Everyone believes they are intelligent enough to recognize a bogus online agency when they see one, but scammers are becoming more inventive by the day.
The recent BBC exposé on Madbird, a posh digital design firm, was shocking.
The ‘company’ employed more than 50 remote workers, the majority of whom were hired on a commission-only basis for the first six months.
However, after a few months, the newly hired employees discovered that many of their online coworkers were fake, that they would not be paid because no project deals had been finalized, and that the founder was a pathological liar who fabricated his entire online persona.
That’s insane.
Here’s what you need to do to avoid being duped by these shady remote agencies.
Trust Your Gut Feelings
Consider a company that:
- Has decades of industry experience Provides every type of service under the sun Promises results in a very short time
- Quality customer service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Charges lower-than-average rates
Isn’t it too good to be true? That’s because it most likely is.
Any company worth its salt, you see, takes pride in its work.
It will not offer a wide range of services. Instead, it will typically provide specialized services in specialized industries. Why? Because it knows what it’s good at and doesn’t want its reputation to be tainted by shoddy work.
These companies will be honest with you about how long it will take to achieve meaningful results.
And because they understand how much value they bring to the table, they will not be cheap.
So trust your instincts when they tell you there must be a catch.
If your instincts are incorrect, it doesn’t really matter because there are plenty of other fish (agencies) in the sea.
However, if they are correct, you will avoid having your hard-earned money go poof.
Look up the Company’s Office Address
The days of these bogus online organizations using a P.O. box or another mailing system instead of a physical address are long gone.
To appear more authentic, they now proudly display a traceable office address. This makes sense because most people would not consider verifying the office address. If it’s mentioned, it has to be true, right?
Wrong! Always keep track of the office address. It was through this method that a Madbird employee first became aware of the scam.
She was curious to see what the commute would be like once the pandemic was over. But when Google Street View only showed a block of flats, which looked nothing like the sleek workspace featured on Madbird’s website, alarm bells began to ring in her head.
To confirm her suspicions, she immediately contacted a real estate agent who had a listing at the same address. And, surprise, surprise, Madbird’s global headquarters turned out to be entirely residential.
Conduct a Reverse Image Search
Did the digital portfolio of an agency ever really impress you? I’m sorry to break it to you, but it could have been stolen from another website on the internet.
You can perform an online reverse Google Image search to see if the work belongs to the agency in question.
This can assist you in locating the:
- URL of the original publication of the image
- Other websites where the image was posted
- Image types that are similar
The procedure is straightforward and can be completed in a matter of seconds.
You only need to do the following:
- Launch your browser on your PC or Mac.
- Navigate to the Google Images home page.
- In the search bar, click the camera icon.
Either paste the URL of the image or upload it from your computer.
You’ll be able to tell if the work belongs to the agency now.
You can also use this method to determine whether or not the people working at the agency are genuine.
Simply copy and paste the URL of their headshot image into the search box to see if similar photos appear.
Make Contact With Their Customers
It’s now common marketing practice to include glowing testimonials on a website’s homepage.
This fosters trust. After all, if so many seemingly real people are pleased with the product/service, the agency must be doing something right, right?
No, not exactly. Why? Because these testimonials are easily fabricated.
Simply download a stock image of a male or female, edit it slightly, add some praise for the agency, give this fictional character a fictitious name and company, and you’re done! You’ve obtained a ‘true’ testimonial.
Contact the agency’s testimonials to confirm its legitimacy.
Look for their websites or LinkedIn profiles and inquire about their experience with the agency.
If a website lacks testimonials, ask the agency to tell you about some of their previous clients.
In this scenario, a phony agency will almost certainly use ‘a breach of privacy as an excuse. Genuine organizations, on the other hand, will be more than happy to talk in-depth about their success stories.
Examine the Domain Authority of the Site
A phony online agency will have a phony website. A fake website will also have a low domain authority (DA).
Moz’s DA is a search engine ranking score. It is commonly used to determine a website’s chances of ranking high on search engine result pages (SERPs).
In general, it indicates how much trust a website has with search engines such as Google.
A newly created website will have a DA of one, whereas a website like Facebook will have a DA of one hundred.
To reduce your chances of falling for a scam, I recommend working with online agencies that have a DA of 30 or higher.
Is this to say that a website with 30+ DA is always safe? No.
Is it true that all websites with a DA of less than 30 are fake? No, it does not.
So, why is an agency with a DA of 30 or higher more trustworthy? Because it takes a long time and a lot of effort to reach the age of 30.
And I don’t believe the perpetrators of these scams are patient or diligent.
Learn more from business and read Ways to Avoid a Fake Crypto Exchange.
