I’m sure most of you know that there are scrupulous people called “scammers”; their sole purpose is to take your hard-earned money without giving anything in return. There are different kinds of scammers out there.
One particular type of scammer is the one that hits the website development and graphic design industry. They crawl the internet and collect contact information of companies that offer website development and/or graphic design. Then they contact these businesses, pretending to need their services. Once they’ve got you hooked, they then use a few techniques to get your money. Yes, they’re supposed to pay you for your services, but they have ways to reverse it.
Some scammers claim to have some ailment to elicit sympathy and also to use it as an excuse for not speaking clearly on the phone due to most of them being foreigners and having heavy accents. Claiming to be an Apraxia patient seems very common. (In short, apraxia is a neurological disorder that prevents the patient from being able to properly move. For example, the inability to tie shoelaces or use tools.) Speaking can be affected by apraxia too, so I assume they use Apraxia as an excuse to cover their heavy accents and force people to use email or text instead.
There was a funny moment when Deaf Blue Cats received an email from a scammer claiming to be hearing-impaired. I doubt he even knew that I am deaf myself! Being aware that this is a scammer, I pretended to be interested in offering our services to him and asked him for a VP (videophone) number so that we can sign to each other face-to-face online. He never responded. Hah!
The gist of this post is obvious: If you are a business owner, please be extremely careful when you get emails from prospective clients. First of all, curb your excitement when you get these emails! Scrutinize the emails. If they feel sketchy (especially with imperfect or broken English) or if you even have a slight doubt, immediately use Google to search their email address and name! Many scammers use the same names and email addresses, sometimes even the phone numbers.
There are many websites that explain the scammers’ techniques in depth followed by comments by scam victims or near-victims who post their scammers’ names and email addresses. This in turn shows up on the internet, so there is a good chance that your scammer’s information will be found on the internet.
Two examples of such websites are:
https://elod.in/veehaus-scam-theres-a-new-scam-targeting-designers/
https://alexwright.net/blog/web-design/avoid-web-design-scams/
Always be vigilant!
—Tabby