PPB February 2019

by Danielle Renda Is This Order Legit? How to vet a valid order from a potential scam. Q A Distributor Asks: I had somebody reach out to me on my website to place an order for 500 knit hats. I live in Wisconsin and her company is in New York, so I’m not sure how she found my website. I told her we would require pre-payment via check, and she said that was fine. I just started my own business in January and typically only work with clients I have met in person, which is why this encounter makes me feel a little uneasy. Should I accept the order? What are some ways I should vet this potential client to be sure the company is legit? A I have gotten several requests that have looked legit. One was from a university nearby. That request had all the correct information—web addresses, correct contact name and numbers for the head of the purchasing department. So, I contacted the person at the university, but used their main listed phone number. I learned they were not the people soliciting my services. I went back to my website and checked the originating IP addresses. (My website captures the originating IP addresses as part of the inquiry record.) That address can be searched on the internet. So far, all those I’ve searched have been bogus. I discovered that the origination points for the IP that made the request originated in Africa. If it looks legit, and I can’t prove otherwise, I try to make contact by telephone with the person. DAVID LUKSH All Good Gifts & Promotions Boulder, Colorado If someone emails you or orders through the website, I would ask for the first payment to be by an automatic clearinghouse (ACH). You can set that up with your bank. There are too many scams and credit cards, as well as checks, that can be stopped. Also, search the address they give you and see what the image of the location is, and call the company itself. Unfortunately, in this day of so many scams, we need to be good detectives. MERYL HARWOOD A Creative Idea Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey We get scam calls and emails all the time. One of the main tellers is the spelling and grammar used, and if you can find them on LinkedIn and if the email matches the company instead of being a generic email. You said, “How did they find my website all the way fromNew York?” but this is how business is done now. We are a four- person operation located in Minnesota, but our second largest customer base is in El Paso, Texas, and our third largest is in Denver, Colorado. Once you have one or two good customers in a location, your business in that area tends to build. This is what you want! Also, the scams we’ve encountered tend to involve tech products. Again, use judgment based on spelling, grammar and overall communication. KATE HARTHAN Corporate Recognition, Inc. Owatonna, Minnesota It’s probably a scam. But you can check the WhoIs registration for the URL to see when it was created. If it’s from five years ago, do a further web search for the company and, separately, for the address and for the person. You can learn a lot via such searches. If the WhoIs shows the URL was created last month, that screams scam. If you decide to try the ACH transfer approach, work with your bank to set up an account just for the transfer, so they don’t have access to your real bank information. You can also check the IP address from the email 12 | FEBRUARY 2019 | INNOVATE