It’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged, which is unusual for me. My apologies to my readers, but I believe I have legitimate excuses – spending one week visiting family in the St. Louis area, and another acting as a panelist at the National Veteran Small Business Coalition’s (“NVSBC”) annual conference in Reno, Nevada.
While I considered covering the recent Kingdomware district court decision, Hardy Stone and Steve Koprince did such a good job reporting on the subject that I decided to leave it to them. Here’s the spoiler: the veterans lost.
This week I’m going to shake things up a little and discuss scams. They’re still out there, and because scam artists are getting smarter, they’re even more of a threat. I want to single one out that almost worked.*
While in Reno, I was watching a movie while working on my computer. One of my clients emailed me with a question. “Sarah!” he said. “I thought you paid for our trademark application! I just wrote a check.”
Instantly warning bells went off. I had applied for several trademarks for this client, and part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO”) process is you pay for the application before you submit it. They don’t bill you later. After that, you’re done. No more fees.
I relayed this to the client, and he responded by sending me a picture of the bill he’d received.
Seriously now. Bravo. Gone are the days of “Nigerian princesses” sending us spam, asking us for measly sums in exchange for helping them transfer million of dollars. Whoever sent this piece of mail to my client – who is, by the way, very smart – was a pro.
The letter was from a company in Alexandria, Virginia. (The USPTO is in Alexandria). For just $385 (which is more expensive than the trademark application itself), it would register your trademark with the United States Customs and Border Protection and “monitor” improper uses of the trademark. The letter was carefully worded to not only look official, but to create the impression that it came from a government source. (In fact, the USPTO warns about this company on its website).
“Shred the check!” I told the client, and thanks to our quick conversation, the check went in the shredder instead of out with the mail. Shwew.
Another associate of mine almost fell victim to a company that was going to charge him $25.00 to register his domain name. The correspondence received looked like a real invoice, was only $25.00, and the domain was in fact going to expire soon. Someone had done their homework by not asking for enough to raise a red flag, but by researching almost-expired domains.
As small business owners, we need to be wary of tricks like these. Scammers are getting smarter, and it’s easy to get taken in because we’re too busy to stop and think about whether the mail we’ve received makes sense.
It’s your hard-earned money. Don’t give it to a scammer!
*Story told with the permission – and in fact, encouragement – of the client.
