“What’s this ‘virtual office’ that scammers use that you keep warning us about?”

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Q –

Hi Angela,

Thank you for exposing the scum underbelly of the publishing world. I’ve seen you refer to virtual offices a lot, but I’m not sure what that means? You’ve written, “the scammers aren’t actually located there.” Can you explain, and teach me how to figure out if a company’s address is a “virtual address” or not?

A –

First, I’d like to say that I’m against too much government regulation, but I believe that virtual offices should be highly regulated. And, I believe people running virtual offices to allow foreign scammers to pretend they are located there should be prosecuted. They KNOW where their customers are really located, and it’s easy to research scammers online. Also, you can bet those “virtual offices” who are working with scammers are receiving complaints about the criminals they are doing business with!

A “virtual office” is a service that allows individuals and businesses to use that address for mail (or to simply pretend they are located there). Some of them actually have meeting areas, but the scammers are using virtual offices exclusively to trick people into thinking they are in the author’s country.

That is nothing short of FRAUD.

A registered agent is a person that a company authorizes to receive mail, legal paperwork, and other items. Some slimy lawyers actually set up virtual offices, and allow overseas scammers to use those addresses. Cha-ching! When researching an address that is a virtual one, you will often find either “virtual offices,” a registered agent, or a law office at that address.

It’s easy to determine if an address is a virtual office. Simply copy and paste the address into Google and add the these words after it: virtual office

When the results pop up, page down (past the ads on Google), and in most cases, you’ll see that address under an ad for virtual offices. Pay attention to the street address (i.e. 123 Main Street – by the way, that’s a fake address some scammers use), and don’t worry about the room or suite number. The virtual offices assign “suite” numbers to scammers when there are no suites. It’s another trick into making people think they have an actual office there.

Sometimes, you can spot a virtual office simply because the address just doesn’t make any sense at all.

Check out these real examples:

539 W. Commerce Rd. #223658

How many buildings have you ever been in that have 223,658 offices in them? Incidentally, that virtual office only charges $9.98/month. It’s cheap to get to pretend you’re located somewhere you are NOT!

Here’s another variation that clearly isn’t a real address:

444 W. South St #457-7662

Can you tell what’s wrong with this one? The actual address is Suite 457. The extra numbers were assigned by the virtual office to one of their slimy “customers.”

415 Laurel Ave Ste A # 517

Why does an address with a suite ALSO need a number after it? There are NOT 517 offices in that “suite!” Whenever you see a suite AND a number, that’s another red flag. Think of the 517 like a mailbox number.

123 Publishing Street, New York, NY 10001

That is a completely fake address. It doesn’t exist at all!

If they have USA after the address, they’re likely a foreign scammer. Real American companies don’t include USA, United States, or United States of America in the addresses on their websites.

Look at this one:
Sugar Land Tx United States

They left off the number, street, and zip code. AND they included “United States.” Many Foreign scammers don’t understand U.S. addresses!

This was the funniest one I saw today!

Augusta, GA 30901, Estados Unidos

Estados Unidos means United States in Spanish. The website was actually registered in Lithuania. They are NOT located in Atlanta, nor anywhere near the U.S.!

Another big red flag is if there is no address on their website at all. But, beware that some addresses don’t have the weird quirks I mentioned above, so it’s IMPERATIVE that, when doing your research, you search for the address with the words virtual office after it. Don’t forget to then page down past the Google ads!

And, another big red flag is when they call themselves the Top #1 Book Publisher (or any variation thereof). I can’t believe how many scam victims have contacted me, saying they believed that statement on the company website or in the Google search terms, and that’s why they sent their money to the scammer.

Please read:

11 Ways to Know If a “Publisher” or Other Service Provider is an Overseas Scammer (You’ll probably only need to check #1 to prove it!)

Remember that BookLocker.com has been in business for 27 years, has an excellent reputation, and IS located in the U.S.

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And, you don’t want to miss this!

EPISODE 37: BEWARE! New FAKE “Services” Being Offered to Authors By Scammers

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