There is a new scammer out there targeting Virtual Assistants.
This particular person (or persons) is currently going by the name of Larry Ellison.
He’s asking Virtual Assistants to submit short articles to him, luring them with the hope that if they are good enough, they may be hired onto his planned “barn” of Virtual Assistants.
What this guy is trying to do is:
- get free work done for him, and
- he’ll then most likely use these articles to post on what is probably hundreds of scam/spam dummy blogs he’s got set up.
The email itself may be a ploy to get people to hit reply on it (you never want to reply to spam/scam/spoof emails).
That should be your first clue to ignore this kind of request. The second clue is that this person doesn’t provide any business-like information that can be verified or checked into in any way.
Don’t be a bonehead: If you are smart business owner and competent Virtual Assistant, you NEVER need give away your value or work product for free in order to gain a client. If that kind of client knocks on your door, tell’em “no, thank you very much.”
So, if you receive an email similar to the one below, hit delete and don’t look back:
Hi there,
I have a pretty big project that I am working on right now and need couple of Virtual Assistants who have nice creativity in writing quality articles on any topic they think they are master of. My work load will be increasing in the coming future (approx 16 hours everyday) & I am planning to have more than 10 VA’s.
Each article will be taking approx 15 minutes to jott down your thoughts and documenting it.
To choose the right Virtual Assistant for me, I have bought a plagiarism checking software so please invest 1 hour for this long term relationship and write 2 original articles of 400-500 words.
I need to make my decision later this week or early next week , so if you are interested in getting a long term contract , I look forward for your reply.
Regards,
Larry