Yes, I said it. Even scams can be an inspiration. Think
about the ones that you nearly fell for, or did
fall for. Why? What did they say that was convincing? What did they do or say
that made you think, hey maybe this is
for me?
So this post is about all the April (as well as other
months) fools that intrude on us. Recently I decided to place an ad on
Craigslist for my VA Services, and was inundated with replies. So many
potential clients, most of which I knew right away were bogus. But they’re not
always that easy to spot.
One day I woke up to about 15 text messages, despite the
fact that I’d explicitly stated in my ad that I only wanted phone calls or
emails.
I’ve not relied solely on Craigslist alone, I’ve also looked
on sites like Reddit, LinkedIn, and UpWork. But even legitimate sites have been
overrun with scam artists. Many scams are obvious, many are not. Recognizing
scams, as opposed to genuine opportunities, can be a bit like spotting a
Z-Brick façade vs. a real brick house. From far away they look nearly
identical, but the closer you look, the more you notice a pattern forming.
The difference between what these scammers do and what I,
and many of my fellow freelancers, do is that we deliver what we promise. Or we
try our hardest to do so. Because as sole proprietors, entrepreneurs, and freelancers
we want repeat clients. It’s out we earn our living. We also value our
reputation in the business community. We aren’t simply after one big score so
that we can move on to the next mark. Any company that has, and offers, value
will keep doing so over time.
These schemes often cast a wide net, prey on the desperate, and
even claim to represent actual companies. When I see these, I immediately
report it to the company that they’re claiming to work for. With one individual
I let him know that I’d contacted the company to verify that he was authorized
to represent them in some way. Needless to say, I never heard from this
potential “client” again.
You may think that you’re immune or don’t frequent places
where these types of fraud happen. You may even consider yourself tech savvy as
I do.
So in honor of April Fool’s Day, I’ve decided to share a
little bit of my experience with scams. The following red flag list is
comprised of things that I’ve personally experienced or come across as a
freelancer. These ethically ambiguous people prey on you when you’re desperate
or needy. That’s when a sole proprietor may be more vulnerable as we all have bills
to pay, and things to buy.
But I decided that it was also an inspiration because they
are so good at their pitch. Some of them are too obvious, but many of the ones
that I’ve almost fallen for had a
very clever pitch. So I decided that we could possibly learn something from
these pitches. Think about the effective techniques that they’ve used and use
some of them for yourself, without exaggerating of course. But then set yourself apart by following
through, delivering what you promise, and offering the premium service that
you’ve set out to. There are a few that I’ve read, received, and almost gotten
involved with, that were so well done, I was almost fooled. Some of the warning
signs to look out for:
·
Refusal to talk on the phone, insisting on text
only communication – And when you question them, they claim that they’re out of
the country and international phone rates are too high to pay for. If they’re
successful enough to hire a freelancer, they can afford to buy international
minutes for their phone.
·
Insist on doing business by email only. This is
another one. They bait you with brief, vague offers of a job that you’d be
perfect for, then you ask them for more details and they tell you that it’s
simple, only a few hours per week, and that they will pay a much higher than
average rate for one task only. This is usually people pretending to have real
estate that they want you to advertise for. Then they send you all the details.
If this happens, politely tell them that you have to verify that they’re
authorized to act on behalf of this realty company and I guarantee that they
will ghost you.
·
They seem too eager to hire you. It’s like the
roles are reversed. They’re trying to sell you on working for them, not the
other way around. Most jobs are not that easy to obtain, aside from multi-level
marketing, and commission-based businesses, but they have nothing to lose. If
you earn, so do they, if you don’t, then they’re no worse off.
·
When you look up the company, they’re in another
country, like Italy for instance. Wouldn’t an EU country hire an EU employee?
It’s not impossible that they’d hire someone from the US or Canada, as many
companies do broaden their scope for international markets. But they are likely
not even associated with that company at all. If you think something is off,
contact the company, go with your gut.
·
The job description is very vague or the job
doesn’t seem quite too good to be
true, requires special equipment and/or software which they promise to provide,
but when you accept the position, after several correspondences, they send you
official-looking checks in the mail for very large sums of money. They hound
you about when the funds will be available. Don’t spend any of it, if you did
deposit the checks. Alert the bank. But don’t deposit them at all. This is a
way to get as much as possible. Many times the bank temporarily credits your
account, they’ll take whatever they can get most likely claiming that it’s a
deposit on equipment or special tools for the position. They also say that part
of the payment is a portion of your salary. No job I’ve ever had paid me before
I began. That’s not how jobs work.
·
They offer you a job but say you’ll be paid by
wire transfer. This is a red flag right away. They will claim that they sent
you a large sum of money and it will arrive at Western Union or MoneyGram, but
that there’s a fee because it’s an international transfer. Firstly that’s not
how money transfers work. The person sending it pays any fees up front.
Secondly, you have to pick one: Western Union or MoneyGram, not either. It doesn’t work that way. Despite our
advances in technology, most people don’t really know how wiring money works.
This is wire fraud, plain and simple. If you pay that fee you will never see
any money or hear from the other party again.
·
Someone asks you to wire them money to begin working for you. Now I’m usually just focused
on freelancers looking for clients, but some of us also outsource our work when
we have a large workload, many of the
above things may happen, but they’ll ask you to wire them some money, they’ll
have a convincing excuse, setting up accounts to manage their tasks, or
something equally convincing, but they’ll disappear, along with your money.
·
You get an email offering you the job, just
reply to accept. This happened for a job I found on LinkedIn. Also got a
private message from a real user on there, but her account had been hacked.
They also use real companies with fake people claiming to work for that
company. Go to the website, look at their career page, contact them if you’re
not sure. Then report it to LinkedIn as being a scam. They’ll look into it.
They pride themselves on being a reputable and trustworthy site for the
business minded individual. Don’t be angry with them. It’s not their fault.
Hackers hack and scammers scam.
Insist on being paid by PayPal, Zelle, Square, or Google
Wallet. Those are the most trustworthy ways that I know of. Personally I
wouldn’t accept a check unless the company is Pepsi, Nike, or NBC Universal. And
if you’re hiring, insist on using these options to pay the freelancers. Most
credible freelancers use or have accounts with one of the aforementioned sites.
Last, but not least, if you have been fleeced out of a large sum of money, report it. No matter
how vague the information that you have. The FBI’s website has a tip page. Even
if you’re not sure where they are or whether they used a real name or not. The
more people who come forward about these types of scams the better; these aren’t
just a nuisance, they’re illegal.
Don’t fall for these fools’ scams. They’re the fools. Not you.
Here’s some more info about scams and how to avoid them from
a fellow VA in
the UK
*Please don’t
feel bad or embarrassed for falling for a scam. They prey on your desperation.
Desperation for money or something else you need. That’s how they make so much
money. I have a case in the DA’s office of Florida for a company that offers to
buy a time-share for more than you want to sell it for. It’s embarrassing to
admit, but I fell for it. They did have some kind of high fee, that I borrowed
from a friend of mine. They sent me a check in the mail, I didn’t think twice
about receiving the check b/c I was selling something. That company was found
guilty of racketeering and possibly mail fraud. These are federal crimes. If
they were able to catch any of those predators, they are probably in federal
prison now.
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