Welcome to the latest installment in my newsletter where I share tech tips, news, and other info you can use to advance your author career.

Today’s newsletter was inspired by a paper letter I  received earlier this week from a company that was trying to convince me that I owed them $180 for the cost of hosting my website.

I host my website and many others, so naturally I did not fall for their scam, but I found the letter so alarming that I thought it was worth spreading the word and warning others about the scam.

Here are four different scams that have crossed my desk recently.

The “YourWebsite.com is about to expire” Scam

One type of scam email that I receive frequently is from scammers who are trying to convince me that I owe them money for the renewal of some type of service. The scammers usually pretend to be the company I registered the domain with, and the email will usually be framed as a helpful reminder.

Sometimes they will have a message like:

Your Domain SEO-listing shown below are set for renewal and need to be processed in the next 48 hours. No worry, please click on this link and follow the instructions.

If you get an email like this, delete the email. Then go visit the site where you registered your website’s domain, and make sure that all your gees are up to date. It’s better to be safe than sorry, but whatever you do, don’t click on a link in the suspect email.

The “Main Street Web Pros” Scam

There are companies who will send you fake bills in an attempt to convince you that you owe them money for a service they are not providing. 

For example, on 19 February 2019, I got a paper letter from a Florida-based web design firm called “Main Street Web Pros”. The letter closely resembled a bill, and was designed to make me think MSWP hosted my website, and that I owed them $180 for this service.

I have never done business with this firm before nor have I heard their name, but after looking online I found that MSWP does have a rather sparsely filled out website. Their online presence provides a veneer of legitimacy, but it is really just a cover for the scam letters they send in the mail.

This company has tried to convince at least two other people I know of that we ow MSWP money for their services.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeProbst/status/1097548777219649536

If you get a letter like this, the best thing to do is contact the USPS by visiting the U.S. Postal Service Inspection website, or by calling 1-800-275-8777. You will need to give the investigator information from the letter so that the scammer can be prosecuted.

The “Domain Notification for YourWebsite.com” Scam

Another type of scam email that I get all the time is from scammers who try to sell me a worthless “domain listing” service. This time the scammer doesn’t try to convince me they are a company I already do business with, but they are selling me a worthless service.

The emails frequently read something like:

Attn: Nathaniel Hoffelder As a courtesy to domain name holders, we are sending you this notification for your business Domain name search engine registration. This letter is to inform you that it's time to send in your registration.

Failure to complete your Domain name search engine registration by the expiration date may result in cancellation of this offer making it difficult for your customers to locate you on the web.

If you get one of these emails, just go ahead and delete it. The service they are selling you is worthless, and you have better ways to spend your money.

The “We recorded you watching Porn” Scam

This scam is my favorite.

Every so often I get an email that claims I was tricked into installing malware on my computer the last time I visited a porn site. The email claims that the malware captured a recording from my webcam that showed, well, you get the idea.

The email is usually written in semi-literate technical gibberish and ends with a blackmail threat. If I send the scammer $500 in Bitcoin, they won’t release the video of me doing you know what.

If you get this email, just delete it – I always do.

The thing about these emails is that they are sent to randomly generated email addresses. I have in fact gotten the emails via email addresses that don’t exist (they show up in the “undeliverable” folder on my email server).

The scammer doesn’t actually have an incriminating video; instead, the scammer is counting on a few gullible victims falling for the lies in the email.

If you are really concerned, ask for proof. The scammer won’t have any, and they may not even bother to respond.

Thanks for reading this newsletter! Please let me know if you need any help with your site; fixing sites is my passion.