fake | VA Directory

I got asked this today, but admittedly, I’ve been asked other times too. While our industry attracts mainly good clients, we do get the occasional one that thinks they can use a VA for their own evil purposes – namely to launder money or trick someone into doing the wrong thing and therefore losing money.

In the instance of today, there were many things in the emails sent to the VA that waved a red flag for me and I’ll share them with you. This is a portion of my reply to her.

The client had mentioned that you, the VA would be his PA and Cashier. No VA is a cashier – the mention of this is a warning signal. He wants you to do something with money – VAs don’t generally handle money on behalf of clients. There may be the odd exception – but only after a good working relationship has been established and both parties know one another. Never process payments on behalf of a client, bank a cheque and then give them change back or similar activities. This could be a money laundering scam and you could end up in court and prison for this.
The mention of seeking an honest person – he’s appealing to you in this way because he, himself is not honest. Why bring it up? Generally clients don’t.
Likewise for the words ‘trusted and trustworthy’. Why is the client approaching a complete stranger and talking about trustworthiness? The client should be looking for recommendations via people he knows personally.
Use of the word ‘applicant’. Did you apply for a job? If not, why is this person approaching you in this manner and how did he find you? VAs are self-employed, not employees.
He mentioned a wage – again, VAs are self-employed. You set your rates, he doesn’t and therefore he won’t be paying a wage, but rather paying on invoice or by contract.
Why does he need to know your age and sex? This is discriminatory and no client should be asking that information and is certainly not relevant to any role a VA might take on.

Other things to consider: this particular new VA doesn’t yet have a web presence and isn’t listed with any VA networks. The ‘client’ had found her because she’d advertised via one of the freelance websites. Genuine clients usually make contact asking if you can help them and how much you charge. They never have a list of questions for you to fill out regarding your address, sex, age, etc and they won’t tell you what your wage will be.

When you’re new at this business and eager for work it is often easy to overlook the very things that should be warning signs to you. I hope my post above helps to serve that purpose. For the record, I don’t give out my own address and use a PO Box instead. And belonging to VA forums and networks will help keep you informed of possible scams or types of people to look out for.

Kathie M Thomas

When you have a presence online there will come a time when the thieves come out of the woods and make themselves known. More like wolves in sheep’s clothing. They will butter you up and tell you how fantastic you are and convince you that you should part with your hard-earned money to invest in their project. In this case a ‘who’s who directory of people’ from some unknown but impressive sounding company.

When you get approached by someone to list in a Who’s Who Directory it would be well worth your while to research that directory first. And there are things you should be thinking about, like ‘why you?’ What have you done that is exceptional and to get yourself into the public eye? Have you been the first to do something? Or have you got a big following in whatever you do? Are you ‘famous’ in your industry or your part of the world for achieving something? What is your exposure like online and in print?

If the reality is that you only occupy a very small section of your industry, you don’t write articles, haven’t made it in the newspapers or magazines, been seen publicly at events as a speaker or presenter, haven’t written a book, or anything else that is going to truly put you in the public eye, then chances are it’s a ‘con job’ and they just want to rip you off.

I can tell you I am listed in a Who’s Who and I’m not saying that to brag, but rather to tell you from personal experience I did not have to part with hard-earned money to get a listing in that book. It was because of things I’ve done and achieved that I had earned the privilege to be invited for entry. The invitation came by letter on really nice letterhead from a genuine company some years ago but I do have to admit I thought at first it was some kind of joke and not real. I had to do the research to make sure it was genuine. And I have paid for a copy of the book and have it on my bookshelf. I get invited to update my listing every year, by printed letter and I fill out the form and send it back by the due date. The approach was not via email or website promotion and I was not asked to pay to be in the book at any time.

So, next time you get an approach that butters you up first before asking you for money, think carefully about it and do the research. Have you earned the right to be listed in something like that? It might be genuine, but then again, it might not.

Kathie M Thomas

How do you know when a client is genuine?

When flattery will get you nowhere (and cost you money)

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