Whenever there’s a crisis in the world the fraudsters wake up big time! This current pandemic is no difference. Insolvency, debt, closures, stock clearances, company sales, you name it, if you’re a company you will be receiving a ton of these emails.
Most of the time you ignore, delegate to junk and delete, sometimes though it’s worth investigating who the fraudsters are and how they can have legitimate companies. Next time I wish to come back as an investigative journalist. I would love to do that work, but for now I only did a few tap, tap, click, click and discovered the small minded fraudsters.
This is by far the longest scam email I have ever received. Worst still it’s almost perfect English and surprisingly my email service provider didn’t pick it up through its spam filters. I will be having a word with them!
Good day,
Please, do not take this message and information as joke because doing so is at your own peril / detriment. I don’t have much to say here but will make it brief and straight to the point for your quick action. I am sending this confidential message to you in private with utmost fear for my work, life and family.
I received an unsolicited email from a company I have never heard of, called Spencer Humphries [warning — do not fill out their form!].
It was sent to my business email address. I have no idea who these people are, have no relationship with them. The subject line was, “Staying Alive (UK) Ltd — R&D Tax Credits Qualification”, which is indeed the correct company name. They must get the list from somewhere. See the main image below included in the email.
I used to be a serial networker when I first discovered the practice in 2005 after leaving corporate life. I had been convinced that ‘network marketing’ (MLM) was the future and signed up (mug) to a project that operated in the telecoms industry called Euphony Telecommunications. Needless to say the company no longer exists. The concept was getting people cheap calls by plugging their phone into a box, which re-routed the call and you could save hundreds on your bill. I was convinced I would be the next telecoms millionaire, they promised it after all.
After falling out with friends and family who did not want to support me, they’re supposed to be your warm prospects in MLM by the way, I needed a new strategy. And hey presto business networking was it! I was introduced by someone, no idea who and I’ve never forgiven them either, to join BNI. Another mistake. Pay a big amount for a substandard unhealthy breakfast and pretend that you can give business to lawyers, printers, will writers, insurance brokers, accountants and financial advisors. They clean up at these events, because, well, every business needs those services right? Wrong!
This started my decade of being a serial networker and apart from the odd bit of loose change, I never made any substantial business from them. So I changed my approach and outlook.
I see networking events as places where I can build relationships with like-minded people. I have actually made some really great friends for many years now and I did get some business from them and ‘some’ is the key word. I am grateful of course I am, but it’s never long term sustainable business. It’s just that they wish to be nice to you.
I see networking events as an opportunity to learn from others and use any tips that I may pick up for my own personal and growth. I go to see what I can give and not what I can take. I go to listen to the people I meet instead of touting what I have to sell. Invariably I strike up a better connection with someone when I let them speak first and I ask questions to uncover their story. After all people’s stories are the most interesting part of who they are.
And that’s why I was inspired to start my own podcast ‘Share Your Story’. You can listen to it here; stayingaliveuk.com/podcast.
But, nowadays I see so many networking pundits, my new name for the organisers of networking events, spouting on about what you might be missing out on and the potential business you are losing by not attending their events. I like meeting people because working on your own can be a very lonely experience but there’s nothing better than being in the office, getting orders and working on your own projects because at the end of the day it pays the bills.
Networking costs on average £5k per year for most businesses. Be interesting to note what your ROI would be on that.
Have I been cured of my networking addiction? After a long while of not going to any events, it slowly creeped up on me again, like some virus. I must confess my amount of networking has increased to a level that I’m questioning myself yet again.
These are the events I have been known to attend regularly: Tech Wednesday — It’s an evening event so I convinced myself it doesn’t interfere with my day. Silicon Canal — Another evening event and I did the same with that one. Maker Monday — Oops another evening one. Fiverr Community — Oh my god another evening one and the same excuse! Actually I haven’t been attending the Silicon Canal and Tech Wednesday events for quite a while because of other personal interests, like Taiko drumming and Yoga, so maybe I’ve only been going to two events per month after all. Not too bad then.
But then I am being told across Social Media that I’m missing out by not going to Phoenix Lunch, Gem Media Lunch, Coffee & Natter, Chutney & Chat, Cereal Network and many many others. The ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) brigade is well and truly at work and it does take a lot of effort to stop being persuaded to go to all of these events, spend a fortune on expenses and lost productivity.
I’ve decided on just one networking event per month and that will be in the evening and it will be based purely on who the speaker is going to be at that event. If they don’t grab my attention, I’m not going. There you have it, I’ve decided.
I’ve received several calls over the years from a foreign country trying to get me to allow them to log in to my computer. Of course I know what they are trying to do, I’m not stupid but I also know that many people who are not aware have had thousands of pounds or dollars stolen from them.
I had such a call again on 14th February, 2018. We had a bit of warning, the number had been trying to get hold of us for days, but every time we answered we stayed quiet and the call rang off automatically. This time I said hello and as these auto callers respond to voice it connected me to an agent (scammer), who started their scam routine.
Over the years I’ve recorded the calls and shared them on the web and even with the right authorities. I also recorded this latest call and the scam was different, they have invented a new approach. The sound quality was terrible, so I’ve had to increase the volume, which may sound a bit scratchy on your devices. Anyway be warned they may contact you or a family member, so please warn them, send them the video/audio for them to hear what their scam is.
The latest algorithm scam is running riot on Facebook at the moment.
If you are asking your connections to like or comment on your post, you are obviously ensuring that they will see more of your posts in their newsfeed. The more you engage with someone’s content the more, in theory, content of theirs you will see.
I appreciate you know and understand this, so when you are posting messages like the one below, you are a scammer. You are trying to dupe your connections in believing that more of their content will be visible to you. That’s a massive untruth!
Latest Facebook scam text:
So this would explain why I now rarely see posts from so many close buddies… Not that I don’t totally love ‘the same 25 people (I do see) over and over,’ but I miss seeing everyone else too… So please please please can I ask you to do as the message below suggests (which I’ve just copied and pasted), so then hopefully we can see more of each other and I will remain smiley 😬💗.
Some wonder why our news feed seems so different recently: we only see posts from the same 25 people over and over. We only see 10 % at all. Yes, Facebook has a new algorithm! So, I’m asking you, could you do me a quick favour? If you read this post, leave me a quick “hi”, like, leave a comment, so more friends will be posted in my news feed. Otherwise Facebook chooses who I see and I don’t need FB to choose my friends! Don’t hesitate to copy and paste this message on your wall so you can have more interaction with your friends too! Please do this I want to see what you’re up to!
Either you are being duped by your connections, following their actions like a sheep 🐑 or you are scamming on purpose, which is it going to be?
