When you become a mystery shopper and register to complete with a mystery shopping company, you need to enter in some information in the database of the company with whom you have an application. Besides your name and address, you would have to put in your date of birth and even your social security number.
All of this information is required to make sure you are a legitimate person looking for work.
You might be curious to ask why the mystery shopping company would need a social security number from their shoppers. Especially since shoppers are 1099 employees and not salary based employees. Fraud happens in all areas of life and the company would need to ensure the applicant is legally okay to work in the United States.
Furthermore, the demographics area of the mystery-shopping site has questions to help narrow down the shoppers who are the best fit for a particular assignment. For example, if you currently wear corrective lenses whether it is contacts or glasses – you should update your profile. There are times when you could be called upon to do a glasses shop. Similarly if you have acquired a new car, then updating your profile will help you gain better shops.
So, next time you have signed in to your favorite mystery-shopping site. Take a look at the demographics area of the site. You might be pleasantly surprised to see some questions that once answered could help you get additional mystery shops.