231: Is it a scam?
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
Have you ever been scammed? It’s almost 2022, but that doesn’t mean scammers aren’t out there waiting to take advantage of you and your business. We discuss how to know if a request is a scam, common methods they use, and what you can do to avoid them. Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to avoid them and avoid loosing any money. Then, Natasha answers, “How do I set better boundaries?”
Topics on this episode:
What scammers want
Difference between spam and a scam
How to detect a scam
What you can do
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: Avoiding scams is all about lining out processes and reaching out for advice if you need to.
Links:
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
scam, scammer, people, services, business, email, pet, check, person, pay, money, greet, phone call, clients, confessional, sitters, contacting, reaches, boundary, google
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hello, welcome to episode 231. Hello, thank you so much to our Patreon supporters who support us with the price of a cup of coffee every month. And we actually just got a new one.
Collin 00:41
Yeah, Ashley just started supporting us through Patreon. And we're really excited to have her onboard.
Meghan 00:46
And we also want to thank pet sitters associates for sponsoring this episode as well. We gave a little bit of an update on us last week. But something that we forgot to mention is that in October, we actually hired our first two employees. How
Collin 00:59
did we forget to talk about that? Kind of a big deal for us? Yeah, it was a big, big shift, big process. There are a lot of moving pieces involved. And we definitely want to break that down on a full episode really seeing episode. Yeah, actually gonna be basically all of 2022 is just going to be us talking about our hiring. Okay, well, that's
Meghan 01:21
not true.
Collin 01:23
But yeah, it was it was a lot of it was a big learning curve, but we're really excited to have it finally done. But today, we want to talk about scammers. We've seen a pretty substantial increase in increase over the last week or so.
Meghan 01:36
And that's likely due to all the last minute Louie's poking their heads out trying to get holiday bookings, which we are not available for and and you probably aren't either. But with any inquiries for service, we always have to determine whether it's legitimate or not.
Collin 01:51
Yeah, is this a scam or a real person? Unfortunately, the
Meghan 01:56
scammers are there because people believe the scams. So while it is 2021, and we should need to have this conversation, people still fall for the scam.
Collin 02:07
Yeah, they fall for them for many reasons. I recently saw a post of somebody who had a friend fall for it. But that was because they were really desperate for business and they didn't screen them properly.
Meghan 02:19
And so we really have to decipher what is a scam and what is spam. So today,
Collin 02:24
we want to talk through a couple sniff tests that you can apply to inquiries as they come in, and talk about whether there are any systems that we can set up to avoid them and the headache that comes from it.
Meghan 02:36
So unfortunately, scammers are a part of this industry. And they're not a big part, which is good, but they are there. And they can end up really costing you hundreds or 1000s of dollars. And obviously tons of wasted time as well. So the difference between a scam and spam is what
Collin 02:55
the scam is where they're trying to get something from you. While spam is mostly just unwanted and mostly harmless things. Think of those advertisements that you get either in the mail or in your email inbox. The scammers aren't nefarious, though they're trying to get something from you most of that is money. And one of the most common things that we see in the pet care industry is basically a scammer is trying to send you too much money for your services. And it's like, why are they doing this? Well, they try and get you to spend money to buy things for them, that you then mail to them. And it's all before the check bounces and you end up having to eat all of that money that you've just spent buying these items or sending them a refund because they sent you too much money.
Meghan 03:38
Scammers may also legitimately have a dog, but they really try to falsify the events to get you to pay for damages. And so the first way to tell if it's a scam or not, is how were you contacted, if someone reaches out to you through a method that's out of the ordinary, that should really send red flags.
Collin 03:57
So if you all of a sudden start getting messages on LinkedIn about services for dog hair, or cat hair, and you never get inquiries through that way, or you don't even have it on there that you are a pet sitter, then that would be something that you would need to take a second look at,
Meghan 04:11
or if you have an email address, but you don't ever use it or you don't have it on your website or any of your marketing materials. And somebody reaches out to you through that. You know, that's probably a scam because you nobody knows that email address.
