I run a one-person mobile app marketing shop. Two weeks ago a cold inbound landed in my inbox. Looked like a legit game studio wanting ASO for their new launch. The brief was solid: target keywords, competitor apps, a real budget range ($5k-$15k), a two-month timeline. They even sent two reference apps that I could actually download and check. I was pumped. Wrote a full proposal including a creative A/B testing framework.

Here's the thing-I'm not ranking top on Google yet. Getting any inbound feels like a win, and that hunger almost got me. I clocked two details that seemed normal at the time.

One: payment by certified check. Taken checks before, no big deal.
Two: a "project consultant" would provide the app icons, screenshots, and feature graphics. If you do mobile creative, you know that's a dream client. Most people hand you a blurry logo made in Canva. Someone arriving with polished assets? That's the good kind of client.

Neither detail is a red flag alone. But together they form the trap: the check is the bad-money vehicle, the consultant is the third party I'm supposed to forward money to.

We went back and forth a week. Smart questions about conversion rate optimization, localization, asset sizes. Then they "reviewed the proposal with the team" and signed my agreement. They gave me a legit-sounding studio name, an LLC number, a billing address. Everything looked real.

One thing they refused: a call. "James" had a minor vocal procedure and couldn't talk. Email only. I filed it away.

Then came the ask. A few days later: "We want to consolidate the consultant's coordination fee ($2,850) into the same payment. Streamline accounting. The amount would be itemized." Basically: pay me extra, have me forward that fee to "the consultant."

No real client routes payments through a vendor. That's the whole scam.

I declined, withdrew from the project, reported the LLC to the Texas Secretary of State. The LLC was real-but a completely unrelated business. They'd borrowed a real company's name.

What actually catches this?

Refusal to get on a call (always a medical excuse).
Vague about legal identity until you force it-then the name doesn't match state records.
Polished cold inbound when you don't rank for anything. Real clients come from search or referral. Scrapers don't care where you rank.
Above all: they ask you to forward part of a payment to a third party. There is no legitimate version of that request.

And the bank trick: making funds available doesn't mean the check cleared. Banks front the money on a cashier's check in 1-2 days, then reverse it weeks later when the forgery surfaces. By then you've already sent real money via wire or Zelle to the "consultant." That gap is the scam, every time.

Cost me two weeks and some proposal time. Could have cost $2,850. If this saves you the same, worth the post.