Virtual Assistants have become the target of many scammers and we are aware of it. Seasoned VAs work to help newer VAs open their eyes to this fact when they join VA forums and networks (just one good reason for not going it alone and making sure you join at least one active forum). However there are so many scams out there that appear real and real jobs that appear to be scams that we need to keep alert all the time and learn to discern reality from falsehood. We need to learn to ask questions and help genuine clients give sufficient information in order to get the assistance they need without our being suspicious getting in the way of a prospective and successful new business relationship.
Just recently there have been a couple of new clients who have filled out my job request form on my site seeking work and I’ve emailed them back advising that the information they give is consistent with scammers and that I need more information about the job. On both occasions these people were remotely known to me through others and so I knew their requests were genuine otherwise I might have ignored them.
Snoskred at ‘Life in the Country’ wrote a great post last year about scammers and how she made 5 million dollars online. I’ve only just become aware of this post but thought it was a good one to highlight as I know that many VAs read this blog. And I’m sure there are many clients who read this blog and do business online so I know they’ll benefit from this post also.
Kathie is the former owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.
PopArtDiva says
I’m not a VA, but I’m curious about how and what the scams are that are specifically directed at VAs. What do they do and what benefits do they derive from their scams?
It’s such a shame that everyone has to be so “on guard” online. The web is such a wonderful tool but there’s always someone who has to muddy up the waters!
BTW – Tell your daughter Happy Birthday for me!!!!
Kathie Thomas says
This morning’s post gives an example of a new scam that’s targeting the VA industry, PopArtDiva. But we do get lots of ‘job offers’ that require people to launder money, process bogus orders, and all sorts of other things. I guess they figure we’re so desperate to earn money at home that we’ll jump at opportunities that come our way. Unfortunately it means that we are sometimes suspicious of real client requests that via email with very similar wording so we do have to be on guard always.