Don't Become A Victim Of Scams

By Jeff Colburn

It's hard enough running a business without needing to worry about falling victim to a scam. Losing money and falling victim to identity theft are frequent occurrences for many people who encounter scam artists online or in the real world. There are ways to avoid becoming a victim, namely to be aware of scams and how scam artists work.

One of the more common scams is called Phishing (pronounced fishing). You've received e-mails saying that you need to update your eBay, PayPal, bank or credit card information. These are all scams attempting you get your account numbers, usernames and passwords. There is a link in the e-mail where you are supposed to go and update your information. These links will take you to a dummy site where the information you enter is stolen and sold to thieves. The site may look legitimate, but it's not. Scam artists often copy a page from the real site, but have it set up on a different server where they can get your information. If you ever receive an e-mail like this, simply ignore it. No legitimate organization will ask for your information this way. If you feel compelled to respond you should first call the company to find out if they sent you the e-mail. Or go directly to the company's site, not the link, to see if there is any mention of the e-mail.

Be wary of any bills that you receive in the mail. Check to be sure you ordered, and received, the product before sending out a check. If you didn't order the product, don't pay for it. Also, if someone calls about renewing something, like a yellow page ad, be sure this is the company you think it is, and that it's really time to renew. The scam artists may threaten you by saying that they have a recording of Mr. X (one of your employees) ordering the product and if you don't pay they will take you to court. If this happens, keep a record of all the contacts they make with you, and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and contact your local police department.

This happened to my girlfriend, Linda-Ann. A company called and told her secretary that they were associated with the local phone company, which they weren't, and wanted to know if she wanted to renew her Yellow Pages ad. The secretary knew that Linda-Ann had an ad in the Yellow Pages, so she said yes. However, when the bill arrived it was from a totally unknown phone book. Linda-Ann called and told them to cancel it, and the battle began. They said she had given them permission and they even had a tape recording of her secretary agreeing to it. Linda-Ann contacted the police and phone company and found out that this company had been doing the same thing to many local businesses, including the Chamber Of Commerce. She lodged a complaint with the police, the Better Business Bureau and even contacted the local newspaper, which did a story about her experience. She then wrote this company and told them all that she had done. They eventually sent Linda-Ann an invoice canceling what they said she owed. She never heard from the company again.

Scam artists may offer you a discount if you balk at paying for the product. They also try to get you to pay for return shipping and a restocking fee. Just remember, if you're the victim of a scam, pay them nothing.

Another scam to beware of is the threat of having your domain stolen. Let's say your domain is apples.com, you will receive a call from a "hosting" company saying that someone else wants to register apples.net or apples.biz. You're warned that if you don't register these names immediately that they will sell these domains to the other company, and this other company has plans to use the site to spread the word that apples are unhealthy, thus damaging your business. All they want is your credit card number so they can register the domains under your name, at an exorbitant fee. Sometimes that's all they do, other times your credit card information is sold. Your best defense is to simply register your domain under the most common extensions that are available, namely .com, .net, .org, .biz and .us. It will only cost you about $10 to $15 a year per extension, and you can just set up these extensions to automatically forward to your .com site.

Avoid any request asking you to help transfer money from some other country into your bank account. All these people want is your bank account information so they can empty your account. Many of these scams come from Nigeria, and several people have been killed who went to Nigeria and attempted to recover their money.

I could go on for thousands of pages about all the scams that are out there, but there's an easier way to spot them. If any, or all, of the following are part of the offer, it's probably a scam.

• You must act now. Anyone who tries to pressure you into making an immediate decision is probably a scam artist. Always give yourself time to think through any offer that requires you to spend money.
• Any time someone asks you for your social security number, driver's license number, date of birth, mother's maiden name or any other personal information, it's probably a scam. And don't give out your credit card number if someone contacts you and asks for it.
• They only take cash. This is a sure sign they want to be untraceable when they skulk away.
• Getting something for almost nothing. "Work just two hours a week and make $10,000." Yah, right.
• And most importantly, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

So don't become a victim of scam artists. Refuse to take things at face value. Take the time to look things over and if something doesn't seem quite right, dig a little deeper.

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