Collin 04:26
A second sniff test to apply is whether they're asking for extended or really complicated stays. And usually they present it like this. They're needing service for family members for family members dog while they get settled in somewhere and they're coming in from out of town and they need to pay you in multiple ways or part now in part later, and they start adding a lot of contingencies to the plan or having multiple moving pieces with multiple people involved, the more complicated something gets and the less you understand exactly what's going on. The most likely that it's is going to be a scam.
Meghan 05:01
Yeah, so we This has nothing to do with pet care. But we were selling our computer recently. And every person that was contacting me through Facebook was saying, I need to buy this for my daughter, or I need to buy this for my niece, it was for somebody else. And it was really complicated process. And I would say, you know, what is the address and they would send it and it was just like, far away or really complicated, didn't match
Collin 05:27
the person's profile. So that's something else that I will say that the more complicated something gets. See if you can social proof the person that's contacting you can you find them on Facebook or fast people search calm and somewhat one that we use an awful lot to see if the person is actually real, and whether their information matches with what they're telling us. But cross referencing this will really help you understand what exactly is going on.
Meghan 05:49
Another key indicator that it's a scam is the language that they use. The word kindly is a big one is trying to sound too formal and too nice. So if they say kindly let me know or kindly give me a quote. If it sounds like it's really describing a process, it is probably a scam.
Collin 06:10
Now the more details they give, you have step by step by step of what they want to do, and how they want it to happen. There was one that I came across on a Facebook group where the person was like, yeah, when I send you the cheque, please kindly deposited into your bank account, so you will have the money available to you. Nobody in the world describes what it means to deposit a check. And why you would need to do that. That's a very key indicator that this person is scamming you, as I briefly described at the beginning of the episode, the fourth indicator that you may be dealing with a scammer is that they're trying to pay you way too much in above and beyond your price. So usually, again, it's so that you can do something like buy food
Meghan 06:51
for the dog or run errands for them. Yeah, have those extra
Collin 06:55
supplies that they're doing because they're moving into town, and they need these things for you to do?
Meghan 06:59
Well, a lot of times, they'll say, move into your area. What does that mean? You know, my area,
Collin 07:06
again, these these, it can go either way, they can be very descriptive about certain processes, and then be very generic and vague about other ones leaving you unsure about what's going on. But again, when they pay you too much money, they'll say, use this extra money above the services for pet care and send these things to me or send them to this address so that I can use them. And the scam here again, is that they'll send you the check, you'll deposit it, buy the items and send them but then the check will bounce. And then all that money that you just spent will be taken out of your account. And they'll be good, they'll get the items for free.
Meghan 07:43
Well, a lot of times, this is why people pet sitters don't even accept checks anymore, they just do their software, it's paid through there, the credit card is charged right away or half upfront, whatever you choose to do. And that lets you know that I am actually being paid for this and it went through and I don't have to wait several days for the check to clear. And so basically, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You know, if they were recommended by someone and need you three times a day for five days a week while they're at work, but they don't know exactly where your service area is. It's probably too good to be true. Yeah, if
Collin 08:19
they make it sound like money is no object for them. And they're willing to pay for absolutely everything. And it's not a concern. Ask more questions, send more detailed responses to them and really dig into exactly what they want.
Meghan 08:32
Yeah, a lot of times when there's a scammer come across my emails, I will kind of play with them a little bit. What? Well, like the computer example, I asked, Why are you buying this? Who's it for? Where am I sending this? And when I googled the information, it led me to believe that these people were not real. They had just taken over these Facebook accounts, and they were just trying to get this computer so they could resell it at a higher price or whatever.
