Web Designers Beware of Third Party Transfer Scams

If you have a public-facing email on your agency website, you could be susceptible to a clever scam targeting web designers.

I received a cold email from a potential lead that to my @hello forwarding email address. I specifically set this email address up as the only easily identifiable public email for my business. It’s in my website’s footer and it’s really there as a kind of digital antechamber for potential scammers… Like the one in this story.

Anyway, this guy, who calls himself Amos sent me a seemingly legitimate email asking if I can build a website for his clothing store based in Texas.

Surprised to see a cold lead email me with an work opportunity, I responded asking if he still needed the website (since I was a few days late to reply). He said yes and then told me he’s traveling out of town for business and his phone access is limited (first tiny red flag).

In the same email he provided some links to websites for reference, a list of his site needs, and budget range.

At this point, I’m really just wondering “How did he find me?”

Either way, I humor the conversation further to and wait for more red flags. I’m sure to keep professional in case this is actually a legit lead and I’m just being too cynical.

I even tell my girlfriend about how I’m 75% sure it’s a scam. But he hasn’t used the tell-tale scam phrase “Kindly…” or made any crazy errors in communication.

He’s also very responsive. I’m getting replies quick. So I’m struggling to get a good read on this whole thing. I hit Google with a description of what’s happened so far, and find this LinkedIn post of all things.

It’s spot on.

I eventually spot the scam with this Amos when he makes some weird request to pay his “consultant”.

I highly recommend reading the LinkedIn post or this post to learn more about how this scam works. But basically, it’s called a third-party transfer scam, and the goal is to get an unsuspecting business owner (us agency owners) to process a stolen credit card, send the scammer their spoils, and then get hit with a chargeback.

And I was starting to think Amos was cool. Not cool, Amos–or whatever your real name is.