I often behave like Chicken Little, you know, ??the sky is falling.? ?ÿOr as one of your signature lines says, ??just because I am paranoid, it does not mean they are not still out to get me.?
Or, this may be a totally legitimate situation. ?ÿThe new potential client may just be very busy. ?ÿI don??t know?
I got an email on Friday from a potential new client from Iowa, who wanted an ALTA update on a 2007 survey. ?ÿThey had the pdf of the correct job. ?ÿThey also shared with me the correct title work as soon as I requested it.
She signed my contract on Sunday, and said she wanted to wire me the retainer fee. ?ÿI emailed her my routing and checking account numbers on Monday.
Radio silence since then. ?ÿI have emailed as recently as Wednesday (yesterday) morning. ?ÿNo word.
I have been watching that checking account closely. ?ÿNo strange activity. ?ÿGlad I have multiple accounts (buckets) and keep the balance in that account relatively low.
?ÿ
Probably just shopping, or the deal fell out
I have asked my bankers about security, One Way in, No Way Out, and have confirmed exactly what data is safe to provide. Call your bank, they should be able to put your mind at ease (of assist watching your account)
It will be OK.?ÿ But, I get nervous anytime anyone for any reason wants information that I view as sensitive.
Hard to tell what this person is up to, perhaps changing mind, perhaps worse.?ÿ But I'm reasonably sure that no big-time scammer is going to go to the trouble of finding the old survey and title information.
I emailed her my routing and checking account numbers on Monday.
Every time you write a check you're providing this information to the recipient.?ÿ It's not sensitive data.
It seems that 99 percent of your business dealings begin with "and what is your social security number".
I fancy myself a 'healthy paranoid'. Using the holding account isn't a bad plan. I have one and it's connected to an e-mail used only for electronic transfers. The account is set with no overdraft allowed and kept empty. Paynents post once the rescission period expires and the money is moved out.
As others said, the deal probably fell through. For most that means you can drop to 60ish hours that week.?ÿ
I hope you don't have any problems come up Brad. I do want to offer some advice though. I don't know how you business owners normally do your financial arrangements, but I would never send banking information by email unless I was using an encrypted service. I like to poke fun at paranoid people, but I have encryption on my laptop, an encryption app on my phone, an encrypted email account, and an encrypted messaging app. In today's world, isn't there a better way to receive money rather than sharing banking information? Nobody sends me money so I don't really know how secure services like PayPal are, but I would definitely look at that or a similar service as an option. I do pay people through PayPal and it works really well on the paying side.
When I do surveys for Texas Instruments they send the payment directly to my business bank account.?ÿ
Clark Howard (consumer guru) said that if you use venmo or paypal to have a separate account for that.?ÿ Apparently there are those who have figured out how to drain your account through those apps and they are not very helpful (if at all) in trying to recover the funds.?ÿ I've never used either but if I ever do that is what I will do.
Andy
Venmo and Paypal are worlds apart. Both can be defeated but Paypal takes real work. Anyone who can hack it will find a way yo steal no matter the tool you use.
If you make it hard for clients to pay you lose business. There are tools and habits that strike the balance without leaving your jar on the counter.
My. 02, Tom?ÿ
Email is definitely not secure. Mine was recently hacked, probably because my password wasn't very good. The bots trying to hack into email accounts are getting better all the time.?ÿ
Someone got into my email and sent my customers emails asking them to pay me to a Venmo or Zelle account or wire $$ to a Wells Fargo account. All without my knowledge. They also created email rules to hide the responses from those customers so I didn't know. At least 2 customers were scammed, and 2 others may have been too but are too embarrassed to admit it.?ÿ
Rule of thumb from one deeper level of paranoid:
If I have never met or spoken with you, go pound sand.
If we've talked and had a discussion, we would have talked about how the funds and the dispersement will occur.
Nothing I have needs to be entered by you, have your bank call me.
If you're not in using paypal, zelle, or anything even more secure, no.
?ÿ
@thebionicman I'm not saying don't use it.?ÿ Just have a separate account for that use.?ÿ Then you can transfer that money to your "working" account.
Andy