When I was at the Hastings Museum, we got hit with a rather insidious one that specifically targets small business and nonprofits, believing that we don't have the legal knowledge or resources to fight back. Basically, the scam is that someone calls claiming to represent your local Yellow Pages, wanting to "verify" your listing.  Unbeknowst to you, they will record the conversation, or they'll say they're recording it for training purposes.  If the victims say "yes" or something similar during the conversation, they splice it in to a prerecorded conversation about authorizing enrollment for their "premium" web directory listing services. Then they send postdated invoices claiming that your payment is overdue, so there are late fees, etc. added to the amount due. If you call to complain, they play back the recording at you, claiming that they are legally owed the money because someone at your business authorized the charges. Here's the FTC link & description with more detail and other variants: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/small-business-scams

In our particular case, I went straight to the Better Business Bureau and the FCC, and eventually got asked to submit evidence in a deposition that shut down one of them. The main problem is that the original Yellow Pages either never registered or has let lapse the name and logo, so there are a ton of imposters out there, including lots of scammers using it as cover.

Good luck!

Scott Heath

W. Scott Heath

Operations Manager

(308) 865-8559

[log in to unmask]

 

Museum of Nebraska Art

2401 Central Avenue

Kearney, NE 68847




On Fri, Jan 8, 2016 at 8:48 AM, William Shepherd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello,

 

Who would have thought scammers would have to move on to the museum community? They must have heard about all the extra funds museums have!

 

To the original email, not much you can do other than blocking the email but even then they are going to be using new email address’ all the time so it’s a bit of a futile effort. If you don’t respond further they will likely move on, it’s not worth their time when there’s other pickings to be had. Depending on who has access to email, let those people see the emails you received and make sure they bring any to you that they have concerns about in the future.

 

William Shepherd

Collections Officer

Swift Current Museum

44 Robert Street West

Swift Current, Saskatchewan

S9H 4M9

Phone: 306-778-4815

Fax: 306-778-4818

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Rebman
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2016 5:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] email scam and museums

 

It is a scam, a variation on a 419 scam.  "Ralph Baldwin" and other pseudonyms sent similar messages to a number of personal trainers and nutrition coaches in 2014 and 2015, regarding training and transportation for a small group of minors.  Those messages included similar run-on sentences, irregularly capitalized "I", broken grammar, and references to private charter buses.  It could mean this particular scam is moving on to museums.


Michael Rebman

 

On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 5:40 PM, Robin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Is anyone else getting email scams like this? I’m guessing it is a scam. The initial emails sounded very plausible – wanting to make a reservation for a group of students to visit our museum. (I was a bit skeptical of the initial emails due to the poor grammar and odd syntax.) When I wrote back with our rates, and need for more detailed info – contact name, address, school, etc. I got the following email in response:

 

Okay fine,I would like you to do this very important favor for me and the favor is that am going to give you my card to charge for the sum of $1000 while you will deduct the sum of $250 for the tour reason for that is due to my own fee as the only adult then i would like to donate $250 to support the museum and have the remaining $500 send to the charter  driver.So that the driver is going to drive them to your place, the driver would be picking each student up from their various houses, i have not pay for the charter that will be bringing them to your location and i don't have cash now with me and they also don't have credit card facility they only accept upfront cash payment for their service,so that you can help me to bill my credit card for your service with the charter bus and also and paying for 5% to 7% credit card company charge  then send the driver's fund through (Via money gram) outlet nearest to you,Kindly let me know if you would be able to do it.

 

Best Regards

Ralph Baldwin

 

I’m just wondering if there is a scam geared towards museums that I had not previously heard about.  Also – other than to ignore/block the emails, do I need to do anything else to protect our computer system.

 

Thanks,

Robin

--------------------

Robin H. Gabriel

Executive Director

Kaminski House Museum

Georgetown, SC 29440

 

All e-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to public disclosure under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

This correspondence is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is proprietary,

privileged, confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure.

 

 

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