So for about a week I been receiving and exchanging emails with a person we’re going to call Simon. The good thing is that every time I deal with a new client I normally just take my time. I don’t rush into things for this very same reason I’m going to explain to everyone who is reading this and they will hopefully learn something.
So Simon wrote me a e-mail asking me if I was able to work on a website for him. I though to myself great a new client this will be really cool.
Here is the e-mail below.
On 2017-09-07 10:38, Simon Shawntee wrote:
From: Simon Shawntee <simon4shawntee@gmail.com>
Subject: Ultra Custom All Bells And Whistles Website Design PackageMessage Body:
Website Design Needed
Hello, how are you doing today? My name is Simon Shawntee, I wanna know if you can handle website design for a new company and also if you do you accept credit cards ?? kindly get back to me… so i can send you the job details.Thanks Shawntee
On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 10:49 PM, 1337 Productions <info@1337pros.com> wrote:
Simon Shawntee,
Good evening, my name is John and it’s nice to meet you. So your looking for a website, let me ask you a few questions to have a better understanding what you would like to be designed and for me to get a better idea what path we can take.
Is this going to be a website for personal use or business use ?
What is the theme of your website (for example is it about cars, metal work, boats etc etc)
Is the website going to have any kind of items you’re be selling e-Commerce type ?
Does the website have to operate on mobile and desktop platforms ?
Do you have any kind of dead lines ?
Do you already have a domain web hosting ?
If you do own your own hosting domain does it have Cpanel ?
Are you going to collect personal data from your users ?
And finally do you have any kind of budget for this website project ?
I think that should be all the questions at the moment. Let me know if you have questions of your own and I can freely answer them. To answer your question regarding credit cards we work with Paypal business so we can take all major credit cards.
Thank you again for reaching out to me and have a good day .
It took me about 2 days I think to hear back from him, I also took my time to reply to this person. Again something was off, something just didn’t seem right. So Simon replied to me again finally.
This is what Simon wrote.
Sorry for the late response, I have business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in SC and the company is based on importing and exporting of Salon Equipment such as Dryer,hair cream,Weavon,Hairdressing,Clippers, i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me ?. so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible. http://govliquidation.com... I have a private consultant that has the text content and logo for the site. the site would only be information, so i need you to give me an estimate.
1. I want 20pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as S.SALON
4. you will be updating the site for me.
5. i will be providing the images, logos and content for the site.
6. i want the site up and running before ending of 3months.
7. My budget is $5000 to $10,000
8.Give me your personal cell phone number
9.Are you the Owner
So then I though to myself that’s a lot of money for something that basic. I mean I could of ran with it and said SURE WHY NOT! However as always it’s better to be safe then sorry. So I gave it a few days to see if this person would write back to me with some questions or anything extra. So then I felt like writing back to them finally with my reply.
I wrote.
Hello Simon Shawntee,
Thank you again for reaching out to me, and yes I’m the owner. I was trying to see where I can fit your project, At the moment we have 2 large projects we’re working on. Because I manage and put great care in our projects that we do here we won’t have an available slot until late October early November. The reason I’m stating this , is because we do all the programming/editing/design in house we don’t out source anything. So every project we handle is taken serious and with great care.
We can surly make it come to life and it would look awesome. The only issue is timing that’s all.
A project like this we can do it for $3800.00 no more then $4000.00 depending if you wish extra plug-in or any extra features like news letters/mailing list and other tools.
To manage a website and maintain it will be $150 a month and that will cover Unlimited Fixes, Security Protection, Website Backups, Monthly Software Updates, Uptime Monitoring, Website Monthly report.
I’ll tell you everything we can do for you so you have a general idea if you choose to wait and just some general information.
The website would be build on a wordpress cms platform, it’s the easiest and best way to keep everything working correctly. We requirement wordpress because it’s a open platform and it’s always updating in the background so you as a owner, you won’t need to worry about updating and it’s simple to use.
When you said the website will only be information, I’m going to assume you aren’t selling any items on the website therefore you won’t need a SSL certification for the website. So that saves you money.
If you do one day feel that you want to sale items and need a cart of some sort then you’ll need to buy an SSL to keep your clients information safe and because google and other search engines now track this. If you don’t have an SSL on the top bar where it says www you’ll see an icon that will state that your website isn’t safe. Normally that scares users away.
For the Domain we normally use Bluehost, I have been using them for over 10 years and never had a problem with them. They know me and basically if something does need work or something is buggy on their side they normally will fix it right away instead of waiting for their tier 3 techs and so forward.
Most of the websites and the layouts we design/create are build in a html5/ajax so basically they’re up with the times and they’ll work in mobile and desktop so you won’t need to make an app or use a 3rd party plug-in to change the interface size.
My other question is this business USA base or is it International ?
If you’re still interested and wish to have us work on your project let me know and I can book you in and when we’re ready to rock and roll I can let you know and we can take it from there.
