As technology moves forward it seems like the creeps that are out to steal your money are keeping pace.
Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to tell what’s legitimate and what’s a scam.
Here are four underhanded schemes I’ve run across recently. Perhaps calling them out will shine a light on these crooks and drive them back under the rocks they crawled out from.
First: “It’s time to renew your domain name…” is a letter informing you that your web address is about to expire. For a fee, the company will be happy to renew it for you — usually with a promise of search engine visibility and more.
Unfortunately, the fees they charge are greatly inflated. Chances are the company that holds your domain name registration likely has a credit card on file and will renew your domain automatically.
If you did not opt for automatic renewal, you will receive an email asking you to log in to the company’s web site and renew your domain.
To avoid this scam, you should know where your domain name is registered (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc.) and where it’s hosted. You or someone in your company should be listed as both the registrant and the administrative contact for all domains your business owns. You should also know the login and password for the registration and hosting accounts as well.
Next: “Another business in (pick a country) is trying to buy your domain name” usually comes as a phone call urging you to buy more domains like yours, usually at an inflated price. For example, if you own xyzcompany.com you may be encouraged to buy other top-level-domain extensions like xyzcompamny.cn (for China). First of all, only the registered owner (registrant) of a domain name can sell or transfer that domain.
As long as you know who is listed as the owner of your domain (see above) you should have nothing to worry about. Just hang up the phone. That being said, with over 200 top-level-domain extensions available, it might be worth a few minutes of your time to see if there are some that might work well with your business. For example, I just grabbed up millcreektech.guru and millcreektech.support.
You can potentially avoid both of these scams by making your domain registration private. This will hide your contact information from public record and make it much more difficult for the creeps to find you. It costs a few dollars more, but may be worth it.
A scam that can potentially cost you a lot of money comes with “advanced technical support” from companies you would expect to be more reputable. I’ve heard this story from clients who have called tech support numbers for their router, their anti-virus software and even the cable company.
Here’s how it works: The first person you talk to can’t seem to resolve the problem, so you are transferred to the next level of support. In reality this is a separate company that wants you to sign up for a maintenance plan that typically includes a setup up fee as well as a monthly fee. Once they have you signed up, they often find additional problems that need to be “cleaned up” before your coverage kicks in. This clean up can clean you out.
A scam like this is hard to get around. If you’re not a technical person, or if you’re anxious to get your problem resolved, you don’t have much recourse. This is exactly what the bad guys are counting on.
To be fair, the problem you’re having usually gets resolved. But is paying $189 — plus $14.95 a month — really worth it to fix a $50 router? Yes, this was the “deal” offered to someone who became one of my clients.
If you are offered this solution, hang up the phone and do some research. You can often resolve your own problem or at least get some good advice that will save you a bundle just by using your favorite search engine.
The most nefarious scam is the phone call that starts “I’m calling from (Microsoft or Comcast or Norton Security or…) and we’ve noticed your computer has (a virus or spyware or other issue) and we need to resolve this now or else we have to shut you down.”
I’ve had several calls from people you wouldn’t think would buy in to this kind of scam, but these scammers are good and can really play on your fears.
For a small fee, usually under $50, they promise to rid your system of the problem. All you need to do is give them your credit card number and access to your computer.
If you’re lucky all you get is a bogus charge on your credit card. Most often your credit card number is stolen and your computer is loaded up with malware that will cost you even more to get cleaned up.
If anyone is afraid their computer may have a virus after getting a call like this, they should simply hang up and call a trusted local computer professional to check it out. You’ll be glad you did!
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