In today’s post I’ll share a cautionary tale about scammers and a particular con aimed at small businesses who deal in art, photography, and crafts.

When the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic, security experts warned us to be ready for an onslaught of fraud and hacking attempts. Unscrupulous types take advantage of fear and panic, knowing that people will be vulnerable and let their guard down while they are preoccupied with concerns about their family’s health and the economy. It didn’t take long for these trolls to come out of their holes. My personal email receives daily phishing attempts — usually they’re spoofed messages from Netflix or PayPal. But lately I have received inquiries of a different sort through my website. Instead of the old phishing attempts, these scams are from interested parties looking to buy product. Let’s look at an example:

Warm Geetings [sic] to you from cook island. My name is Micheal Leon , I am willing to make some purchase of some items in your company,before we proceed,can you answer the question below.

1,Do you have POS machine to charge credit cards

2,Do you accept mater and visa card payment mod

3.Do you accept private pick up by our forwarder

4Can you send me your price sheet,website or catalog

Kindly email me if all this is possible to ship to cooks islands

Regards, GOLDEN STAR STORES INC 17/19 Paramount Roadsuite 34 Clarkes Building Parekuta Rarotonga Cook island [Phone number redacted]

**There are many scams out there — watch your back!**

There are a few red flags in the message. First, the buyer is in a country in which I have no business relationships. As much as I’d like to be a global art provider, I find it odd that someone is interested in selling my prints at gift shop in the South Pacific.

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Second, the inquiry does not specify any real product interest. I sell two things: 1) fine art prints, and 2) my time, in the form of assignment, public speaking, or private workshops/tours. The buyer says only that he is “willing to make some purchase of some items in your company”. There is no reference whatsoever to any product — not even a nod to the correct industry (“I’m interested in some photos.”) This is just lazy copy that is obviously used over and over again with a variety of businesses.

Third is the reference to private pickup. Sound the alarms any time a buyer tries to bypass a reputable shipping company. This scam at its conclusion would try to get me to pay the “shipping company” an amount and then invoice the buyer. The shipping company would be phony, of course, and the money would be gone…

Finally, there is no record of this buyer’s business — a simple internet search confirms the company doesn’t exist except in other scam attempts. I received another version of this scam a few days later, this time from a “buyer” in Nicaragua. Again, there was no reference to a specific product and there was a request for pickup by a private freight company. Amazing that I’ve expanded into the South Pacific and Central America in less than two weeks!

The best way to protect yourself against these shady characters is to implement certain selling practices and follow them consistently. These are some of the processes I stick to:

Never ship items until you receive full payment first. If you allow payment on delivery, only do so with established clients and always take a deposit.
Accept payment only through legitimate processors (Square, PayPal, etc.)
Use only reputable shipping companies (UPS, Fedex, DHL, etc).
Do not accept more than the amount due (no making change).
Be especially wary of international orders, particularly from countries in which you have never done business before.
Beware of unusually large purchases, they are likely too good to be true.
Do not allow items to be picked up from a private residence (i.e. don’t let shady people know where you live!)

Stay vigilant, and be careful out there!