[Hidden-tech] SCAM: "Web designer needed"

Tue Jun 9 02:47:01 UTC 2020

I get hit with this scam almost weekly.  Or a variation.  It's either a
logo design, or some printing, or designing a catalog, or a website for a
farming operation.  It's all the same, take a credit card and they get you
to write a check to someone.  It's the same as computer/IT people (and I've
known multiple) get caught in the scam of ordering computers and shipping
them to a person/business and the card is fraudulent.  That's happened to
at least 3 IT businesses I've worked with.

I also know a guy that sent $5000 to someone from this website scam.  Some
of them are very convincing.

For one, I almost never get a new business inquiry (real inquiry) via
text.  Who would start that way.  "I don't know you or know this number I'm
texting for your business is a cell phone, but I'll try texting to hire
you."  Every once in a while I get suckered for a little bit if the person
is good at dragging the con on for a while.  Because I never want to answer
rudely to a possible real new client.

Since the scam now is credit card based, I lead a lot with "we don't take
credit cards". But we do of course, but that usually gets them to go away.
Although I had one try to convince me to sign up with a company to take
credit cards, just so I could work with him.  :). That one I led on for
days and played with.

*Paul Stallman,*  Owner, Creative Director and Web Guru

(413) 364-6147 | paul at alias-solutions.com

*alias*|solutions
GRAPHIC DESIGN | WEB DESIGN | FULL COLOR PRINTING | LARGE FORMAT PRINTING
www.alias-solutions.com
<http://www.alias-solutions.com/>

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06/08/20,
10:39:55 PM

On Sun, Jun 7, 2020 at 7:56 AM B. Kimo Lee via Hidden-discuss <
hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:

