Imagine that you received the following voicemail:
My name is Lillian and I am calling from ABC Company on the morning of Tuesday, February 26. We are conducting a paid study about the types of software used in the Insurance industry. We’re offering $200 in compensation for your time, so if you are interested in participating, you can reach us at 1-800-555-2672, that was 1-800-555-2672. When you call you can ask for reference code p as in pork 8515, that was p as in pork 8515 and this is for a paid survey that pays $200 to answer questions about software. Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon.
Sounds like a great deal, right? $200 for just answering a few questions. You won’t be buying anything so it’s not like it’s a kickback, is it? And you would never answer any questions about confidential data. Why not call them back?
Although there are some legitimate marketing research firms, this caller was not one of them. These scams can take one of two forms. Most likely, they are vendors trying to get an unethical edge over their competition or an unfair advantage in their negotiations with your company. Sometimes, they are social engineering cons – the caller is trying to pull information out of you in order to sound more like an insider when he/she makes the final scam call against one of your co-workers. Sometimes these scammers claim to be from a vendor, other times they claim to be conducting "research" for a university, etc.
Either way, these callers are trying to con you out of information that they don’t think they could legitimately get. If it was a legitimate business request, they wouldn’t be so eager to bribe you for your participation. When someone emphasizes the money as much as this caller did, something’s not right. You should participate in surveys because it’s in your company’s best interests, not because one person in the company was bribed.
Do your staff know how to respond to survey requests like these? Do you have a policy that requires them to check with your Legal Department or some other group who can validate the request and make sure that all the required non-disclosures are met? Does your policy allow the response to phone surveys or do you require that all surveys be submitted (and replied to) in writing? If compensation or a gift is offered, who does the employee report it to? Is it personal compensation or remitted to the company? Do your staff know how to tell the legitimate from the questionable requests?
Real researchers follow a code of ethics about their surveys. They will give you more upfront information before inviting you to participate in the study and will provide the credentials necessary to prove their identity. They may offer to compensate you for your time but will do so in ethically appropriate ways. They understand your concerns about proprietary information and will work with you to make sure that your information is properly protected. They will provide their Privacy Policy on request and can show you that they live up to it.
Westfield occasionally conducts surveys either directly or through a third party. Our surveys will always be announced as "on behalf of Westfield Marketing Research". Our surveys should never come as a surprise to an Agency. If you receive a survey request claiming to be from Westfield and you are at all suspicious, call us at 1-800-243-2562 or check on Agents Web Passport to confirm the survey.
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