Speakers Beware: Avoid the Scammers, Jerks, and Those Who Would Rip You Off

There are plenty of thieves and liars out there. PT Barnum said the following two things that I believe are relevant to understanding the mind of a sum sucking scammer, “There's a sucker born every minute!” and “Every crowd has a silver lining.” These creatures of ilk are focused on the idea that they can find the sucker in every crowd and swindle them of their silver. Felicia Slattery posted a rather well written warning to anyone in the public speaking industry as I am. But the lessons are valuable to us all as a reminder that these slimmy scammers are everywhere and trying to steal our silver!

Speakers Beware: Avoid the Scammers, Jerks, and Those Who Would Rip You Off

Honestly, as dismayed as I am by the events mentioned in this blog, the were frankly bound to happen to our industry, sooner or later. I am personally surprised it has taken these sum suckers so long. In some ways our industry and customers represent an ideal mark in many to them. Here are five that come to mind at the moment, though there are several others mentioned by Felicia that I are equally important to consider.

1. Our business models are largely internet based which means our customers are accustomed to purchasing items online.

2. Our intentions as a group are largely kind hearted; which I have noticed leaves me looking for the positive in every situation, rather than keeping my SCAM-O-Meter running all the time.

3. Our customers are similar to us in this short coming and can often be manipulated by a perceived good word from us, because they know us and trust our advice.

4. We are not a close knit community as of yet. We all have various bureaus and associations we belong to but beyond our circles we are often too busy trying to run our business to notice eddies in the scum that grows on the bottom of the ever growing lake we are all swimming in.

5. We are also creatures, no matter how we may try to reform our nature, subject to flattery. It is one of the greatest tools these sum sucker scammers are able to employ against us. Which is why an amount of personal wariness is needed, so that we may have sufficient room to allow our wisdom and experience to kick in and play the critical role of detecting the BS these scammers try to feed us.

Felicia is right in advocating for the little guy, but I am certain there are lessons for every speaker, trainer and writer. I think the most practical advice out there is if it sounds too good to be true, IT IS! You need to have clear contracts in place and know who, what and why before you sign on to any speaking gig. If they call you out of the blue it is time to put up our shields and cautiously evaluate the person and proposal being offered.

I Just Recieved A Call From 1-866-842-5208 (Fraud Watch), Is It A PHISHING SCAM?

I recieved a call from Fraud Watch asking for information about my card activity. I was instantly suspicious. I told them I would call them back if my bank verified they were indeed legit. I verified it with Northrim Bank here in Alaska. They do contract with Fraud Watch and the teller transfered me to the Fraud Watch at the end of our conversation.



The Fraud Watch operator told me a tale about where my card was being attempted to be used. YIKES! It turns out someone compromised my VISA debit card, THANKFULLY, the Fraud Watch folks had denied each of the various attacks on my card.



Afterward, I remembered that I had dealt with them before with another credit union that I do business with. This is a reputable company but that said I would still advise that you do the samething I did.



1. Get their number

2. Call your banking company and ask them to transfer you to their Fraud Watch (Since most banks and credit unions do appear to utilize their fraud prevention services they will likely say yes.)

3. Ask the teller to transfer you to Fraud Watch.

4. Talk to the friendly Fraud Watch representative. (Hopefully all is well for your card and the transactions are indeed yours.)



I hope this helps.

Armeggedon So Far...

Update

I cannot say it is a quick and easy as was claimed by the ad copy.  I am still working through the training material (perhaps if I wasn't working two jobs it might be an easier task) with no action yet because that is what is recommended until you get through the videos.  I see there is some potential, but I am not convinced it will earn a dollar yet.  The production value of the training material is minimal it equates to a narrated PowerPoint, so far.

I will keep you updated...

1-720-708-1000 is a SCAM

It has been a while and yes I have neglected my responsibilities to this blog. So thus I begin again.
Last night my wife answered the phone the number on the display was 1-720-708-1000 and on the other end was a guy claiming we had a computer malware problem. We needed to login and follow his instructions to fix it. YEAH RIGHT! SURE! When my wife firmly said, “NO I AM NOT DOING THAT.” The foreign accented guy started yelling at her! Gee that ID Thief has some personal skills issues to work on.
However, not every thief is as ill skilled. Be Aware that this type of fraud is rampant and they will call you at home.  Just hang up and if they call again, use an air horn!

Update: Please share your experience as a comment.  I would love to hear how these vile creatures attempted to steal your information.  Plus it will be instructive for the hundreds of other visitor hitting this page each week.

SCAM ALERT - Freight Forwarding is Reshippering by another name...

Okay I have a good site for you to look at if you are investigating an "online oppourtunity". The FBI's Cyber Sweep site is rather useful and quite easy to read.

http://www.fbi.gov/cyber/cysweep/cysweep1.htm

By way of warning there is a rash of Carrerbuilder/Monster/other jobsites being used to send out "Freight Forwarding" job offers. Don't be fooled into participating in the identity theft scam. It is very vicious and will cost you money, possibly LOTS OF MONEY in the end.
If you don't have a background in international business (I studied it as part of my Bachelor's Degree) you should know from the first contact that it is a phishing scam. If you do have international business connections just read the section about "Reshippers" and you will see it laid out quite plainly. These offers for jobs in international business are bogus and fraudulent and the big job resume sites should be more diligent in screening who and what is allowed to advertise on their sites, because it only decreases their value in the my mind. But that is another fish that needs frying some other time.