The Approach:
A few weeks ago I was contacted by somebody wanting me to quote for a new website. His name was Justin William. What was initially an innocent enquiry turned out to be a potential credit card scam that could have cost me £4000. I’ve posted my experiences here to publicise this kind of scam to help others understand how website designers are being targeted. I was drawn in initially, as it’s foolish not to follow a lead, but managed to realise what was going on fairly quickly. Hopefully others will read this and not waste as much time as I did! Here’s how it started, innocent enough…
My name is Justin, please i will like to know if you can handle a new Website Development for a new company?? kindly get back to me as soon as possible,so i can send you the job details..
The Buildup:
It was a little vague, but I responded to Justin requesting further information on his website, I would then be happy to supply him with a quote for work. It took him a while to get back to me but this morning I received this…
Thanks so much for your response, Apologies for not coming back to you sooner, I’ve been out for an emergency. I would like you to review the job details and get back to me with any question you may have, Here is the job details..I have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in UK and the company is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa Etc.. so i need a best layout design for it,i hope you can handle that for me ? i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if it’s possible http://••••••••••••.com the site would only be informational purpose only, am not selling online or having an eCommerce site, 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, i also have a private project consultant who has the text content,logos, videos etc. for the site, he will be providing all the details once you send me the quotes and deposit payment is made.Note:1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check Including shot videos2. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as Allanscao.com or Allanscao.co.uk3. You will be updating the site for me.4. I will be proving the images, logos and content for the site.5. I want the site up and running by ending of May6. My budget is £2.500 to £6.000Kindly get back to me with:(1) A quotes/Proposal(2) A phone number you can be reach(3) Are you the Owner/manager ??Thank you in anticipation of your prompt reply..
Great I thought, a customer who new what he wanted, he had content in place, and with a good budget. The budget seamed a little high for the scope of the project so I created a quote including site hosting, maintenance etc., which came in at the lower end of his budget. I sent the quote to him and awaited his reply. I anticipated that he’d sent the same brief to a number of website designers so was surprised to find out that within 15 minutes I’d got the job! Congratulations were in order?
Thanks so much for your prompt response regarding my new website design, i want you to know the domain was brought by me and every details is presently with the project consultant, So I’d like to proceed i will be depositing £1.500 using my credit card so work can commence as soon as possible and the balance upon completion of this project, i understand the text content,logos, images E.t.c for this site would be needed so as for the job to commence so regarding the text content, logos,Etc actually the project consultant who has everything ready does not have the facility to charge my credit card right now and i also am presently in the hospital receiving my treatment for my upcoming surgery, so i will be very glad if you can help me out with a little favour, so this project can commence as soon as possible, kindly bear with me, i will be looking forward to hear back from you soon.
Oh no, it’s a scam!
His grasp of the English language was not 100% but you’d expect an importer of agricultural goods starting a new UK business to have English as his second language. He wanted me to start right away, excellent I thought. He was in hospital so had problems with the deposit but bear with him and all would be well. What was the little favour he required? I interpreted this as let’s get started and we’ll get the deposit to you soon kind of favour. This is where the scam really starts to take shape:
Thanks for your email, actually i have a project consultant who has the text content and logos,which i will be needing a little favor from you please.The favour i need from you now is i will be giving you my card info’s to charge for £5,650 or send me an invoice to have the amount paid up, so once the funds hits your account £1.500 would be a deposit payment for my website design, and the extra £150 will be for the credit card charges and for yourself as Gratitude/Tip, and the remaining £4.000 you would help me send it to the project consultant that has the text content/logos for my website, once he receive the funds (£4.000) he would be sending the text content and logos needed for my website to you, the funds will be sent to him as Transfer into his account to avoid any stress or delays.I want you to understand me right i do know that i will pay for the project consultant, but the project consultant does not have the facilities to charge my credit card right now, as you also understand my present condition here at the hospital, i hope you are willing to work with me and make my new company a better place, and we can get started right away..N.b Please what’s the name of your credit card merchant and how many days does it takes funds to hits your account? hope to hear from you soon.
He wants me to receive a large payment from him via credit card. I will take some of this as my deposit payment, plus a tip (very kind of him!). I will then forward £4000 to his project manager, who will then release content so I can begin work on his site. It was at this point that all hope was lost, this was obviously a scam, either it’s money laundering or stolen credit card information. I’d spent an hour putting together his quote with no chance of work, my time was wasted. I googled website design scam and yes, I’m not the first and probably won’t be the last person to be targeted by this. I found another blog post from another designer who details a number of similar scams.
I followed this a little further down the rabbit hole. I explained that I don’t use credits cards in my business so not sure if I could proceed. Luckily for me Justin can make this easy for me:
Good to hear from you, i want you to know am only able to make payment right now with my credit card details, so please in order to proceed i will suggest you set up and download stripe merchant on your phone,it’s very easy and more convenient to use, it takes some hours for activation and within few days money to process into your bank account, once you are able to set up with stripe, you will be sending me an invoice for the total amount to be paid up and we are good to get started right away, hope to hear from you soon.
I don’t think I will be doing this. It’s described as something called the Third Party Payout. I receive the funds, take a cut myself and pass the majority to a third party. The card holder will then dispute the payment, leaving me responsible for the whole amount. Ouch!
So the lesson really is if it looks too good to be true then it probably is, stay safe everyone…