This isn’t news. more of a public service message or “PSA” as they are called today. I have several emails that are scams. Some are fake invoices others are
notifications about money that I paid recently for something that I ordered and sent to an address on the east coast.
My business attracts emails from the relatives of wealthy people who want me to help them get money out of the country or launder money. My email is at least 30% spam on a good day. I learned years ago to never, ever click on a link or respond to these emails. I avoid opening them if I can.
Some of the emails look so real that I have done some research on them. In every case, they were some kind of scam. It is super easy to verify that I didn’t make the payments that the emails say that I made without ever clicking on a link in an email.
The scams are getting more sophisticated all of the time. Yet often the actual email address is a giveaway.
One fast and easy way to research an email is to copy the subject line or the first sentence of the email and paste it into a Google search. We like to think our experiences are unique but they are not.
People who are buying or selling houses are sometimes targeted by wire scams. They are send wiring instructions and end up sending their money to scam artists. Wire fraudsters have gotten pretty bold. They will sometimes call and talk to the victim and talk them through wiring money.
We instruct our clients to call us or the title company or bank from a phone number they already have not the one that shows up in the scammer’s email. We also let them know that no one is going to call them and talk them through wiring money. I let my clients know that no one from my company will ever ask for money.
There are scams around houses for sale too. Sometimes people get information and pictures of a home for sale and advertise it for rent in an attempt to get people to send them money.
I also get several emails a week from people who want to write articles for me. I don’t respond to them so every Monday I get emails from people who are “circling back” or “checking-in”. They want to know why I am not responding. They will have to keep wondering.
The phone is worse. About 75% of the calls I get are spam or scam. My phone is almost worthless.
Please do not click on links in emails or text messages.
