If you own an online store, be it on Shopify or Woo-commerce, you’ve probably dealt with annoying emails from scammers claiming to offer support and SEO services.
Typically, these emails go like this:
Hello friend, hope I’m sending this message to the active store owner I’m Mark A Shopify developer. Recently viewed your store from the Shopify community and I’m glad with your product sample. And i made some free analysis on your store and unfortunately, your store is missing out on some sale’s boosting features, traffic volume flows, and some advanced Marketing features that are hindering your store from getting sales. Would you be open to further on these aspects so you could start getting your desired result?
Since these scammers often use Gmail accounts, you can report the email here: [Google’s Report Abuse Link]
Google might close their email account, but they can create a new one and continue sending phishing emails.
Common services offered by these E-Commerce Support Scammers
Many times their emails will start with something simple, such as posing as a customer and asking a question about your products or website. Then they dive into saying how they can help you grow your business.
They offer to:
- Provide SEO services
- improve Sales Funnels
- Advertising PPC
They will even be very informed, or offer you evaluations of your e-commere site performance. These report can be obtained for fre from many legitamite services, such as ahrefs.com, semrush.com and many others.
So, how should you deal with these scam emails?
The best approach is to:
- Ignore them
- Mark them as spam
- or report them to your ISP or email provider.
Responding only confirms your valid email address, leading to more unsolicited emails. These emails are phishing for your information and may pose a serious security risk by injecting viruses or malware into your website.
What if they offer to change your store’s theme?
Engaging with these scammers might lead to them offering a discounted “premium theme” to optimize your e-commerce store. Be cautious as these themes may contain malware or be copies that can’t be updated, leaving your store vulnerable.
If you allowed for them to access your information, you should find a real professional to check your site, and revert back to your previous theme.
If you decided to pay?
Paying only encourages their theft operation. Their services are not worth the cost, and you won’t see good returns.
Many times they offer SEO services. True SEO is complicated, it involves proper structure, quality well written content that is user friendly and easy to read, along with a quantity of quality backlinks to the site. It involves time and effort, there is no easy or quick solution.
Let’s unite against E-commerce Support Scams!
I encourage you to share your experiences in the comments below. If you’ve fallen victim to a phishing scam related to your Shopify or Woo-commerce store, share your story to help others learn and avoid such fraud.
Leave their contact information along with your experience, and let’s build a supportive community.
Here is another one: [email protected]
Got this one from [email protected]
Good Morning,
I checked your website and saw you have a good design,
but it’s not ranking on Google and other major search engines.
I’m an SEO Expert and I helped over 250 businesses rank on the (1st Page on Google). My rates are very affordable.
Let me know if I can send you the plan with pricing. (It’s free of cost)
Thanks,
Mitchell
Note: – I will be happy to send you more information (It’s free of cost)
Received this one today from [email protected]
Hey there, i’m a new visitor to your to your online store and i am reaching out to acknowledge your effort in setting up the store, your products are good looking and i woud love to know more about your products and support your business. Do you mind if i support your business by sharing some tips and advice with you on how to get more traffic and sales conversion using some new Shopify Apps, Email, Google, and your social media?? if yes, i’d love to have a chat with you to discuss all this in detailed way.
[email protected]
This particular scammer started as mentioned above, asking about the website. When I said they were scammers and that Karma would get them, they started making threats saying they would destroy my website and all sorts of junk.