Ask HN: An SEO startup is impersonating a physician. What should I do?

📰 Hacker News · iharris

Background: My wife works as an administrator at a Canadian cosmetic surgery clinic. The physician, Dr. C., is quite successful and is ranked #1 in our city on sites like RateMD. Yesterday, she was cold-called by an SEO startup in an attempt to sell her a revamped website and SEO services. He said they had already designed a placeholder website, and that he would personalize it for them if the clinic would purchase their services. She politely refused. Out of curiosity, her colleague, J, called the phone number on this fictional web site. J pretended to be a potential client and asked to schedule a consultation. The other party said "The doctor is currently busy; I'll check with him and call you back." J asked which physician she would be seeing. He gave her the name of Dr. C (the physician at J's clinic!) along with his background and credentials (gleaned from the bio on Dr. C's website). When pressed for the clinic's location, they gave J a (fake) addres

Published 30 Jan 2015
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