Scams and solicitations are the bane of the internet, and affect countless businesses and individuals every day. Some of the most common scams involve domain registration and directory listings. Below, we discuss some ways that you can protect your dental practice from wasting money, and avoid accidentally giving a shady stranger the keys to your website.
Know your Accounts
A lot of these “companies” rely upon miscommunication and misinformation to make their money. You can protect yourself, and save your dental practice some serious headaches by keeping a close eye on your marketing accounts. Keep detailed records of your marketing accounts, so that if you receive a solicitation or fake invoice from an “online marketing company” claiming that you owe them money, you can look at your records to see if you are using their service. Additionally, you should discuss your marketing operations with the staff member in charge of your marketing and paying your accounts. This way, both of you are fully aware of the vendors your practice uses for online marketing, and you won’t needlessly pay a fraudulent bill.
Common Scams
Fake Domain Name Services
When you own a website, you open yourself to a litany of online scams. One of the most common misdeeds is a domain scam, where a company contacts your office and claims that you owe them money to keep your website name. These scams are often delivered in the form of a fake bill that includes your current domain name as well some of your “account information.”
The bottom line is this: if you’ve never heard of the company, nor done business with them, then you should ignore the “bill” and throw it away. The only company that will legitimately contact you about renewing your domain name is your web host.
Fake Directories
These can be a bit more difficult to identify and squash, but this scam usually unfolds like this: you receive a call or a piece of mail threatening to remove your dental practice from numerous online directories unless you pay a bill or subscribe to their services. Here’s the thing: legitimate businesses with which you affiliate will not contact you and threaten your business. Any sort of unsolicited threat should be an immediate red flag that you’re dealing with a scam. Real businesses want to help your dental practice grow, and will contact you in a positive way and outline how their services can help your business grow.
Some examples of domain, SEO, and website backup scams:
The Warning Signs of a Scam
You may be dealing with a marketing scam if…
– You receive an invoice or call from a business or directory that you’ve never heard of, and that you cannot verify.
– You receive a call from someone claiming to be from Google. But, Google never makes outbound calls regarding your local listings and improving them.
– You receive a renewal notice or bill from a company with which you’ve never done business.
– You receive a warning that your website domain will be taken down, or sold, if you do not renew your domain with a company of which you’ve never heard.
– You receive a verification form with a fake form or ad mock up asking you to verify the information as correct. Buried in the fine print is an agreement to purchase the ad upon filling out the information.
-Your office receives a credit collection threat from a company you’ve never heard of or with which you’ve never worked.
Be Thorough
Every pediatric dentist should exercise extreme caution when receiving a solicitation or fake bill. Before taking action (if any at all), thoroughly read the fine print of the solicitation. Most times, they will state somewhere on the fake bill that it is in fact a solicitation, and not a bill. However, this can be difficult to find, so read over it carefully. If you are still unsure, then call the company and ask for them to submit a record of your transaction history with them. If they can’t provide a history of your business, then you know for sure that you haven’t enlisted their help and that they are attempting to scam you.
Smile Savvy manages most of our clients’ domains, which helps take the uncertainty out of fraudulent domain solicitations. Contact Smile Savvy for a complimentary online presence evaluation if you’re concerned that you may be the target of a marketing scam.