Thank you again.
Kind Regards
John H
So the e-mail I wrote was rather friendly, so in my reply I asked a few important items which I was expect this user to answer me back or share some more details. Most people who are legit have no problem sharing simple information and if you are one of those that does have a problem well then no one will do business with you because no one likes shady people. I also added a link so if he did click on it I would see where he was located at. He didn’t click on it, not even on both links so, it’s safe to say that he isn’t in SC.
He did reply back with a interesting story about what he expected me to do for him as a favor and he was willing to throw money at me already. He wanted to pay me $2000 dollars upfront. I will explain later why this is a scam if you the reader haven’t figure it out yet I will share some wisdom for free so you won’t get scam yourself.
This is what Simon wrote.
Thanks for your response, I am okay with the estimate and i wanna proceed so i will pay the sum of $2,000 as down payment for the job using my credit card so work can commence ASAP i understand the content for this site would be needed so as for the job to commence so regarding the content But i will need a little favor from you And the reason why i need this favor from you is because the consultant that has the content and logo for the website does not have the facility to charge credit cards and i also Am presently in the hospital with my Daughter for surgery so i will be glad if you can help me out with this favor. Thanks
As you guys reading this blog notice how everything went from a normal business deal to a favor, PLUS he wants me to pay his so call consultant which is holding on to the logo and other content.
So I’ll give you guys a few seconds to brain storm and figure out what is going on here.
Times up, so basically this is how the scam works. Simon will pay me using some kind of credit cards which allows him to do a cash return on any purchases. I have an American Express with Delta that does this for me if I call them up and no matter what, they’ll get you your money back. I never had a issue with them before so if you do then that’s to bad.
So Simon can do a cash return call back whenever he wants. What Simon will do is give me $2000 or maybe $2500 so I would pay his so call consultant company which is holding on to the content and the logo. But let say he only gives me $2000 dollars. So now because we know that the consultant doesn’t take credit cards or any other kind of payments this will end up either being a western union transaction or some kind of direct deposit. Some scammers use websites like Freelancer where they can send you a invoice directly and you pay and then they can disappear. Freelance does have a good customer service however sometimes it would be to late and the user will get scam.
Anyway, So Simon gives me $2000 dollars, I go and pay the consultant whatever the price value is for the logo and content. Let say the price is $1000 dollars, so I would pay this consultant company which is holding the logo and the content worth $1000 US Dollars. That comes out of my account or paypal account directly to these guys most likely they’re going to want money order or western union. Then Simon will wait until his buddy the consultant company gets the funds and then Simon comes out and he will do a cash return / cash refund on me and take a guess who gets con ?
I do …
Because Simon will get all his money back and the consultant of his will get to keep $1000 dollars from my account.
This is the scam.
I did a little google searching and I found out other people from 2015 that have been dealing with this very same scam. However the name of the person trying to scam is different. Here are more examples.
Examples below.
christiana1stgrt@gmail.com (ON YOUR LIST AS WELL)
Newspaper
Hello I am Christiana and i am hearing impaired i need to know if you can handle website design for a new company and i also need to know if you accept credit cards as form of payment?”I appreciate the knowledge drop. Best of luck!
Hello, My name is Maria Graciela I would like to know if you’re available for web design and do you accept credit card as Method of Payment?, I would have love to talk to you on the phone in regards of the Service needed but I am hearing impaired So i can only be reach via Text or Email. I hope you Understand.
Thank you and God bless you
Maria.I have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in IL and the company is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa so i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible. http://www.agroamerica.com…. the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site.
Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as farmsbj.net
4. you will be updating the site for me.
5. i will be proving the images, logos and content for the site.
6. i want the site up and running before ending of next month.
7. My budget is $4000 to $5000
Kindly get back to me with an estimate
Favorable Regards,Christiana Walton
Michelle Walter at michelle0339@outlook.com.
“Here is the job details
i have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in NY and the company is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa so i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me ?. so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible .http://www.agroamerica.com…. the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site.
Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as bestfarmproduce.com
4. you will be updating the site for me.
5. i will be proving the images, logos and content for the site.
6. i want the site up and running before ending of next month.
7. My budget is $2000 to $5000Kindly get back to me with:
(1) an estimate
(2) your cell phone number
(3) And will like to know if you are the owner ??”
So the ending of the story the best thing to do is always take your time when you’re dealing with a new client, also research their e-mails and try to find out as much information as possible. If they’re willing not to share for whatever reason then that’s a red flag. If they’re willing not to answer any questions and are willing to just throw money at you then that’s another red flag. When they start telling you a sad story about something that doesn’t matter or isn’t related then that’s another red flag.
I have had people claiming to being blind and yes I should have saved that e-mail but it was fake because when I googled their e-mail there were other users out there stating that they got scam from this very same e-mail.
Always do your homework and question everything and trust no one.
That’s my word of wisdom for this month for any one who has a small business.
John.