Collin 09:02
Yeah, that is what you said that is a really good point is many of these times, you'll get a request on Facebook from somebody and they look legitimate. There's a profile picture. They have a long history, they've been on Facebook for a really long time. And so you may feel like oh, this person's this person's real, but be very careful. And one thing that we did is we started going to photos of people and looking at the comments. And they were all from the same couple accounts. And they all were copying and pasting the same kind of comment for each photo making it look like there was engagement. What had happened for this person was that their Facebook account had been hacked and taken over. And that was being used by scammers to get money from people and led them to believe that they were dealing with a real person.
Meghan 09:44
And so a beautiful thing has come about called Google it's a what is the internet is a wonderful tool that you can use. If you receive a suspicious email or phone call. Google the phone number like you mentioned fast people search calm or just type Going into Google, Google the email address. If it's a scam, it will likely pop up. They reuse phone numbers, they reuse email addresses well,
Collin 10:09
and if you find somebody on Facebook that reaches out to you see if you can find them on another social media platform and see or see if you can find out more information about them and see if that is actually matching up with what you're seeing there.
Meghan 10:21
And another key indicator is if they are asking for your bank account information, so they can send you the check if they need a routing number, if they need an account number if they even need what bank you go to, right. These are red flags that you need to be aware of. What's not a scam is pet sitters associates. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members for over 20 years they have provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. If you work in the pet care industry or you want to make your passion for pets into a profession. You can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today at pets it llc.com. You can even get a discount when joining by clicking membership petsitter confessional and use the code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again, at pets@llc.com.
Collin 11:16
It's always easy to figure out if you're dealing with a scammer. If you say something like if you get contacted by somebody, you're not sure respond with something like great once you fill out your online profile, and we set up a meet and greet at your home. We don't accept that payment until after main greed is conducted in person. If you say that it's a scammer, you're not going to get a response or you're going to get some pushback of why they can't do that. They have a certain circumstance where they're coming in from out of town, they don't have a place yet they don't have a bank account, they need this other thing done. The more excuses are ways they try and get around that and pressure you into breaking your boundaries, the more likely it's going to be a scam. Or Megan, you mentioned earlier, don't accept checks. So if you respond with Great, that sounds like what a great time to meet, we don't accept anything other than credit card payments, hope that works for you. They're not going to work for them if it's a scammer, because they want to send you that check and get that in your hand so it can bounce and you'll have spent your own money. If they contact you through text message or a direct message on Facebook or through your email and you have more questions. Ask for a phone call. This is one of the best ways to decide if it's going to be a scammer or not. Because if they are a scammer, they are not going to pick up that phone or give you a legitimate phone number.
Meghan 12:35
A lot of times we will get phone call scams. So we have a Google Voice number, we don't actually give out our personal phone numbers. We go through Google Voice, which is an amazing service, because they have to say their name before you answer the phone call. So it's great to screen that way as well to make sure it's actually a person. And anyway, we've had some interesting ones.
Collin 12:56
The way it works is they have to say their name, and then it rings over to me or Megan. And when we pick up the phone, we click answer. What it actually says is a computer will say you have a phone call from Karen or from Dale. And then you can decide to answer or not answer and send them to voicemail and I send them to voicemail an awful lot of the times. Additionally, you could just choose to not answer the phone call ever and always send it to voicemail. And if
Meghan 13:22
you do that, make sure your voicemail says your website where they can get more information and book your services. Because scammers won't do that.
Collin 13:29
Those are all things that are scams from people trying to take advantage of your service. Another line of scams are actually directed towards your business and trying to get your business to spend money on things that you don't need or extort money from you. It's kind of a fine line there. But it is something that we have been experiencing more and more
Meghan 13:47
well. And a lot of times people will talk about this in terms of Yelp. So Yelp is notoriously bad for if you place your business on there, they will continue to hound you and try to get you to buy their ads. And I back in 2012, when we had started petsitting I had gone on Yelp and put our business on there. And one it was a struggle to actually even get on there. But secondly, they would call me multiple times a week trying to get me to upgrade my ad or just use more of their services and it became way too much. And finally I had to tell them multiple times, but stop calling me I am deleting my business. I no longer want to be on Yelp. And it was a struggle. But
Collin 14:32
I feel like it was a month long process to finally work through getting the actual listing deleted off of there
Meghan 14:37
well and that actually never goes away. They don't actually delete listings off of there. They just close them down. So that is also something to be aware of. If you if you go with Yelp. It's a great service ton I mean millions of people use it all the time for restaurant reviews and travel reviews and all that but it can be really hurtful to your business.
