<html>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
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<p>Ok, I think it's time to close this discussion.</p>
<p>I will close it with my notes:<br>
<br>
I think all of us in business for some time get such scams of
various types, personally I can get a dozen unsolicited offers a
day, esp<br>
with the pandemic and PPP loans. Some are more like these sound
more legitimate orders, more so in the IT hardware field, also to
artists, novices being particularly susceptible -- almost always
caveat emptor - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.</p>
<p>One back twist, I have gotten actually legitimate offers just to
the wrong company - as I recall it was to a TNR Enterprises that
sells high end special purpose equipment to Raytheon -- it became
clear in looking at the TO email the rest of the name matched the
order except for the domain name.<br>
It did take them a while to fix given a large corporate ordering
system.<br>
The real bogus ones are usually obvious from .ru .jp .cn or
totally unknown ones.</p>
<p>Stay Well all<br>
Rich<br>
HT Listmaster<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/8/2020 10:47 PM, Paul Stallman via
Hidden-discuss wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAKv03GPt4qZfYk7Aqbp=V2Cza=H3EKiky_pO3Rbx68Rhf0nJUg@mail.gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I also know a guy that sent $5000 to someone from this
website scam. Some of them are very convincing.<br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"
data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><b>Paul Stallman,</b> Owner, Creative
Director and Web Guru<br>
<br>
(413) 364-6147 | <a
href="mailto:paul@alias-solutions.com"
style="color:rgb(17,85,204)"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">paul@alias-solutions.com</a><br>
</div>
<div>
<div
style="font-size:small;text-align:center"><b
style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:xx-large"><br>
</b></div>
<div
style="font-size:small;text-align:center"><b
style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:xx-large">alias</b><span
style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:xx-large">|solutions</span></div>
<font size="1" face="trebuchet ms,
sans-serif">
<div style="text-align:center">GRAPHIC
DESIGN | WEB DESIGN | FULL COLOR
PRINTING | LARGE FORMAT PRINTING</div>
</font>
<div
style="font-size:small;text-align:center"><a
href="http://www.alias-solutions.com/"
style="color:rgb(17,85,204)"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.alias-solutions.com</a><a
href="http://www.alias-solutions.com/"
style="color:rgb(17,85,204)"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><br>
</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div id="mt-signature">
<table style="user-select: none;" cellspacing="0"
cellpadding="8" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td> <a
href="https://mailtrack.io?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=signaturevirality5&"
class="" style="text-decoration:none"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <img
src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/mailtrack-signature/sender_notified.gif"
alt="Mailtrack" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true" width="32"
height="32"> </a> </td>
<td> <span style="color:#777">Sender notified
by</span> <br>
<a
href="https://mailtrack.io?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=signaturevirality5&"
class="mt-install" style="color:#4374f7"
moz-do-not-send="true">Mailtrack</a> <span
style="color:transparent;font-size:0">06/08/20,
10:39:55 PM</span> </td>
<td> <br>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Jun 7, 2020 at 7:56
AM B. Kimo Lee via Hidden-discuss <<a
href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net"
moz-do-not-send="true">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Hi Lisa,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>You can also send the email to <a
href="mailto:spoof@quickbooks.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">spoof@quickbooks.com</a> and
see what they say.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Good to be aware of what scammers are doing. It’s
such a wild west out there.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Kimo</div>
<div><br>
<br>
<div>
<div>On Jun 6, 2020, at 9:09 AM, Lisa Rosenthal <<a
href="mailto:lrosedesign@comcast.net"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">lrosedesign@comcast.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="auto">Hi Kimo,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks for sharing your blog post.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Lisa<br>
<br>
<div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
On Jun 6, 2020, at 6:36 AM, B. Kimo Lee <<a
href="mailto:bklee@azurelink.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">bklee@azurelink.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Lisa,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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: <a
href="http://azurelink.com/tech-news/item/23-hearing-impaired-buyer-credit-card-scam"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://azurelink.com/tech-news/item/23-hearing-impaired-buyer-credit-card-scam</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>Kimo</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div
style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px">
<div style="overflow-wrap:
break-word;">AZURELINK ::
“Creative Design Technologies"</div>
<div style="overflow-wrap:
break-word;">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
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Managed Web Hosting<br>
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div style="overflow-wrap:
break-word;">249 Wallace Hill Rd</div>
<div style="overflow-wrap:
break-word;">Townsend, MA 01469<br>
(413) 204-1763<br>
For more information, please
visit: <a
href="http://www.azurelink.com/"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">www.azurelink.com</a><br>
Follow Azurelink on Twitter: <a
href="http://twitter.com/azurelink"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://twitter.com/azurelink</a><br>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div>On Jun 5, 2020, at 9:21 PM, Lisa
Rosenthal via Hidden-discuss <<a
href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">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. </div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">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. </div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">4