> Hi Lisa,
>
> And thanks to you for sharing this, too! I’m not sure, but if its a scam
> it might be that the guy has setup a fake Quickbooks site and could be
> phishing for your login info, somewhere down the line. One plus is that he
> hasn’t “yet” asked for a payment to some other individual.
>
> I seem to recall that the scam I mentioned below involved a 2-day period
> while the banks process transactions during which the scammer can cancel
> things, or somehow get the money and run, or something like that. I googled
> "quickbooks web design scam” and got some interesting results.
>
> You can also send the email to spoof at quickbooks.com and see what they say.
>
> Good to be aware of what scammers are doing. It’s such a wild west out
> there.
>
> Best,
> Kimo
>
>
> On Jun 6, 2020, at 9:09 AM, Lisa Rosenthal <lrosedesign at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Kimo,
>
> Yes I think this was a similar scam, some of the English seemed off as
> well. The only difference seems to be a payment or over payment through
> Quickbooks.
>
> Thanks for sharing your blog post.
>
> Lisa
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 6, 2020, at 6:36 AM, B. Kimo Lee <bklee at azurelink.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Lisa,
>
> A scam I’ve run into is that the scammer offers to overpay you via credit
> card (stolen) and wants you to send a check to a “project consultant” for
> the amount of the overpayment. As described by Mik. If you process the cc
> payment, you become an accomplice. That scam also involved the “client”
> being “hearing impaired”. Here’s my blog post about it:
> http://azurelink.com/tech-news/item/23-hearing-impaired-buyer-credit-card-scam
>
> Probably not worth your time, but you could set up an account at a
> freelancer site like Upwork and ask them to assign the job through the
> Upwork system. That way payment is guaranteed. The mere suggestion of that
> and they’ll probably disappear. LoL!
>
> Best,
> Kimo
>
>
> AZURELINK  ::  “Creative Design Technologies"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Web Site Design & Scalable, Managed Web Hosting
> Joomla! Content Management System Implementation
> eCommerce Development
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 249 Wallace Hill Rd
> Townsend, MA 01469
> (413) 204-1763
> For more information, please visit: www.azurelink.com
> Follow Azurelink on Twitter: http://twitter.com/azurelink
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jun 5, 2020, at 9:21 PM, Lisa Rosenthal via Hidden-discuss <
> hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>
> This happened to me recently, someone contacted me through my website.
> They were looking for a designer for a logo and brochure, 8 pages for a
> Antiques Business in Santa Monica. His project consultant had all the
> photos and copy. I was given specific details about the project as well as
> a company name and address. No website or online presence yet, it was
> supposedly under construction.
>
> They seemed to have a good budget for the design part of the project. I
> went back and forth a bit trying to figure out if it was a scam and then
> what the scam was. I googled the address, it looked like Reddit was there
> or had been there and it might be vacant. I called adjoining businesses to
> ask if it looked like an Antique store was going in next door, they both
> said no it didn’t.
>
> 4 emails into the conversation:
> The guy, Mike Powell:
> Ok I will be making a deposit for a start so we can proceed.Also, I’ll
> like to let you now I will be paying you via Quickbooks by you sending me
> an invoice of the partial payment so I can make payment from my ends.Let me
> know if that’s ok with you !
>
> Me: I don’t have a Quickbooks account so I don’t think that payment method
> will work. Venmo might be a possibility, would that work?
>
> Mike Powell: I’m unable to use my cc via PayPal, Square nor Venmo due to
> some bad experiences I’ve encountered using it in recent time and I was
> advised by my cc provider not to use via any of the above mentioned
> processors for now.
>    You can look up for Quickbooks online . It’s easy and simple to set up.
> ..............
>
> Has anyone heard of that, a scam through Quickbooks?
>
> I just said I wasn’t interested and left it at that.
>
> Lisa Rosenthal
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 5, 2020, at 10:25 AM, Michael Muller via Hidden-discuss <
> hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>
> Hey all web people on the HT list...
>
> Over the years I've received an innumerable number of spam emails --
> mostly people asking me if I need help building a website for a domain I
> just purchased. I used to ask them if they knew what I did for a living,
> and of course they don't. It's just a robo-script emailing anyone with a
> email address attached to a domain name.
>
> On occasion I get a text from someone asking if I could build them a
> website. The exact working typically never changes, and the scam is always
> the same. This is how they usually contact me:
>
> "Hello how are you doing,I will like to know if you would be able to
> handle a website design for me ?"
>
> The punctuation and referral to "handle a website design for me" leads me
> to believe this isn't quite legit.
>
> The first time I got a text like this the follow-up was that the person
> was both deaf and blind, so I couldn't call nor send an email. The whole
> thing had to be done over text. Hmmm...
>
> They want specifically 5 pages, because they can't afford more, and it's
> already been designed. All I have to do is take the designed pages and put
> them on a web server, linking the pages to each other. Seems to be quick
> money, right?
>
> The kicker is -- and this is where the klaxons start going off -- the
> scammer wants to pay me $5000 by credit card, but I have to pay their
> designer $3000 by check, since they don't take credit cards.
>
> *If you are ever contacted by anyone with a similar request, just say no.*
>
> I am passing this info along because not only did I get such a text from
> this guy, but also an email (below). The third screen shot has some harsh
> expletives, so be forewarned.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mik
>
> <djieiikcpfacbmlb.png>  <mchjaacgihikpfbf.png>  <oahmococlbdlgcio.png>
>
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Re: Web designer needed
> Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2020 14:30:49 -0700
> From: Sarmento Alves Domingos <sarmentoalves940 at gmail.com>
> <sarmentoalves940 at gmail.com>
> To: Michael Muller <tech at montaguewebworks.com> <tech at montaguewebworks.com>
>
> Here is the job details, well i have a small clothing business for both
> male and female which i run here in state,now am trying to expand the
> business and i want you to build an informational website for it for
> advertisement and to increase my sales rate..so i need you to check out
> this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible
>
> http://www.missrebel.co.uk.
>
> The  site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an
> estimate .The estimate should include hosting and i want the site to have
> not more than 5 pages ,since it is informational. I have a private project
> consultant who has the text content, images and the logos for the site.
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 11:57 AM Michael Muller <tech at montaguewebworks.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Sarmento,
>>
>> Can you provide more information?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Mik
>>
>> ---
>> Mik Muller, president
>> Montague WebWorks
>> 239-R Main Street, Greenfield, MA
>> 413-320-5336http://MontagueWebWorks.com <http://montaguewebworks.com/>
>> Powered by ROCKETFUSION
>>
>> On 6/4/2020 11:41 AM, Sarmento Alves Domingos wrote:
>>
>> Hello how are you doing,I will like to know if you would be able to
>> handle a website design for me ?
>>
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