Collin 14:56
Some of the common ones that we have been experiencing more and more I think the first one is really scam emails claiming to boost SEO or to have you pay for services to edit out mistakes we just received one that was like, oh, on this recent blog post you misspelled together, these kinds of things really impact people's perceptions of you and hurt your credibility. Click this link to hire services to edit your things. That is a scam. You don't want to give access to anybody to your email to your back end service for your website. And anybody claiming to you know, cold call you or cold email you out of the blue to boost your SEO claiming that they have a dashboard that tells you these widgets are making it slow. Do not believe that if you have questions about SEO, or any of that reach out to Amy Tillman, and she will help
Meghan 15:44
you. Yeah, she was on episode 120. Excellent episode, and we're gonna have her back on soon. Yeah. Also important. If you receive an email, check who the actual email is from?
Collin 15:53
Yes, I just received an email claiming to be from Apple, asking about giving me a survey for how my recent repair was on my iPhone, which was interesting, we didn't get one because I haven't repaired that. And I checked the email and it said, apple today at inside apple 20 seven@gmail.com or.com. I was like, Okay, that is definitely a total scam. And if you're on social media, you will probably get a lot of scam direct messages to you from quote unquote, social media experts claiming that you can help boost your reach if you just use their services or go to this link, or whatever. Again, if you are perfectly happy with things going on in your business, and people are cold, calling you cold messaging you about something that you don't care about, or you've never heard of, and you don't understand it, it's most likely a scam. Because a third scam that I have been getting almost weekly, or a couple times a week for a while now is this phone call from some company and I never remember the name, but they want to quote Voice Search, optimize our business and website so that can people can find it when they search with their voice on Alexa, Google and Siri. And they'll say we've checked our dashboard and see that your website isn't optimized. And we want to help you with our services for a small fee. Here's the thing, all of those voice services use Google to search, all they do is they take a simple voice to text search, and then slap it into Google and read back the results. So if you're on Google, and you've got a good Google My Business, you're going to show up. And these people prey on the thought and idea that a lot of people don't understand that. Or they think, oh, Voice Search is something new, that must be totally different and not linked to these other things. Again, they're trying to make this overly complicated and use a lot of terms that are very common, and that a lot people might not have some connections with. And they want to pay what they wanted our business to pay for them to, quote, Voice Search, optimize the website to make it appear on these listings, which is a total fraud and a total waste of money. When
Meghan 17:59
again, a lot of times they'll use technical terms that the average Joe or Jane like me won't know. Yeah, I don't know what voice search optimization means. And that's how they get you because they use these overly technical terms that you don't know what they mean. So really, what can you do? Scammers are out there they are in every industry, even the pet care industry, what can we do, and it's really all about the processes. Honestly, it's it's simple, little things that will keep you protected. So one always do a meet and greet. I know a lot of app platforms don't do meet and greets. And we believe that really it is for the safety of everyone involved. The animal, yourself, protecting your business, protecting the owner, making sure that they have their client expectations are lined up with your business. And so making sure that you do a meet and greet, make sure you meet a real person, you can't really fake a real person.
