Recently there have been several fraudulent emails being sent to massage therapists throughout the country, including Virginia. They are usually from “clients” who live outside the United States and state they are traveling to your area and wish to book a series of sessions while they are visiting. Sometimes, they ask to send you pre-payment, which comes back as insufficient funds; but pre-payment is not always requested. Unfortunately, some therapists spend time corresponding with the “client” and go so far as to schedule appointments which are never kept.

Please be on the lookout for emails that follow this pattern, or something similar to it. The National AMTA office has been made aware of the problem and they have posted a helpful article on their website. Go to www.amtamassage.org, go to the Member’s Home Page by entering your AMTA ID and your last name, select the Member News page and look for an article titled “Protect Yourself against illegal Scams and Spam Email”. It offers quick facts about Spam Scams and a way to file a complaint if you receive one of these emails.

And as the old adage goes…if the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.