consultant.com email addresses - do they all belong to scammers?

[DJ]

Evening all,

Over the last few years I've had more than a handful of enquiries from people with consultant.com email addresses, and it was obvious that they were a scam.

My question is are all the addresses owned by scammers as I've had another enquiry come through from one. This time it isn't obvious that it is a scammer, but my gut is leaning me towards believing it is based on past experiences and what I've read about consultant.com.

Any positive experiences or should I trust my gut and walk away?

Cheers,

DJ

 

[Systreg]

I used to bait a lot of scammers, they mostly used Yahoo email, but also regularly used free email addresses from mail.com, where you could get a range official sounding addresses like [email protected]

I think mail.com also used to supply names like @barrister.com, @lawyer.com, @banker.com, @accountant.com back in the day, which were great for scammers to convince victims they were official lawyers and bankers.

I would not trust any email from consultant.com or other variants above.

 

[DJ]

I used to bait a lot of scammers, they mostly used Yahoo email, but also regularly used free email addresses from mail.com, where you could get a range official sounding addresses like [email protected]

I think mail.com also used to supply names like @barrister.com, @lawyer.com, @banker.com back in the day, which were great for scammers to convince victims they were official lawyers and bankers.

I would not trust any email from consultant.com or other variants above.

Thanks for confirming what I am thinking. I don't need the sale so will let it drag on and then tell them it's no longer available.

Cheers!

 

[Systreg]

You could try taking a couple of sentences or larger block of text from the email, and put it in Google between " ", scammers often use the same email text over and over, though not always the case, but if someone else has posted the same email message online, the text snippet should show up in Google.

(Edit)

If it's relating to a domain name, it's often a domain appraisal scam, which are pretty common.

Those work simply by saying they're interested in your domain, and then they'll ask for an appraisal, and give you a link to a site that does them. You pay for the appraisal but they had no intention of buying the domain, they just wanted you to pay for the appraisal.

 

[webber]

Personally I think it's worth getting back to any potential lead you get. You just never know...
Set up canned messages that you can easily reply with for various situations. Don't waste time on them if you have any suspicion they might be spam, but do give them some reply and see where that takes it.
Obviously some are so obviously spa/bots that they are very easy to filter out. They usually promote something or have nothing to do with the domain at all.
This is why it's useful to have captcha and email verification, but as someone pointed out in, an earlier thread, you might even wish to disable them sometimes and just get the form data and decide for yourself, as long as you're not bombarded with too many useless messages.

 

[DJ]

The lead first came in 3 months ago but never went anywhere when I told him I couldn't accept PayPal. He has now come back and is willing to 'use his credit card to pay via bank transfer', he didn't elaborate on how.

The address he has given is an obscure business/retail park, and he hasn't given a phone number. I fear it is some cand of Credit Card fraud.

I was thinking of asking for ID and POA, but I doubt he will be willing to give this.

@webber congrats on being re-elected!

 

[webber]

Thanks DJ!
Load the lead manually into Dan (just 5% commission) and they can pay however they wish. Let Dan perform the security checks on the card and take the liability

 

[DJ]

Just to give an update on this. I decided to put the transaction through dan.com as I was reluctant to send an invoice.

They then asked for an invoice again, to which I replied that it wasn't necessary as dan.com were handling the payment. He then accepted the imported transaction from dan.com and a couple of hours later emailed to say his client changed his mind.

Another member contacted me to advise they had made a deal with someone recently who had a consultant.com email address and everything seemed fine, but they never heard from them once they sent the invoice. Turns out it was the same guy.

I'm not quite sure exactly what he is hoping to gain, it seems like it might be some sort of fishing scam to obtain information.

Anyway, I wasn't going to name him, but as there is a clear pattern here I feel other members should be forewarned.

The guy's name is Robert Gardener, so tread carefully if you receive an email and be careful what information you share.

All the best!