Collin 18:57
And it's so easy these days, even doing a virtual meet and greet with Zoom or FaceTime. And having them show you the outside of their home with the address located there or little things that you can ask about to pick up on to see that it's going to be real, because you're going to be protected. Obviously, there are times where you can't do a meet and greet or it's or it's not something that you think is necessary, and you have to use your best judgment on that. But again, that kind of thing can really help solve a lot of these problems. And the second big one here is never, ever, ever I don't think I can put enough exclamation points around ever give out anything about your banking information or any other identifying information over the phone or text or email or direct messaging on social media platforms. That is not the way those things are done or handled ever. And if anybody asks you, oh, I just need your routing information and we'll be all set to go. No, no. No,
Meghan 19:54
and we really shouldn't have to say that like it's 2021 scammers have been out there for years and but they're getting smarter with the Internet. and people are taking advantage of people yell. Yep,
Collin 20:03
I will say that if you're dealing with that, and they give you a website to go to make sure that the website that they send you is what shows up in the address bar at the top of your page when you click
Meghan 20:12
on it. Well, yeah, make sure it has HTTPS on it as for secure, yeah,
Collin 20:17
because they can send you they can reroute redirect you to all sorts of pages, it can be something as simple as www.dog.com. But it redirects to something that's way crazy with all these different characters and a totally different site that's not secure that that s is missing. Back out, delete, delete your browser, cookies and history, and hopefully, no, you know, cookies.
Meghan 20:40
And then if you're ever really unsure of something, and talk it out with someone posted in a Facebook group, ask for advice, a fellow sitter in your area, if they've seen this something like this before, or posted in our Facebook groups that are confessionals, we'd be happy to give you any input. And there are tons of other sitters in there who who wouldn't be happy to pick apart that scam, if that's the case. And obviously, at the end of all this trust your gut, this is your business. This is your baby that you have grown from the ground up. And obviously none of us ever want to be taken advantage of. We don't want to deal with scammers or spammers. And so it's just important, like at the meet and greet when you go and you say yes, I'm willing to take you on as a client. Trust your gut with these interactions that you have in email in text message and phone calls. It's crucial
Collin 21:31
now, and this may sound this may sound like we're being overly paranoid about this. But at the end of the day, what the worst thing that's going to happen is is you're going to have better processes and better screening results for people who are contacting you. And you will probably end up with better clientele at the end of it and a more streamlined, efficient process that's going to help you organize everything and understand exactly the needs of people who are getting in touch with you. And that's going to be better for you and your clients regarding, especially if they're not a scammer.
Meghan 22:01
If you've ever had an interesting scammer contact you let us know, we'd love to share it on the podcast or have you come on and talk about your experience and how you dealt with that. You can let us know at Facebook or Instagram at petsitter confessional on
Collin 22:16
this week's Ask a pet biz coach with Natasha, she answers the question, how do I set better boundaries?
22:22
I just started talking about this the other day boundary setting really comes down to knowing who you are, and what it is that you stand for. So when you when you understand who you are and what you stand for, it's much easier to literally say the word no. And I think it's something that a lot of us, you know, come we struggle with it. You know, most people want to make our clients happy. We don't want to tell them no. But at the end of the day, if it's going, you know, pass your policies, if it doesn't align with what you stand for, that you already have outlined for your team and your vision, then it's going to be a boundary, I tend to not like to make up things for clients, you know, on the fly. So if you make it a policy, it becomes a boundary and it's just something you stand by then it doesn't make it so personal.
Collin 23:13
Well, it does take some being introspective about what we want. And I really think that gets at the heart of who we think we are to then start setting up those boundaries around us exactly. If you'd like to work with Natasha and have her coach you and your business to help you grow and meet your goals in 2022 Head on over to start scale sale.com and use the code pse 20 for 15% off our services, we really want to thank our Patreon supporters and pet SIRs associates for making today's show possible. And you for listening and for showing up every week and for contributing and helping support the show. We can't tell you how much it means and how much we appreciate it.
Meghan 23:55
If there's ever a topic that you guys want us to talk about or a specific person that you'd like to call in to interview, we would be more than happy to do so. We want to keep doing this podcast for as long as possible. We enjoy it and hopefully you guys do too. So thank you. Yep. And
Collin 24:11
if you want to get some Meighan interviews out there, let us know as well. We'll see about that.
24:19
Thank you
