Read our blogs on our website! Being a web developer with over 15+ years of experience, I would know a scam email when I see one. Recently, we’ve received a \"unique\" email from an unusual prospect. You should know that these emails we received were sent from two different emails and sent on totally different days. Both emails were requesting for our web development services. Usually, this would not faze us at all as we do get inquiries on a day-to-day basis. So what is their tell? They insisted on giving us a down-payment without asking any questions about our contract. Do you know any prospect who willingly sends you any payment without even asking for your portfolio nor try to set a meeting with you? We didn’t think so. After a quick Google search, we found that this is a popular scheme. Countless forum threads dating even back to 2017 has reported that they have received similar emails. As it turns out, this scam is called Third Party Payout Scam, the Payment Reversal Scam, the Advance Fee Scam, or the Overpayment Scam. Let us break it down how this scheme goes. The \"prospect\" sends you a check for a more considerable amount than you’ve agreed upon The \"prospect\" then asks you to pay the overpayment to his consultant The real owner of the check disputes the transaction and gets it reversed You end up transferring money to the consultant from your own pocket How to Recognize that you’ve Received a Scam Email The usual tell is the astounding lack of use of punctuation marks in the email. It’s as if they tried to brief you all on the same breath The prospect requests a simple web design job. The ones we’ve gotten asked for were restaurant websites. Both emails we’ve received even provided links to their ideal design The prospect discloses a generous bracket of the budget in the first email The prospect said that a consultant would share all content and images The prospect then offers an upfront payment before closing anything with a contract or delivery dates (this might sound so ideal, especially when you’re in a pinch but never in our whole experience, nor personally, would I give a payment without going through terms first and foremost.) The prospect would then ask for payment via check because he has experienced issues paying via PayPal etc. Now that we’ve given you the breakdown of this scheme, we did a little experiment. We wanted to find out, how will this conversation end. The Scheme - Emails we’ve received From: James Aldean <[email protected]>; Thanks for your quick response,Here is the job details below... I just open a new Indian Restaurant which i run now and i need a website for my business to grow, So i need you to go through this example link www.incognitothemes.com/arcon/ .but i need something more perfect than this if possible, I will like you to get back to me with an estimate and the estimate should include hosting and i want you to understand i want the same page as the example site i gave you to check and I want only English language and i want you to know you will be updating the site for me. I want the site up and running before ending of next month and i don\'t want a shopping cart in my reservation page also i don\'t have a domain name yet and i will prefer: KAITINDRESTAURANT.COM, My budget is $750/$1,500 for the web design, i have a private project consultant, she has the text content and the logos for the site with the image artwork,so please go ahead and check the example site and get back to me with an estimate also will like to know if you are the owner or the manager and do you accept credit card or check as payment. Sounds harmless right? But do you see what we mean about the high disregard of punctuation marks? From: Martin Daniel <[email protected]> Hello Thanks for your swift response. I need you to design my website with the following requirement ; 1. PAGES HOME, ABOUT US, MENU, BANQUET FACILITY, GALLERY, CATERING and CONTACT US VISITING HOURS,ONLINE BOOKING AND MENU KIT pages WORDPRESS 2.And should include hosting price , no shopping cart is needed . 3.  Go through the example link site: https://websitedemos.net/bbq-restaurant https://websitedemos.net/italian-restaurant-02/ https://websitedemos.net/restaurant-04 Please i want it to be perfect than this SAMPLE LINK, if theres any other functionality to be added kindly do that for me 4,Are you the manager ? NOTE;Domain name,Text content,Logos and artwork is already available Get back to me with the total estimate and days to spend on the project for delivery .... Thanks Budget $700-$1500 After receiving the email, we checked on the websites he referred to then gave him our proposal based on his initial brief. From: James Aldean <[email protected]> Thanks for the response back, I want you to know that i\'m okay  with the estimate cost and will be glad to give you the opportunity to do the job for me. I hope I will get a perfect job from you and  I would have preferred to pay you by pay pal or credit card machine but I was warn by my bank not to use my card on pay pal or any other merchant again