This morning I received the following email:

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Dear Sir/ Madam
With much regards to your company services and products, I am rev.Augustine Brown and would like to make a purchase  below for my church anniversary 

 
Mug in Bushel Basket
Filled with large Crackers, Wafer cookies, Hot chocolate, mug and truffle, =80 baskets

 
Comfy Cozy Basket
Filled with Cheese biscuits, Butter cookies, chocolate wafer cookies, caramel popcorn, mulled cider, coffee, truffles, biscotti, candies. =100 baskets   

 
Snowman Comfort Basket
Filled with Large Snowman, Cookies, Wafers, Mixed nuts, Cucina chips, hot chocolate, mug, Butter pretzels, and coffee =50 baskets    

Advice the form of payment you accept.Waiting for a quote
 
Regards,
Rev.Brown

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Do you see anything suspicious about this email?

Here are the things that raised a red flag for me:

• They address me very informally, Dear Sir/Madam–if they are contacting my company wouldn’t they know the name of my business and my name
• This Rev. uses a lower case “r” earlier in the email
• They have listed basket themes that I don’t carry
• They want a huge quantity of each design and yet they don’t know how much they are?
• My gift basket website always lists prices and has a secure payment system. Why didn’t they just place the order?
• Some of the items listed are typical Christmas items: truffle–just one?–, mulled cider, large snowman) Why are they ordering these in February?
• They wouldn’t need a quote if they had visited my site. All the details they request are there.
• They used the word “advice” when they mean “advise.”

You may be wondering why such a suspicious email is sent.  The scammer who created this email is counting on snaring a few eager and naive gift basket designers into believing that this is the start of a legitimate order. You can be assured that responding to this email will lead to an unhappy ending.

If you receive such an email that sends off red flags, don’t try to figure out this person’s intent, and don’t respond to it. Delete it, marking it as spam.

Have you ever received a suspcious email or phone call? What clues identified them as suspicious? How did you handle it?

Madame C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove in poverty-stricken Louisiana in 1867, went from picking cotton to become the first Black beauty mogul and millionaire. But it was not a straight line.

“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success,” she once observed. “And if there is, I have not found it - for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”

She married at age 14, gave birth to her only daughter in 1885, and two years later became a widow. Upon her husband’s death she moved to St. Louis where her four brothers were barbers. She saved enough money working as a laundrywoman to educate her daughter.

During the 1890’s Sarah began to lose her hair due to a damaging scalp ailment. She was so embarrassed by her appearance that she began to experiment with scalp conditioners and healing formulas made by another Black entrepreneur, Annie Malone. She soon became a sales agent for Annie and moved to Denver. There she met and married Charles Joseph Walker.

Sarah changed her name to Madame CJ Walker and founded her own business selling Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower, a scalp conditioning and healing formula. She conducted an exhausting door-to-door sales campaign throughout the South and Southeast. She even opened a college in 1908 to train her “hair culturists.” Her corporation at one time employed over 3,000 folks.

In fifteen years she amassed a fortune and is the first known African-American woman to become a self-made millionaire. She died at age 52 in 1919.

February is Black History Month when we pause to remember, acknowledge, celebrate, and express gratitude for the many Black men, women and children who overcame great odds and endured hardships to become successful in their endeavors. The life of Madame C.J. Walker reminds us all that the secret to success is no secret at all. As she once explained, “I got my start by giving myself a start.”
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