emails into the
conversation:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The
guy, Mike Powell:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">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 !</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br>
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">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?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br>
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Mike
Powell: </span><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">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.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> You can look up for
Quickbooks
online . It’s
easy and simple
to set up.</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal">..............</div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><br>
</div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Has anyone heard of that, a
scam through
Quickbooks?</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br>
</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">I just said I wasn’t
interested and
left it at that.</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br>
</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><span
style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Lisa Rosenthal</span></div>
<div
style="margin:0px;line-height:normal"><br>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Sent
from my iPhone</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
On Jun 5, 2020, at
10:25 AM, Michael
Muller via
Hidden-discuss
<<a
href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<p><font
face="Calibri">Hey
all web people
on the HT
list...<br>
</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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.</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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:</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">"Hello
how are you
doing,I will
like to know
if you would
be able to
handle a
website design
for me ?"</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">The
punctuation
and referral
to "handle a
website design
for me" leads
me to believe
this isn't
quite legit.</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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...<br>
</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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?</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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.<br>
</font></p>
<p><b><font
face="Calibri">If
you are ever
contacted by
anyone with a
similar
request, just
say no.</font></b></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">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.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Thanks,<br>
</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Mik<br>
</font></p>
<p><djieiikcpfacbmlb.png>
<mchjaacgihikpfbf.png> <oahmococlbdlgcio.png></p>
<div><br>
<br>
--------
Forwarded
Message
--------
<table
cellspacing="0"
cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th
valign="BASELINE"
nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Subject: </th>
<td>Re: Web
designer
needed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th
valign="BASELINE"
nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
<td>Thu, 4 Jun
2020 14:30:49
-0700</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th
valign="BASELINE"
nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">From: </th>
<td>Sarmento
Alves Domingos
<a
href="mailto:sarmentoalves940@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><sarmentoalves940@gmail.com></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th
valign="BASELINE"
nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">To: </th>
<td>Michael
Muller <a
href="mailto:tech@montaguewebworks.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><tech@montaguewebworks.com></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<br>
<div dir="ltr">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 <br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.missrebel.co.uk/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.missrebel.co.uk</a>.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div
class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr"
class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 11:57 AM Michael Muller <<a
href="mailto:tech@montaguewebworks.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">tech@montaguewebworks.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Hi
Sarmento,</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Can
you provide
more
information?</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Thanks,</font></p>
<p><font
face="Calibri">Mik</font><br>
</p>
<pre cols="72">---
Mik Muller, president
Montague WebWorks
239-R Main Street, Greenfield, MA
413-320-5336
<a href="http://montaguewebworks.com/" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://MontagueWebWorks.com</a>
Powered by ROCKETFUSION</pre>
<div>On
6/4/2020 11:41
AM, Sarmento
Alves Domingos
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hello
how are you
doing,I will
like to know
if you would
be able to
handle a
website design
for me ?<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote
type="cite">
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Rich Roth
CEO TnR Global
Bio and personal blog: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rizbang.com">http://rizbang.com</a>
Building the really big sites: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tnrglobal.com">http://www.tnrglobal.com</a>
Small/Soho business in the PV: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.hidden-tech.net">http://www.hidden-tech.net</a>
Places to meet for business: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.meetmewhere.com">http://www.meetmewhere.com</a>
And for relaxation: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.welovemuseums.com">http://www.welovemuseums.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.artonmytv.com/">http://www.artonmytv.com/</a>
Helping move the world: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.earththrives.com">http://www.earththrives.com</a></pre>
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