At the end of the year, many small businesses take stock and plan how to do better in the next year– much like how individuals check their bank accounts and step on their scales to see how they can improve those numbers come January 2019.  The desire to improve is commendable. Yet, where large companies have skilled experts on their payroll to apply tried-and-true strategies, small businesses don’t.  They rely on external professional opinions. As a result, scammers tend to target solo entrepreneurs and small business owners.

1. The “You don’t know anything about SEO or websites” Scam

Nearly every day, we get an email from someone who claims to be an SEO expert.  Granted, a few of these professionals might actually know a thing or two about SEO, but even they make their services sound too good to be true.  These professionals will inform you that if you knew SEO, or had a better website, you would have more customers.  Your website would rank higher on Google Search Results.  Your business would get more exposure, which then would result in more sales, or clients, or fame.

The truth is that you don’t know if they have SEO skills. You don’t know if their website design is better than your current one, or the one you were thinking about designing.  The SEO scammer knows you lack the internet knowledge to question their scam, and will send you “personalized” reports that they can generate with a click of the mouse.  These reports are copy pasted information that will tell you all the things you need to improve–for a price.  All your problems can be solved by throwing money at them.  Don’t forget to ask them how much.

2. The “You Deserve An Award or Feature” Scam

Back in the day, scammers used to sell “directory listings” as a way for small business owners to gain exposure and new clients.  The SEO scam is a modern version of that scam, but there is another scam that is similar: the “Congratulations! You have been featured” scam.

In this scam, you receive an email or phone call about you, or your company, has personally been selected to be “featured” or awarded something.  The scammer provides a lot of details on the publication, company, or organization that is granting you this great honor, and asks you quite a few questions about when you would like to be “honored”.  At the end of the conversation, they will give you a price.  It’s usually a few hundred dollars for an award and a few thousand dollars for a feature.

Many small business owners will think of it as an “investment”, thinking this cost will be offset by the respect having that plaque or print magazine feature hanging on their wall will buy them. If you feel the same way, that’s fine with us, but we think it’s cheaper to self-publish.

3. The “You Can Be Like Me” Scam

The modern day “You Can Be Like Me” scam is usually done by an “influencer“, someone who is popular, has a wide following, and is able to use his or her influence to sell products and services.  First of all, there are plenty of influencers who are not who they say they are, but there are also influencers who are not as wealthy or successful as they claim to be.  They use their popularity to gain free products and services from businesses in exchange for reviews and exposure.  On an initial level, a small business owner can be scammed by a person who claims to be an influencer, but actually only has fake followers. That’s why there’s no ROI.

On a second level, the influencer will sell coaching programs to teach ordinary people how to become like them.  When they target small business owners, or aspiring entrepreneurs, they will highlight how easy it was to get started and how they earn “passive income” and were finally able to quit their nine to five jobs.

On a final level, there are professional coaches who aspire to be influencers.  They sell coaching programs that promise you great things, but it’s almost impossible to verify their credentials. It is also difficult to glean whether or not a coaching program has worked for you.  Are you lagging in progress because your coach is sub-par, because the content doesn’t speak to you, or because you haven’t been putting in enough effort? If something doesn’t work, the coach will say they have a better idea and this next strategy will definitely work for you.  It’s comparable to the blind following the blind.

4. The “Phishing Scam”

Scammers “fish” for your company information via a “phishing scam” by telephone or email.  If by email, they will impersonate a real company, such as Google or Fedex, and ask that you “login” to their fake website that looks exactly like the real website.  If by phone, they will try to “verify” your information over the phone, and expect you to make purchases or pay bills on the phone with them to gain your credit card information.  Avoid this scam by directly typing the URL of the website your trying to access rather than clicking on email links. If you receive an email that you suspect could be a scam, avoid clicking anything and mark as spam immediately.

5. The “Did You Forget” Scam

Scammers know that small business owners tend to have an external accountant, or someone else in the company acting as bookkeeper.  They also know that small business owners tend to be busy and do not have time to mind every single invoice that enters their inbox.  As such, they will often send random invoices, even past due reminders, to pressure accountants to pay off balances immediately.  We have seen emails for services never rendered, hotel vacations in Ventura, and office supplies we didn’t buy. Be careful of email invoices and ensure that every invoice is matched with an internal request.

 

We hope by writing and talking about the five scams we’ve listed, and more, we can help small business owners avoid being scammed.  Remember, if it sounds like it might be too good to be true, it probably is.  For the official Federal Trade Commission anti-scam guide, click here.

Are you worried you might be a victim of a scam? Give us a call and talk to our attorney today.

 

The U.S. EB-5 Immigrant Investment Program offers foreign investors and entrepreneurs permanent residence (a green card) in exchange for an investment of $1 million (or $500,000 for targeted employment areas) and job creation.  Over the years, EB-5 investment has virtually guaranteed its investors citizenship, even if it cannot guarantee a return on its high-risk investment.  However, recent years have revealed that many EB-5 marketing agencies, EB-5 regional centers, and EB-5 projects were nothing but utopian pyramid and ponzi schemes.

