How to identify scammers - 101.
As an author you must be familiar with those e-mails and messages on Social Media promising you instant recognition. TV and Radio interviews, reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, targeted promotions to increase the reach of your book and gain insane amounts of buyers, readers and followers.
Pardon my French, mais c'est des conneries.
I’m sure that you’re not falling for any of that, but sometimes those e-mails might look legitimate and that’s when the doubts surface. I got you cover, I’m going to tell you how to tell scammers apart from legitimate offers.
Check for inconsistencies:
Bad grammar.
Redundancies.
Incongruities in their speech.
Not answering to your questions in a direct/open way.
The name signing the e-mail being different from the name on the e-mail’s address. (Kind regards, Anna. From: ramesh.yeahsurewhatever@gmail.com)
A professional offer coming from a Gmail address.
If the e-mail is signed by someone with a common name, but it doesn’t match the name on the sender’s address, you can track the IP to see where that e-mail was really sent from.
For Gmail, click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the message and select “show original” from the drop-down menu.
For Outlook, double-click the email to open it in its own window. Click File > Properties. In the dialog box, find the “Internet headers” section.
For Apple, double-click the email to open it in its own window and press: Option+Command+U.
Copy the IP address and look it up on one of the many webpages availbale online to track IPs.
Let’s say that the e-mail you received checks clear from all of the above, but you’re still not sure that the offer is real and trustworthy.
Check their webpage:
Loaded with AI generated images.
Comments from satisfied customers too good to be true.
All the customers’ profile photos look also AI generated.
Unavailable, incomplete or unclear ‘About Us’ section.
Lack of clarity about their fees.
If the webpage checks few or all of these, steer clear from it. If it doesn’t, but you still have doubts, check their location. A company based in USA or Europe shouldn’t have a website hosted in South Asia, for example. There are different tools you can use to safely check a website’s IP for your peace of mind. Just copy the address and paste it on the Webpage IP tracker of your choice.
Don’t forget to look up whoever is reaching out to you. Scammers will use fake names or impersonate other people. Check their webpage, platforms and everything you might find that helps you confirm you’re talking to a real person.
Stay smart, stay safe and remember to listen to your common sense.
