The Ongoing Gacillia Nut Scam

I tend to think of myself as savvy. Every day I expertly block scammers with Email filters and comment blocks. We use honeypots and DDOS protection for our clients. When it comes to slowing the scammer down, I fancy myself a bit of an expert.

Yesterday I received a message from Google Voice:

“Hello, Am Nicolas Romano. I would like to know if you are available for website design for a new company ?

It included the phone number of (559) 370-5942.

I called them back. Their English was poor, but I understood that they had a small business that they wanted to turn into a big business. Easy-Peasy, that’s all we do for clients. The caller needed a web design and was willing to send an example of the site they wanted. Rather than spend a lot of time fighting the language barrier, I offered to send my email via text. They responded immediately via email:

Firstly…

I need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible hindesharmonyfarm the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site

Thanks you!

Nicolas Romano 

All right. Seems easy enough. I put together a bid:

Hey Nicolas!

Provided that you already have content, images and a logo, it would cost $3,500 to put that into the HindesHarmonyFarm.com layout. This would include a home page, a contact page, an “About Us” page and up to 5 informational pages. Additionally, if you want the blog section activated for creating ongoing industry content, there will be no additional charge for that. 
We will also set up a contact form on the site so inquiries can come straight to your email. 
Some of the projects we have built include:

Elcan Industries
Triple Crown Arenas
Solar Lighting ITL

The site will be built in WordPress on our hosting. This includes full backups, updates on your site’s software, monitoring for hacks and malware (and repairing any issues), and one text change per month (for example, adding pre-written blog post content or changing the name and picture of an employee). 

This project could be completed in as little as a week, but I always recommend that folks allow a full month for a site to be built. 
Additionally, after the site is built, we offer marketing packages. We can create ad campaigns and provide search engine optimization to move the site to the top of Google. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions. 

I look forward to talking! 

Quinton Hamp
VectisMarketing.com

Suddenly, he sent an email that made no sense. Maybe the user just has a huge desire for over-communicating? That makes sense.

Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site I gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as Nicolfarmer-Natures.com
4. you will be updating the site for me.
5. I will be providing the images, logos and content for the site.
6. I want the site up and running before the end of next  month.

Ok, fine. We are over-communicating, now. I pulled out the screen capture and answered each question.

I appreciate your attention to detail. Let’s dig in and make sure we are on the same page

Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site I gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
Based on our conversation, you will at least need a 
– Homepage
– Contact Us Page
– Kola Nut Page
– peaNut Page
– Cocoa Page
(These individual product pages are very important for marketing such as Google or Facebook ads).
My Screen Capture Video

2. I want only English language
– OK, perfect. We can do that. 

3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as Nicolfarmer-Natures.com
– This domain name is taken. I expect that you own it as it was purchased from Dreamhost

4. you will be updating the site for me.
– We can easily manage this. If you think will need more than one major text/image change per  month, let me know what you have in mind and we’ll manage it. 

5. I will be providing the images, logos and content for the site.
– Excellent

6. I want the site up and running before the end of next month.
– We can definitely do this. 

He then asked me to send an invoice and a PDF of the proposal. Simple. I put both together. But when I went to send the invoice, it hit me that his email of romanonicolas872@gmail.com looked like a scammers email. Random numbers are never good.

I searched the internet for his email and came across This Article from 2017.

I guess the only difference between 2017 and 2022 is that they have dropped “Gacillia Nut” from their emails. At least I’m only out an hour’s work from quoting the project. Not shabby.