hell, they might be in on it too. For whatever reason I looked up their name on facebook. I found a match, very odd last name, in a town close to where the money was to be wired in PA.What really tipped me off, and caused me to initially discover the scam, was getting an additional check several days after sending the money. It was a check for 1,940 from PINECONE LTD but looked different than the original survey check. Nothing else was inside the envelope. No purposeinstructions of any kind. Suddenly I had a sinking feeling in my gut. The bank was different too. Original checks bank was in NY, this one in WA. After some calling around asking if the check would clear if I cashed it, no supprise, NO. So, I dont even know what thats about. Fuck, I just feel stupid about the whole thing. Im not the type of person to fall for cheesy shit like this. I realize the money is probably gone forever, 1,500. I can eventually come to terms with that, but if I can help prevent it from happening to someone else I should try. I just got caught up in the idea, it sounded fun. And, I submitted an excellent report on my experience... that was a waste too. I dunno what you guys think, but any advice about this situation is appreciated. Heres a link to a site explaining the scam in more detail.  <response>: The only time I ever hear about Green Dot is when someone is being scammed. 