Scam Alert: UK “Broker” Seeking Services for Client in the US

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Last week I received an odd e-mail asking me about my “mode of operation” for copyediting work from a “consultant” in the UK. Before replying, I Googled his company name and found a whole mess of scam info that I want to share with you so you don’t waste any time with this person.

The Initial Contact

Subject: your services
From: <tmustmk2@yahoo.com> OR <alfredombado@yahoo.com>

Hello, my name is Ted Grant. I operate a consultancy firm here with name and registered address as follows: Xpress Solutions, 37 old Lilly BLVD, London NE7 9KP.

A client of mine who is due to arrive in the United States in few weeks time is interested in your copyediting services. Can you tell me a little more about your mode of operation?

If interested, please reply

Thanks
Ted Grant.

Early Flags

There are a number of things about this message that don’t feel right.

1. Who offers “name and registered address as follows”? Someone is trying a little too hard to reassure me of something. Of what, I am not yet sure.
2. Why not give the exact timeline since you apparently know it? Hmm…
3. Client for what? Copyediting for what? Surely if this is the kind of work you do, you know I need to know this stuff to answer your question.
4. Why are YOU contacting me instead of your “client” doing it?
5. Bad punctuation is always a bad sign.
6. If you’re a professional, why isn’t your e-mail address your name, or something @companyname.com?

The Benefit of the Doubt

I know a lot of people who are good at their jobs and just bad at e-mail, so I’m willing to be a little flexible about stuff like #3 and #5 above, but the other items were still a bit strange. So I Googled the company name, “Xpress Solutions.” That wasn’t particularly helpful, so I searched for “Xpress Solutions consultancy,” and that’s when I hit pay dirt.

It All Becomes Clear

The fourth result in my search was “Scam Alert: He’s Baaaaaack!” from the Remote Admin Services blog. Ted Grant, aka Todd Meyer/Mayer, aka Alfred Lombardo, customizes his message when he sends it to various service providers (copyediting, administrative services, translation/interpreting, etc), but it’s basically the same thing over and over.

According to commenters, here is the first follow-up e-mail once the target responds to the initial contact:

Thanks for the email.

While Mary Morgan (my client) is in the United States she will need your services in Word processing, transcription, Power Point presentations, scanning, data entry, proofreading, database management, and Internet research over the next 2 months. She will be arriving your city in about 3 weeks from now.

Will like you to know if you can do this and pricing for that. She is a real estate broker, 56 years of age.

Please address and give me a quote based on this.

Ted

Hmmm, a few more red flags:

1. That’s a whole lot of services, and most individuals won’t provide all of them. How many editors/database administrators/assistants/etc is he contacting for this woman?
2. “in your city,” huh? Too lazy to customize it? Or maybe just hoping no one will notice that you seem to know “their city” when they may not have given it to you yet?
3. Who cares how old she is? And why do you know anyway? Too many details makes the lie implausible, just FYI.

The Scam

Again according to commenters, if the target continues a dialogue with Ted/Todd/Alfred, the nature of the scam comes to the surface. Evidently, he finds out your rates and then says that the client is willing to pay $100/hour (presumably more than standard copyediting rates, so it sounds really good!) in exchange for his keeping 50% of the income as his “broker fee.” (Note to self: Become a “broker” and make millions without doing anything.)

He then goes into detail about his requiring a deposit, his getting payment via cashier’s checks from a US bank, blah blah blah. Although it doesn’t appear that anyone has gone through the next phases, here’s what I suspect happens:

• Whatshisname sends a project and notice that payment is forthcoming.
• Then, he requests that you transfer his 50% to an offshore bank account that can’t be traced back to him since the money is on its way to you and is a guaranteed cashier’s check.
• Finally, if someone does make the transfer, he then disappears and resurfaces later using a different name and e-mail address to run his own version of the Nigerian scam over and over again.

The Takeaway

Any time you get a request for a quote or information about your services, take a moment before responding to do a little research. Although most of us would figure out that it’s a scam by the second or third e-mail, a fairly innocuous message like the one Ted/Todd/Alfred used to initiate contact may not immediately set off warning bells. So, to be safe, make it a habit to run your own mini-background check on potential clients. You may save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run.

And if they’re legit, you can blow them away with the background knowledge you have about their organization, and surely land the job.

Tags: freelance writing, e-mail fraud, scam e-mails, ted grand, todd meyer, todd mayer, alfred lombardo, xpress solutions, 37 Old Lilly Blvd, scam alert, inkthinker, kristen king, variations on the nigerian scam

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