Scam Alert: Here’s my story

Editors note: When I started this site, I knew I would be helping the community by posting things to keep an eye on. I didn’t think I would be telling this story. 

We hear news stories about scammers targeting the elderly, draining out their bank account, wants you to send them gift cards, etc. Two weeks ago I received an email to my graphic design company looking for a logo and a booklet. I get scam emails all the time, usually from fake businesses wanting to purchase mine, to people looking for services I don’t offer and you can tell by the writing they are located in another country. If you don’t know, I am a graphic designer and I own Victory Designs. I was a bit wary since I try to keep clients who are not from New England on freelancing sites like upwork. Because the scam factor is risky. Normally people looking for graphic designers are looking for someone local. I knowI don’t have to share my story, however if I can help someone who is new going into the freelancing to look for red flags or if someone is curious to know what happens while being scammed, here is my story. 

A few weeks ago I received an email, from Dawn looking for a logo and a booklet designed. I asked her what her budget was. She replied back $1500-$2500… We settled on a price. I asked her things like, was she from Connecticut? She told me she is from Connecticut but is currently in Texas on business. She also explained that she wanted to talk on the phone but being on the phone is difficult for her since she is hard of hearing and went on telling me that she found  Victory Design’s Facebook page. She let me know that she is going to pay for half now with a cashier’s check and then she would do the other half in a few weeks right around the completion of the project. She then sends me a photo of her logo she wanted me to redesign. (Notice the watermark number 6 on the photo below). I asked her questions if this was a logo or if it was a redesign and she told me it was a new logo she wanted to be designed but the company is new and was currently being built.  At this point, I was still keeping my guard up until I had the cashier’s check in hand. 

Two days later I received an email telling me that her accountant screwed up and I would be getting far more money than what we agreed on. I stopped the project right then and there. She wanted to give me specific instructions on how to send the money back. I went on my google analytics account and saw on the day that Dawn first emailed me, there was a hit from Zhengzhou, China. I let it go. The next day I woke up to a bunch of text messages from Dawn, the text message numbers came from a 207 number which was Maine telling me the check was on the way and I should have it within a few days. Since Dawn told me she was from Connecticut, I was expecting a 203 or 860 number, not a 207.  I told Dawn I was no longer working on her project there were too many red flags, plus one of her messages was all in caps “JILLIAN ARE YOU THERE?” Because I didn’t answer her fast enough. And if you know me, don’t speak to me in caps. I don’t need to be yelled at via a text message. I told her I was no longer working on her project and to seek another designer, there are too many red flags. I didn’t hear from her and figured she took the hint and moved on. I went back to doing what I was working on, which was SEO stuff. 

A week later, I received an email from her with a tracking number for the check. I tracked it and saw another red flag. There was a label created in Brentwood Long Island, and it was canceled and the next day another label was created in California. Not to mention when she contacted me with the email she also sent me a text from another number, this time, the number was from Michigan. 

When I finally received the cashier’s check I looked at it and noticed it didn’t look like a regular bank cashier’s check. It looks like a 3 tier check you can buy from Staples.  I started researching the routing number. From what I found online, the routing number is from a Hancock Whitney branch in Lousiana. My gut was still telling me to call the bank and find out if it really is real. I called Hancock and Whitney and found out the branch on the check is no longer open. When I was on the phone with Hancock Witney, I noticed the logo was off. 

Things didn’t add up and I noticed right away. Here are the things I noticed that didn’t add up some was almost right away. 

1. Where the check came from. The tracking says “Brentwood Long Island” but the label was canceled and recreated in Lincoln, California. 
2. Where is the banking information on the check? I know it’s been a few years since I have seen a cashier check, but no actual address or phone number. The cashier’s check looks like it was printed off a regular printer with checks you can order online. I have seen enough of them in my life. 
3. The phone numbers. Contacting me once from a Maine area code and the next a Michigan number a week later.
4. I asked to provide proof of who she was, social media, a website. I received nothing in return. 
5. The persistent at times when it came to communication. When I didn’t answer right away and getting “Jillian are you there?”  If I didn’t answer right away.
6. The logo she sent me had someone else’s watermark, why not just send me a .jpg?
7. What the heck is Safety For All LTE?  – no Verizon, no TMobile, no US Cellular, no AT&T, or any major cell carriers
8. Why send me a check when I already told her I was not working with her a week before? 
9. I told her to make the check out to Victory Designs, so why in my name?
10. If her accountant screwed up and made the cashier’s check for more money, why didn’t they cash that cashier’s check and do it for the right amount?
11. She told me the cashier’s check was cut two weeks ago for more than what we talked about. She could not provide a photo, a copy of the check stub, anything. If she was in communication with her accountant like she claims to be, she could have easily provided a copy of the check, or check stub. Also why still cut the check after I told her I was done. 
12. And what alerted me the most was when she spelled favor… “favour” when she told me about the check is for more than what we discussed. She also couldn’t give me an amount when I asked her. 
13. The logo is different, the Witney at the bottom of the check is off vs the logo from the website. Even being printed on the check it would be lined up like the logo i pulled off from google. Its not even close.
14. The La Fe Group that sent the envelope has a Facebook page, but no website. 
15. Why spend the money to spend to send something via two day priority mail when its a fake check? Why not just put a regular stamp on it? 

Why am i posting this on all of my websites? This can happen to anyone, at anytime. I learned years ago, ask qustions and talk to them via the phone. Anyone can get a phone number now a days and that doesn’t prove anything until you hear an actual voice. Its not smart to try to scam someone who has a platform that reaches almost 20K on social meda or someone who is good with SEO.

I didn’t know why anyone would want to scam anyone right while the world is uncertain. It was just a waste of time, but also gives me a place to tell my story so my followers who are self-employed and work in the creative field to always be on the lookout.  If it happens to one of us, it will happen to all of us and I don’t want to see anyone being taken advantage of especially during this covid time. 

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