New variant: "a colleague has referred you" Thread poster: Kevin Fulton
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Kevin Fulton 
United States
Local time: 13:31
German to English
I recently received a query which started with "a colleague has referred you ..." Since I most of my new clients the past few years have been the result of referrals, I didn't immediately delete the message. However, reading past the first two sentences, it was evident that it was the typical 44-page, 11K-word scam.
In general, when colleagues refer a potential client, they contact me first, or the inquirer states the name of the trusted referring colleague.
There was no poin... See more I recently received a query which started with "a colleague has referred you ..." Since I most of my new clients the past few years have been the result of referrals, I didn't immediately delete the message. However, reading past the first two sentences, it was evident that it was the typical 44-page, 11K-word scam.
In general, when colleagues refer a potential client, they contact me first, or the inquirer states the name of the trusted referring colleague.
There was no point in recording the name or e-mail address of the scamster.
Another thing to watch out for! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 13:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Seems like a dumb move... | Feb 12, 2020 |
...on the part of the scammers, since the logical comeback is to ask for the name of the supposed referrer, and then to personally verify that the named individual actually did make the referral.
In short, those employing this tactic have made it that much easier to uncover their scam.
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
| Social engineering: Humbugging | Feb 13, 2020 |
Robert, it's no brainer either--just check CV, public info, and social networks even without registration/logging in. A more versatile approach is to contact Dupe-1, say, asking in/directly how they would describe their colleague as a specialist and whether they could recommend one as a reliable person doing some project. After "legitimately" contacting Dupe-2, the perpetrator may return to the former, stating that their colleague also recommended him/her as a decent specialist in a different fi... See more Robert, it's no brainer either--just check CV, public info, and social networks even without registration/logging in. A more versatile approach is to contact Dupe-1, say, asking in/directly how they would describe their colleague as a specialist and whether they could recommend one as a reliable person doing some project. After "legitimately" contacting Dupe-2, the perpetrator may return to the former, stating that their colleague also recommended him/her as a decent specialist in a different field, so they have a job offer too. Now both potential victims have specific names and believe "a colleague has referred you". Go to Dupe-3, 4, 5-1000, and on... Indeed, making working lame excuse is also a kind of art.
As far as time is limited, for fraudsters the more such parallel cross-referenced dupes are processed before the scam is revealed, the better.
Hopefully, most self-proclaimed entrepreneurs are not so dumb as just meek and needy to ask sensitive questions. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Publishing details is always good | Feb 13, 2020 |
Kevin Fulton wrote:
There was no point in recording the name or e-mail address of the scamster.
I still think it'd be helpful to publish the body of the email, address and the name it was signed with, so that it's googlable to all those that might not have heard of the overpayment scam before but are smart enough to use google before accepting an offer.
Or do you mean you've deleted it?
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Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 13:31
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Katarzyna Slowikova wrote: Kevin Fulton wrote:
There was no point in recording the name or e-mail address of the scamster.
I still think it'd be helpful to publish the body of the email, address and the name it was signed with, so that it's googlable to all those that might not have heard of the overpayment scam before but are smart enough to use google before accepting an offer. Or do you mean you've deleted it?
The "offer" came in while I was on vacation; I read the e-mail on my iPad and deleted it. Since the names can change, and since the body of the text was largely identical to the dozens of similar scam offers posted here, I saw no point in retaining it.
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