Scam Phishing Emails Impersonating Web Designers
You may have recently received an email (or two or twenty) from a sender impersonating me and/or Deep Dish Creative. It is a known and unfortunately - widespread - issue lately.
These emails are offering things such as “security audits”, SEO audits, or similar bogus services, citing urgency and to please respond or else your website could be suspended or disappear altogether if not addressed. The emails are thorough though, including Squarespace logos, maybe even my headshot from my website.
Some emails are offering services for platforms the are not even Squarespace, that I don’t utilize, like Wix, Weebly, and other unrelated to Squarespace yet still include the Squarespace logo.
They are not from me. I even received them myself, as seen in the screenshots below.
My sincere apologies if you received one or many of these phishing/scam emails. I wish there was something that can be done, but we’ll just have to let it run its sad course. Just ignore, don’t reply, and obviously don’t engage with them. Thanks for forwarding them to me, though.
How to spot one of these scam emails:
One of the first scam emails came from “Lara Dikson”. Low res images, screenshot from my Upwork account all baked in. Looks legit, except for the threatening copy…
The easiest way to identify these scams and phishing attempts is to check the “Sent from” email address. Communication from Lara Dickson and Deep Dish Creative will come from either deepdishcreates @ gmail or lara @ deepdishcreative. The scam emails in question are all gmails, and come from addresses similar, but obviously not correct, such as info.laradikson@gmail.com (even got my name wrong there), and similar.
Another red flag might be a cutesy unprofessional intro like “Hi dear”, or an over-the-top signature including some serious-sounding titles, or a cringey ‘Warm regards,’ sign-off.
Low resolution images like logos and headshots.
And finally, regarding 5-alarm emails from me: I’m not a massive agency suddenly sending out boilerplate impersonal emails. I don’t even send a newsletter, although maybe that’s something I should be doing... If there is a problem or suspect issue with the websites I’ve launched, I contact you individually, from either of the email addresses mentioned above.
A more subtle phishing email, asking to just reply YES, as if it were a SMS text.
Response from Squarespace HQ
In the official response letter below, sent from Squarespace headquarters, they mention a likely culprit in Upwork, a gig-finding service for designers and creatives. I have since deleted my Upwork account.
Here is the email designers received from Squarespace regarding these scams:
“Circle partners’ clients have continued to be targeted by individuals posing as legitimate web design professionals, typically offering what are described as critical website updates for a fee. In many of these cases, the scammers have impersonated the Circle partner that the targeted customer had worked with previously.
UPDATE: Several customers have also reported that these bad actors used Upwork to send payment links. If you see a suspicious-looking message with an Upwork link included, please report the incident using Upwork’s reporting channels.
We've sent an email to Squarespace customers who have Billing, Administrator, or Owner permissions on sites created by Circle partners warning them about this scam.
There are at least a few variations on the phishing email, but they tend to state that Squarespace is making changes that necessitate additional work on the part of the Circle partner in exchange for a fee. You can view examples of these phishing emails on the Circle Forum.
Here are some steps you and your clients can take now to identify cybersecurity attacks like phishing scams and safeguard data:
Review and apply security best practices, such as using strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) with your Squarespace, Google, and other accounts.
Read this Help Center article for guidance on determining whether an email purporting to be from Squarespace is legitimate.
Report emails from suspicious @gmail.com email addresses as phishing attempts in Gmail.
Report emails with suspicious Upwork payment links to Upwork’s support team.
Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership.
—Squarespace Circle”
