Starting with letters and then following technology to faxes and now, email, the infamous Nigerian Scam just keeps going. Variations are popular, too, and a recent post on BodyworkOnline highlight a couple of scams specifically targeting massage therapists and gift certificates.
The first takes direct inspiration from the Nigerian scam emails:
How are you today? My name is Malvin Goodmann and I am presently domiciled in London, UK. My client, Janet is coming to your area in USA for a modeling/acting job in approximately 3 weeks from today and she will be shooting on location in your locality … I promised to help her get a good massage therapist in your Area who can administer outstanding personal service to her, I decided to contact you after checking out your info on the Internet. Please tell me a little more about your self and if possible please provide references.
It then goes on to ask for bank account information.
The second example was posted by Brandy at karmassage, a simple email query for GC information:
My name is Jeffrey ****, son of Linda ****, and I had a question regarding some expired gift certificates. I know she had talked to you previously about them but I do not know what the final decision was. Please let me know whether they still retain any value. Thank you.
She responded asking for more specifics, writing:
I received the email over a month ago and never got a response back. I keep very accurate records (thanks spaboom!), so I know for a fact these gift certificates were never purchased. Be sure to keep accurate records in case someone tries to pull this scam on you as well!
Great advice! Of course, real clients will ask for GC information via email. But it doesn't hurt to be careful. And be on the watch for Nigerians dressed as strange-sounding Londoners.
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