because they double remit my account twice in the past and I don\'t want to go against my bank warning. I will gladly mail out the payment to you by check. I am located in USA and it does not matter the Country you are provided you assured me a good and quality job. I need your name and address or your representative name and address in USA to send the payment to so that i can  make an upfront payment and youcan proceed on my web design. I also understand you will need the text content with the logo and other document files to start work on my web design asap as you know the document files are with my project consultant and she will have them send to you via email... Thank you. Now, the next emails are where we started getting even more suspicious. From: James Aldean <[email protected]> I am located in USA.I always prefer to deal with Check Contact your relative or business representative in USA that can help you receive the payment. I just need the name and address of that person with cell phone number and I will send the check to him/her. The check will cleared in the account within 24 hrs. Then he/she will transfer the money to you and get started.Just send me the name and address of your represntative in USA, I need the name to be on the check and the address to courier the check to. Please get back to me as soon as possible. I am just interested in given the job to you.Thank you At this rate, this prospect is still technically a stranger to us and while we do have an office address in the US, which funny enough was on our website, we now are more sceptical to just divulge that information. From: Martin Daniel <[email protected]> thanks for getting back to us , we are dealing with check on payment methods within USA , Do you have a representative or relative/friend that can help you receive pay check within USA ? Why are they looking for a representative/relative\'s address and not the typical office address? And a check to be delivered to us within 24 hours? Without even having to discuss more specifics, of course, we would love to get paid right away. But this just doesn’t sit right with us given that we’re all working outside of the US currently. After receiving this, we tried scheduling a discovery call multiple times to iron out details and make everything formal. We also followed up on our contract too. They, however, insisted to send us the payment and settle the contract later saying that his consultant will get back to us with it. So naturally, our reply was to ask for his consultant’s email so we could send the request to him as well. His reply? From: James Aldean <[email protected]> Kindly get back to me with your relative details to mail out the cheque now Again with the obsession with our relative, friend, or representative\'s information! From: Martin Daniel <[email protected]> Kindly contact a representative or relative/friend who lived in USA , TO HELP you receive the payment by check ... Full Name ADDRESS ( To make the payment and start the project) PHONE NUMBER NOTE;The payment will deliver in 24hours . At this time, we honestly couldn’t help but laugh. We’ve been duped! Seriously? A prospect insisting to pay you is not only unreal but it is just too-goo-to-be-true. It cannot be that easy right? Our conversation went on with us following up for a meeting, and him insisting to have us send our address and other details so he can send us the payment ASAP. From: James Aldean <[email protected]> Kindly get back to me with your relative full name and address with cell phone number to mail the check Moral of the Story In a time when we are experiencing a declining number of jobs and opportunities, receiving what seems to be a \"great opportunity\" which turned out to be nothing but a scam is just despicable and cruel. We cannot allow ourselves to standby and watch as others from our community being taken advantage of. These perpetrators are rampant in online job platforms like Freelancer & Upwork where most independent web developers are. So please, if you have standard protocols in place, do follow through it. Get a signed contract before any monetary transaction is to be made. Quite honestly, we would probably be duped if we didn’t insist on securing a contract. Despite this, it’s relatively easy to end up being tricked into this new developing scheme. Keep your eyes open and always ask for more details and information from your prospects. Again, stick to your SOP! We hope that this will help someone to save their time and effort. Did anyone else experience this? Feel free to share any examples of scam emails on the comment section below to help out other web development companies, digital marketing businesses, or any businesses for that matter. BRIGHTSAND designs team is with you during this difficult time. Read our blogs on our website! About the author:

Danica is the Chief Marketing Officer of Brightsand Designs. Her background in Advertising and Marketing has made her known for her strategic imagination in aligning business goals with creative strategy and expression.