Anatomy of a Scam

How do you know if you are being recruited or being conned?

The old saying, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true” is an old saying for a reason. It is the truth.

I was being recruited to do some freelance writing, and it turned out to be a scam. I am not sure what their end game was. They could have gotten credit cards if they had enough information on me. It would be a lot of trouble just to get a free story written.

This crew was pretty good and could fool a beginner. It looks legitimate, but there were some things early on that didn’t sit right. That got my BS monitor clicking, and then I started questioning things. If there is a red flag, it’s there for a reason and should be checked out.

If there is a red flag, it’s there for a reason and should be checked out.

I wanted to share the story to help others avoid being scammed, and talk about some things to look out for.

It didn’t feel right. I have been approached about writing before. It is usually very simple. They want a sample and tell you what they are looking for. There is some trust involved on both sides. This one was had hoops to jump through. That’s legitimate for a regular job, but not for freelancers. What exactly they wanted was vague.

All the flag warnings

The first contact was from a Twitter account name Deborah Bush. It looked like a company’s Twitter page. There was information about oil pipelines and buried lines and such — the type of thing you would expect from an energy company like Energy Transfer. She messaged me on Twitter and asked if I was interested in writing for them, and said she was the editor of publications. So far it looked good. Maybe she did like my writing.

The first red flag was, she said a guy named Christopher was going to send me a job description. Freelance writers don’t need job descriptions. They want the story, you write it, they pay you. That’s usually all there is. I waited a while but it showed up in my spam folder. Ok that happens I guess but still enough to make you ask questions. Why does someone else need to send it to me was another question.

The second red flag was the job description. The job description was for a full-time job, but the work was remote. I don’t want a full-time job, but they could have just sent the wrong form. It was offering $5,000 a month. A top writer might make that much, but no one is going to pay that for a basic writer. This was the first day. My BS monitor was clicking louder, but it still looked legitimate enough to keep going.

The third red flag was Chris. Then this Chris character — the one with the form — started texting me. They did ask for my resume and a couple of samples. Chris claimed to be in charge of human relations, so that sounded reasonable enough. Some companies treat freelancers like employees and some do not. It was then I noticed it took them a long time to answer even a simple yes or no type question. It was weird how I was talking to Chris and Deborah, and it seemed like they had not communicated at all. I thought maybe it is just an unorganized bureaucracy so that seemed like real writers to me.

The interview. This was the most legitimate part of the process. I met up with Deborah on Slack. It had all the bells and whistles of a legit business meeting, complete with a list of names of users. Deborah came on and interviewed me with some very good questions. I asked her a few questions and got sound answers. It did take a long time for her to respond, but it sounded like a legitimate job interview. She didn’t want to turn on video or voice, which seemed strange, but I didn’t want to have to shave and put on a shirt anyway, so I didn’t complain.

One suspicious thing though. They talked about how this was the communications center for all the writing. There were no other discussions that I could see. There should have been evidence of other people talking.

The fourth red flag was the pay. She said it was for freelancing one or two stories per week, but didn’t answer me when I asked about what I had received from Chris. She said they paid $700 for a 500-word story and would want two per week. Well, this was the oil industry, but that is ridiculously high.

Back to Chris. Then she said she wanted me to talk with Chris again on Slack. I asked what time zone. She said Eastern, but I knew already the company headquarters was in Dallas. Chris’s texts came from a phone on the east coast as well. Deborah and Chris also used the same user name on Slack and were never there together.

The fifth and final flag. So Chris tells me it is a part-time job with just four hours a day. Remote writers don’t have set hours. Then he sent me a form to fill out. It looked like a typical job application form a Human Resource person would give you, and it had the company logo. He said he wanted me to fill it out and return it immediately.

My BS monitor is off the scale now. I know HR managers give out those silly applications but they are never urgent. I told him it would be a few hours, and he said he would wait.

Busting the scam

Investigation: I had already done some research, and so far everything was legitimate, or at least kind of ok. Deborah had a legit business-looking Twitter page. I tried finding her on the Internet in general and found her name with stories related to the oil industry, but not to Energy Transfer.

Then I looked up Chris Curian, who turned out to be the executive human resource officer for the entire corporation. Ok, I’m no oil expert, but a top-10 executive of a multi-national company with thousands of employees is not going to be dealing with a freelance writer.

Visit the website. I found the company’s website. It has a media relations section and had a lot of articles. There is a lot of information there, so maybe they do have a media department that produces the material. But Deborah said she was the editor. You would think her name would be there somewhere, but it was not. I looked through at least 20 articles and publications and there was no Deborah to be found. Also used the site’s search function, and again, no Deborah.

I decided to contact the company myself — which is probably what I should do at the beginning. This is a huge company with offices around the world, but I managed to find the headquarters, which was in Dallas. It took a few calls but I finally got in touch with someone in the media relations department.

They don’t have a Deborah Bush, and they don't hire freelancers on the internet-or at all really. Chris Curia is real but does not deal with hiring individuals.

The Takeaway

Always “trust but verify.” A legitimate person or organization is not going to mind you doing that. I should have done the research first in this adventure.

Investigate red flags. If anything seems suspicious at all, ask about that and investigate yourself. If something doesn’t make sense, even something small, check it out.

If something feels off, listen to that feeling. It is there for a reason. You should be able to get that addressed easily. If not, then there is a real issue.

If it’s too good to be true, it's probably not true. A price far from the norm is suspect.

A little paranoia never hurt anyone.