Misleading. Deceptive. Sneaky.
There’s nothing worse than a business that employs these tactics to try to win your business. Maybe it comes from my days as a Boy Scout but I believe in being “honest and trustworthy.” That’s why when I get mail delivered to my mailbox from companies that are anything but upfront and transparent, it can be frustrating.
From time to time throughout the year I receive letters like these. They’re made to look like a bill or an invoice. It has an amount due and to whom to make the check payable. If you read through the fine print, it’ll tell you it’s not a bill or a solicitation … but that’s if you read through the details. Text like “Please Remit Payment” is made obvious and predominant.
This is an “offer” to have your domain listed in a directory. They promise you increased exposure and new customers … and it’s not free. It’s $288/year. Don’t fall for this. There are better ways to increase exposure to your business and website than paying to have it listed in some unknown directory for $288/year.
The same goes for emails. I have all my website hosting through A2 Hosting. They’ve been a great company to work with over the past several years and several of my clients have their sites hosted with them as well. So when I received what appeared to be an email from them, I took note and paid attention.
Just because it uses the company loco and appears to be coming from their support doesn’t make it legit. There are a couple of ways that you can tell that’s it not from the company.
- Click on the email address (this may vary depending on the email program that you use). Look at the sender’s address. In this case, “Support” is actually some obscure, unrecognizable email address. This alone tells me that it’s a scam. Ugh.
- Another you can do is read through the body of the email and look at the grammar. The first line after the salutation starts with “are informing you that … “ For one, it’s not capitalized and second, it’s improper grammar. A major company like A2 won’t make those kinds of mistakes in a message to their clients.
If you’re ever in doubt about a possible scam, just ask. Send me an email … send me a screenshot … and I’d be more than happy to look into it for you.
Just remember: Don’t click on any links in an email until you’re sure it’s legit. Don’t send any money to someone until you’re sure it’s legit.
Be safe out there. Ask questions. Let me know if I can help.
