Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere to share the ups and downs of starting a craft business, with plenty of tips, mishaps and the odd glass of wine!

Sunday 24 November 2013

One Pitfall of Running a Small Business - Scam Artists

This blog post isn't a happy one really, although thankfully in neither experience did I lose any money, but I wanted to share a couple of potential scams that have been tried on me in the last couple of months.

The first was a lady who contacted me from a shop abroad, wanting to buy a large quantity of my products for her shop.

I was suspicious from the start because she only chose items that appear on my gallery page:


Which I thought was a bit odd as there's so many different things in my shop, but the one thing that wasn't listed at the time was the 'Specs' case.

However initially I couldn't see where the scam was, so I cautiously went along with it, got very quietly excited and started panicking about how I was going to fulfill this mammoth order!

The scam appeared when the buyer announced that her shipping company, who already had some of her goods from another small business, needed paying by me because of a problem at their end accepting her credit card using their machine and she did not use PayPal, so wanted me to pay the shipping company £300 which she would reimburse me.

It's such a ridiculously small amount in some way, but obviously to a small company that is a large amount of money.

This situation in itself did not upset me overly as I knew it sounded too good to be true really and I was just glad to be able to move on.

However the second one really has upset me.

A lady called, ostensibly from a children's charity, asking if I'd like to place an ad in their magazine, which is published quarterly. As it was a local (or so I thought) charity, I said yes and the fee was £100 plus VAT, which again, although quite a large amount for my business, was something that I felt comfortable doing given that it was advertising and it was helping a local children's charity.

When it came down to it though, it turns out that this is not a real charity and although they would have sent me a copy of the first quarter's 'magazine' - it is not actually published and distributed anywhere else!

I found a number of forums where people had experienced this whole scenario from start to finish, dating back to Feb 2010, all for the same alleged charity.

Again, I was lucky in that I found out before I'd parted with any money, but I am absolutely disgusted. I am quite a trusting person by nature and I know sometimes I need to be more cynical, but a children's charity?!

I really don't want to have to be the sort of person who goes into every situation doubting the truth and validity of people who approach me, but at the same time, not only could it be potentially very costly, but also such a waste of my time, giving thoughts & putting groundwork into these situations.

Anyway. This is the first post of this type I've done, but I thought it was worthwhile as there are bound to be other people who have already or will be approached by these despicable individuals and it's not something I'd really given any thought to in terms of being a business owner.

I'm going to cheer myself up now with some Terry's Chocolate Orange and a Cuppa, whilst reading everyone else's Handmade Monday posts. Hopefully more cheery news from me in the next post!

21 comments:

  1. Oh I am really sorry that this happened to you - it's a horrible feeling to come close up against people who aren't what they seem and have no integrity. Try not to dwell on it and be glad that you learnt from it without losing money. I was scammed out of £20 by a 'customer' when I had my own coffee shop business and I was ridiculously upset by the experience. It is good of you to post and let other people know, so thanks for the fore knowledge. x

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    1. Thanks for your message - it's hard to know if you're over reacting or not when it happens to you, but I take strength from the fact that I'm not the only one who does find it upsetting. Simmi xx

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  2. There are some truly dreadful people out there, unfortunately, and the more popular your shop becomes, the more you get targeted. Some of the scams are pretty obvious but some are a bit cleverer. I think you need your chocolate fix following this!!

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    1. So true... some are very blatant, but the scammers seem to become more clever and inventive with every passing year!! The chocolate definitely helped :-) Simmi x

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  3. I was glad to read that you haven't lost any money because of these people. You were wise enough to see what they were up to. I suppose when an offer like this comes along we need to put a business head on not our normal everyday head. You well and truly deserve your chocolate orange and that cuppa. Have a lovely week.
    Ali x

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    1. Thanks Ali, it definitely means I'm going to take a much more cautious approach to things from now on!! The chocolate orange was definitely a tonic ;-) Simmi xx

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  4. Thanks for the warnings. It is really horrible that people would try out deceptions like this. Especially when they are targeting small businesses. I nearly got taken in by an email purporting to be from paypal last week, and then got another one from NatWest (with whom I don't even have an account). You have to be so careful.

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    1. It's crazy - who would have thought there were so many underhand despicable people out there? Glad to hear you didn't get taken in, it's so easy to believe what people are saying just through believing the best in people. Simmi x

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  5. The scammers all seem to come out of the woodwork at this time of year don't they... :/ Don't feel bad about falling for them at first, we all do it, i very nearly got tricked into giving my paypal password away the other day... not good! I can confirm that in such situations (and many others) chocolate is the answer :) Hope you have a much better week this week! x

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    1. Haha, chocolate is very definitely the answer... no matter what the question (except possibly for diabetics!) Thanks lovely, I think this week will definitely be an improvement :-) Simmi xx

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  6. Oh no thats terrible. It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people go to! I'm so glad that you managed to get to the bottom of both before losing money, although understand if this has got you down x hugs to you and hope you can quicklly put this behind you xx

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    1. Thanks hon, it did get me down for a while as I hate feeling gullible (I always thought I was quite on the ball!) but now I've reported them to the police I feel much better :-) Simmi xx

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  7. I genuinely love your products you make all the way from Adelaide South Australia. So glad you are on the ball with noticing things that don,t seem quite right and the fact you are willing to share your experiences. Its awful these days that people will try anything.

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    1. Thank you so much :-) I LOVED visiting Adelaide - it was one of the real highlights of my year in Australia! I did have to think twice before I posted it as I was a bit worried that it might not be a good idea, but if it helps even only 1 person not to be taken in by these awful people then I'm happy to have helped :-) Simmi xx

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  8. I am so sorry this happened to you. The lengths some people go to is beyond me :( What puzzles me though is why the lady posing as a childrens charity is still at large if she has been doing this for so long. Did you report her to the police? Maybe you should? I am glad you didn't lose any money though!

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    1. I did wonder that myself (and yes, I've reported it to the police)... I think it's probably because they're savvy enough about the way they're asking you for money... hard to prove that the publication doesn't really exist and isn't being distributed I suppose. It does seem like a lot of effort for £100 but I suppose if enough people fall for it then it's quite profitable for them. Terrible way to make money though :-( Simmi xx

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  9. I've heard about these things from different forums, I'm sorry you've had to experience but I'm glad you've shared this, the more people are aware that these things happen then hopefully less people will be duped. I don't like to be sceptical but better a bit suspicious than out of pocket.

    Jan x

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    1. That's what I'm hoping - after all if other people hadn't shared it on chat forums I'd have been none the wiser! I'll definitely be more skeptical from now on sadly! Simmi x

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  10. That's awful :( but I'm pleased you didn't lose any money over it. I've had loads of scam phising emails from both allegedly paypal and allegedly HSBC oh and a couple of Amazon ones too. I always make a point of forwarding them to the relevant offices. I immediately know them as spam because its my business email addres - and none of those companies has it. Whenever I get a new contact form from my site I always wonder how genuine it is, I feel terrible but there are so many nasty people out there you have to take care.

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    1. It's sad that you have to think like that whenever anyone contacts you through your website isn't it? But definitely better to be safe than sorry! Simmi x

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  11. Simmi, what horrible things to happen. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you weren't out of pocket and that the chocolate helped. Take care

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I really appreciate all comments made on the blog (it reminds me that I'm not talking to myself!) so just wanted to say thanks for adding your thoughts. Simmi x

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