Scam Alert: Watch Out for Fake Emails Pretending to Be Slamdot

Some of our clients recently forwarded us a suspicious email that claimed to be from someone on our team about plugins and extensions coming up for renewal. We didn’t send this email. It’s part of an ongoing scam that impersonates web design agencies and emails their clients asking for money or login details. In our case, the scammer created a Gmail account using our name, threw together a signature with our logo and contact information (it doesn’t match the one we actually use), and started emailing businesses we work with. This is not a breach of our systems.

What The Fake Emails Look Like

The emails we’ve seen so far came from hello.slamdot@gmail.com, but scammers like this often switch to new addresses once one gets reported. They’ve also used the names of real people on our team.

The message usually goes something like this: a recent technical review found that your domain, plugins, or other parts of your website are coming up for renewal, and they need to be taken care of by a certain date to avoid problems. Then it asks how you’d like to move forward.

These emails are convincingly written, and the signature includes our real address and phone numbers, which is why they look believable. The sender address gives it away, however. Legitimate emails from us come from an @slamdot.com address. If you get a message from Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, or any other free email service claiming to be Slamdot, it isn’t us, no matter whose name is on it.

What Happens If You Reply

Other web design companies in the US and UK have been targeted with this same kind of email this year, so we have a good idea of what comes next. People who replied got a follow-up quoting a price for the “renewals” (one agency’s clients were asked for $750), then an invoice or payment link. Some versions also ask for your WordPress or hosting login, which would give the scammer control of your website.

If You Received One of These Emails

Please don’t reply, click any links, or send any payment. If you use Gmail, you can open the email, click the three dots in the top right corner, and choose “Report phishing.” We’d also appreciate it if you could give us a heads up at support@slamdot.com that you received one, so we can keep track on our end.

If You Already Replied, Paid, or Shared a Login

Call us right away at (865) 238-5600. If you paid with a card, contact your bank too and tell them it was a fraudulent charge. If you gave anyone a password, we’ll help you change it and check that your site is secure. You can also file a report with the FBI at ic3.gov.

Thanks for your patience with this, and thank you to the clients who notified us.