If you didn’t know about the warning…

Every year, the US releases 10,000 visas to EB-5 immigrant investors, but it wasn’t till 2013 that all 10,000 visas were claimed.  Since then, the government has released an official warning to investors regarding the prevalence of EB-5 fraud.  In the warning, the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals a few warning signs investors should steer clear of:

  • guarantees of a visa, green card, or citizenship
  • guarantees of a return on investment (5% in SEC v. Marco A. Ramirez, et al.)
  • promises of “no risk” investment
  • proof of overly consistent returns on investment
  • agencies that promote a business before USCIS has designated it as a Regional Center
  • promises to refund Regional Center administrative fees if the EB-5 visas are denied (SEC v. A Chicago Convention Center, et al.)
  • unregistered investments
  • unlicensed sellers
  • many companies run by a handful of people

If you’re curious about past cases of fraud…

Other well-known EB-5 fraud cases include:

  • USA v. Jennifer Yang, Daniel Wu – Californian (norcal) couple raised $4 million between 2009 and 2016 through the EB-5 visa program by defrauding the gov’t with fake reports, fake employees, etc.
  • Edward Chen, Jean Chen – Californian Chinese-American couple raised $22.5 million through Chinese EB-5 investors and stole more than $12 million, misappropriating more than 91 percent of the investors’ funds, and defrauding the gov’t by issuing leases with fake information.
  • Victoria Chan, California Investment Immigration Fund –  South El Monte-based father-daughter duo raised over $50 million from Chinese investors by submitting over 130 fraudulent EB-5 applications.
  • Jay Peak, Inc. – A ski resort company raised $360 million between 2006 and 2016 for various construction projects that were not realized.
  • Xin “Lisa” Wang, Charles C. Liu – Raised $27 million to build a proton-beam cancer treatment center, but 18 months later it was discovered the funds had just been divided among the agents (Los Angeles, 2016).
  • Emilio Francisco, PDC Capital – Californian (OC) Attorney collected $72 million from investors to fund various projects from coffee shops to assisted living facilities only to divert at least $9.6 million for his personal use.
  • Steve Qi – Alhambra-based attorney sued for pocketing money from both investors and regional centers while fraudulently promoting EB-5 projects based on personal gain.
  • Anshoo Sethi, A Chicago Convention Center LLC – Chicago-based attorney raised over $158 million through over 290 Chinese investors for a hotel project that never took off.

If you’re looking to invest…

The SEC also offers helpful tips as to how to avoid EB-5 fraud:

  • Confirm a Regional Center is on the official list
  • Ask the Regional Center for official USCIS documents, such as the form I-924, and I-924A
  • Ask for a copy of the written investment memorandum
  • Ask if the agents/promoters are being paid
  • Hire a third-party to verify the investment
  • Weight the risk by reviewing the loan documents
  • Confirm if the developers have also invested in the project
  • Confirm a regional center can operate in your geographic location

If you’re worried…

If you have reason to believe an EB-5 investment project is a scam, or a Regional Center, agent, or seller is suspicious, you can report their activities to the SEC here. The SEC typically offers a monetary award to successful whistle-blowers. Scams can also be reported through Immigration (USCIS) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

If you’ve already invested…

The attorneys at Lum Law Group has experienced business litigators with traditional EB-5 and class-action law suit experience.  If you believe your investment qualifies as EB-5 fraud, we can help you. In the end, EB-5 is nothing more than a business contract.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is for visitors (aka tourists) from qualifying countries under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) who want to visit enter the US for up to three months.  Where before, such visitors could visit without any prior authorization, now they are required to register to ensure that they “pass” the security test. Many airlines will not board passengers from Visa Waiver Program countries unless they have an ESTA.

The good news is that you can apply for an ESTA in as little as ten minutes, at the airport, from your cellphone, etc. Some airlines will even do it for you at the counter.  It takes little to no preparation to apply for an ESTA, but you do need a VISA/MASTERCARD debit or credit card in order to pay for registration.

Here’s where it can go wrong.  When you’re in a hurry, or struggling to read tiny words off a mobile screen, you don’t have time to read the URLs of the websites you’re visiting.  You probably just typed in “ESTA” on your web browser, or opened Google.Com, and clicked “search”.

Nowadays, the first two or four results on Google are promotional advertisements. These ads will always place above a government website link on Google.  Some websites also hire SEO pros to rank their websites above government websites. Many are duped by them in their USCIS immigration visa applications, or for their ESTAs.

Check that the website you’re on is an official .GOV website. If not, it may not be secure. It may ask you for more than USD $14 for a completed ESTA application.

Here’s a website that charges a USD $83 “processing fee” in addition to the $14 ESTA registration fee:

This is not an official website

Notice how it reads “FREE” eligibility test? You don’t need that. If you click on the green button it’ll take you here:

This is why you should always read the fineprint

This website takes advantage of people who are stressed, in a hurry, using a preparer (like a airline employee who doesn’t never better), and people whose first language is not English. It even ranks second on Google search:

This Google search is in Finnish

We have heard people complain about being charged $65 for a last minute ESTA application at the airport. Don’t let that happen to you! Be warned and be prepared.