I’ve received quite a few scam emails recently. One in particular wanted to hire us to do dozens of things for them. Let’s overlook the obvious fact that I don’t offer this service. This scam places a legitimate order for services/products from your company. All of a sudden they get desperate and need everything immediately! They send you a check. You then ship them the product or do the service required. Of course they promise many more services from you. You find out that they are using a broker, and the check they sent to you doesn’t cover the amount, so could you please cover the difference for them while they send another check to you? Sadly, you find out that the cashier’s check was counterfeit.
That being said, I thought it might be helpful to post a few tips on how you can spot these emails …
First and most important … if they ask you if you take credit cards IT’S A SCAM! Everyone on the planet accepts credit cards.
Was the email really written by the person who sent it? If I send an email, my automatic signature with our logo is clearly displayed at the bottom. You’ll never receive an email from me unless it’s there.
Look at the return address. Scammers tend to use the free email accounts such as Yahoo and Hotmail. Plus, their contact information is never at the bottom of the email. In fact, you won’t see it at all.
Is the email filled with grammar and spelling errors? If it is, most likely it’s a scam. Many scammers don’t speak English very well, let alone write it, so they tend to make a lot of mistakes. People in the business world never send an email out with tons of errors. We also do not use a lot of exclamation points like this !!!!!! I use exclamation points but usually only one.
Is the email written in all uppercase letters? Or all lowercase with no punctuation? It’s a scam!
Is it from a guy name Chad who will be “in country”? The words “in country” are a HUGE tip off. Scam.
Do I have to really tell you that if they want to wire you money (so please email me your bank account number) … DON’T!
If they tell you “this is not a hoax” … it probably is.
Don’t click on the link … or the file that is attached … ever!!! If you know them and are not expecting anything from this person, just shoot them a quick email asking if they just sent you a file.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. It’s a scam. I’ll bet you anything that you did not win millions of dollars from the lottery in the United Kingdom.
If they ask for any type of personal information, don’t give it. A legitimate company will not email you requesting this information.
If you get an email from a department store or business that you frequently use with a coupon code, don’t trust it. Open up a new page on your browser, buy the item and paste the code there.
If you receive a scam and would like to report it, here are a few links for you …
https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx – the Internet Fraud Complaint Center. A partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center
Forward the email to Spam@uce.gov … the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Report the scam to Consumer Fraud Reporting … https://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/reporting.php
Good luck!
Katharine
