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Email Scam Targets Home Stagers

Guest post by: Debra Gould

Article Overview: The Staging Diva, cautions home stagers about a new email scam that specifically targets stagers.

Email Scam Targets Home Stagers

In case you were still wondering how many people have heard of home staging, here’s further proof that this is a well established field. It seems the scam artists are starting to crawl out from under their rocks to see if they can con home stagers into sending them money!

This is a twist on the “send money to a foreign country to rescue a dying relative” or “assist a diplomat who needs help getting millions out of the country and you’ll be rewarded” — this time with a script rewritten for home stagers and decorators or interior designers who might do work for home owners who are living abroad.

In this scam the interior designer or home stager is contacted by an out-of-country “homeowner” by email. The sender leads you on about a project and tries to build a rapport all in the hopes of tricking you into handing over your money.

In the specific case I’ve heard about, the stager said the man was very vague around details of the home. He wouldn’t answer the stager’s questions. Instead, he seemed focused on whether or not she had credit card processing abilities. Even though the stager didn’t provide an estimate for staging fees (because she didn’t have enough information from the “client”), he told her that she was to charge $16,000 to his credit card, keeping $8,000 for herself and sending $8,000 to his “artist.”

Thankfully, this home stager didn’t fall into the trap of being blinded by the promised $8,000 fee, and when she questioned this arrangement she never heard from the man again.

Look out for schemes like this because unfortunately, some of people are just too trusting and they will do something like this, trying to help someone out. Otherwise, email scams would not still be so very prevalent.

If you found the article useful, you can find tons more just like it at Debra Gould’s business blog the Home Staging Business Report. Updated regularly several times per week, it contains lots of advice, inspiration and motivation for you to apply to your home staging business whether you’re just starting out, or are an established pro.

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Article Tags: email scam, home stagers, home staging



Related Forum Posts
Re: Quote of the Day - "We are each responsible for our own life - In one of my articles related to "Is It a Scam or is it YOU" most cry Scam when in fact they have done nothing the with the program, havent followed the bluprint or the training, improperly marketed it. etc. "One mans scam may be another mans bonanza" is a quote used. Summing up the article, Do your Own Due Diligence, Make your own decision, and finally "Take Responsibility for your Decision regardless of the outcome Good or Bad"
Re: Profiles on Infamous Entrepreneurs? - Hi Kevin, I guess the point about running a "Scam" thread would be to attract those different opinions so they can be aired on an open forum and responded to fairly. Both sides of the argument could then be seen in one place (here!).
Web magazine publisher - My duties 1) Research the articles that goes into each of my webzines - science fiction in all media, various sports (Yay, Lady Vols, 8th championship in 2008, by the way!) 2) Write the articles 3) Format and upload them to the web 4) Email and network various contacts to get out the word that new articles are available. 5) Email authors, actors, etc. etc. to see if they want to do interviews. 6) Advertise for more contributors - and then edit and upload their material!
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Re: Email Marketing - Yes, true. What kind of changes happened in Email campaigns except the opt-in? Finding the exact target and reaching them is always a challenge. What new methods can we have to reach the new customers? Thanks Robert


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