Fake Client Scams Targeting Interior Designers: What Small Business Owners Should Watch For

H e l l o!

Dear Scammers: Interior Designers Are Not Your Easy Target

Every few months, sometimes more often than that, I receive a suspicious inquiry from someone pretending to be a potential interior design client.

At first glance, the message usually sounds urgent, emotional, and oddly specific. Someone needs immediate help furnishing a home. Someone is relocating. Someone is traveling overseas and needs their residence completed before they return. Someone has a medical hardship. Someone is blind, deaf, unavailable by phone, or otherwise unable to communicate in the normal ways a real client would.

And then, inevitably, comes the money setup.

They want to send a certified check.
They want me to coordinate with a third party.
They want to overpay.
They want me to deposit funds and redirect money elsewhere.
They want me to click a strange link.
They want me to join a “meeting” through a suspicious platform pretending to be Google Meet.

Let me be very clear:

No.

Interior designers, architects, decorators, artists, contractors, and small business owners are not sitting around waiting to be manipulated by fake sob stories, fake urgency, fake checks, and malware links disguised as client inquiries.

We are professionals. We run businesses. We have systems. We verify clients. We use contracts, retainers, legitimate payment platforms, and secure communication channels.

And we know what this is.

The Fake Client Scam Pattern

Over the years, I have seen variations of the same scam repeatedly.

It usually begins with an email or form submission that appears to be from a potential client. The inquiry may mention a home renovation, furnishing project, new residence, relocation, or urgent design need. The message often has just enough detail to sound plausible, but not enough to feel like a real person who has actually looked at my work.

Then the red flags begin.

The sender may avoid a normal phone call.
They may refuse to use the meeting link I provide.
They may send a fake Google Meet or Zoom-style link.
They may claim they are traveling, ill, disabled, or otherwise unable to communicate directly.
They may offer to pay by certified check.
They may try to involve a “mover,” “agent,” “shipper,” “caretaker,” or other third party.
They may create emotional pressure by making the situation sound urgent or tragic.

The goal is not to hire an interior designer.

The goal is to exploit a business owner.

The Fake Meeting Link Scam

Recently, I received what appeared to be a project inquiry. I sent a Zoom invitation, as I normally would. The person then claimed they could not access Zoom and sent me a supposed Google Meet link.

Except it was not a Google Meet link.

A real Google Meet link begins with:

https://meet.google.com/

This link did not.

It sent me to a suspicious third-party domain pretending to be a meeting platform and then prompted me to “update” something.

That is not a client meeting.
That is a cyber scam.

This is how scammers attempt to get people to download malware, enter login credentials, or give access to their devices. They rely on urgency, distraction, and professional courtesy. They assume a business owner will be polite, accommodating, and eager enough for a new lead that they will ignore their instincts.

Not here.

A Note to Other Designers and Small Business Owners

Please be careful.

If a lead feels strange, slow down. You do not owe anyone immediate access to your calendar, your computer, your bank account, or your emotional labor.

Here are a few red flags to watch for:

The client refuses to speak normally or verify their identity.
The project is urgent but vague.
They are overseas or unavailable in a way that prevents normal communication.
They want to send a certified check before a proper agreement is signed.
They want you to pay a third party from funds they send you.
They send a meeting link that is not from Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or another legitimate platform.
They ask you to download an update to join a meeting.
They pressure you when you set a boundary.

A real client will respect a secure process.

A scammer will try to rush you out of one.

My Policy Going Forward

For the avoidance of doubt:

I do not accept suspicious payment arrangements.
I do not deposit certified checks from unverified parties.
I do not click unknown meeting links.
I do not download software updates from random websites.
I do not coordinate payments to third-party vendors on behalf of strangers.
I do not begin design work without a signed agreement and verified payment.
I do not override my own security protocols because someone has a dramatic story.

And I strongly encourage every creative professional, consultant, designer, and small business owner to have similar boundaries.

To the Scammers

Get a grip.

Small business owners are not easy targets. We are informed, alert, and increasingly unwilling to tolerate digital manipulation disguised as opportunity.

To anyone running these scams: leave independent professionals alone.

We see it. We report it. And we warn each other.

And we are not as easy to fool as you apparently think.

So please, from the bottom of my very tired inbox:

Leave me alone.

Or, to say it less delicately:

Fuck around and find out.

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In addition to being a DC Multifamily Interior Designer, I also design boutique hotels, boutique fitness studios, and other hospitality spaces.  We work here in the DMV (Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia), and even Nationally!