If you own a business website, chances are you’ve received emails from companies claiming they’ve discovered serious problems with your website. Some offer to improve your Google rankings, while others warn that your website has security vulnerabilities, malware infections, or problems that could cause it to be suspended.
These messages often appear professional, and some even include your business name, website address, or screenshots of your pages to make their claims seem legitimate.
While there are legitimate companies offering website security and marketing services, unsolicited emails making alarming claims should be treated with caution. The goal is often to convince you to purchase a service, provide sensitive information, or click a link before you’ve had an opportunity to investigate.
Understanding how these schemes work can help protect your website, your business, and your customers.
When a Security Warning Is Really a Sales Pitch
Years ago, I received an unsolicited email from a company claiming it had examined my website and discovered that I wasn’t using adequate protection against hackers and malware. The message suggested that these supposed vulnerabilities could be costing me business and offered a security product at a substantial discount.
The company’s website looked legitimate, but I questioned how they had determined that my website was vulnerable.
When I contacted the sender and asked for details, he acknowledged that the original message was primarily an attempt to attract the attention of website owners and generate interest in the company’s services.
In other words, the company had made a security claim without providing evidence to support it.
That experience reinforced something I’ve cautioned clients about for years: just because someone claims to have found a problem with your website doesn’t mean that a problem exists.
Of course, websites can have genuine security vulnerabilities, and legitimate security testing can identify them. The important distinction is whether the person contacting you can substantiate their findings and whether you have reason to trust them.
Common Email Scams Targeting Website Owners
Scammers use a variety of approaches to get the attention of business owners. Some of the more common examples include:
- Website security warnings: Emails claiming that your website has been hacked, contains malware, or has serious vulnerabilities that must be repaired immediately. Often the proposed solution involves purchasing software or paying for a security service.
- SEO and Google ranking offers: Messages claiming your website has serious SEO problems or promising first-page Google rankings. Some are simply aggressive marketing, while others make misleading claims or attempt to sell services of questionable value.
- Domain registration and renewal notices: Messages warning that your domain name is about to expire, sometimes directing you to an unfamiliar company to make a payment. Some are deceptive solicitations, while others lead to fraudulent websites designed to steal payment information.
- Fake invoices: Bills for website maintenance, hosting, security certificates, directory listings, or other services you never ordered. These may appear to come from a familiar company or resemble legitimate invoices.
- Impersonation of your web developer or hosting provider: Emails that appear to come from someone you already work with, requesting payment, account verification, website access, or a password reset.
- Account suspension warnings: Messages claiming that your website, email account, or business profile will be disabled unless you take immediate action.
These attempts are not limited to email. Similar messages may arrive through website contact forms, text messages, social media, or telephone calls.
The Federal Trade Commission’s guide to scams targeting small businesses provides additional examples and explains how these schemes operate.
How to Recognize a Suspicious Email
Not every unsolicited message is fraudulent, and legitimate companies do occasionally contact website owners about genuine problems. However, certain warning signs should encourage you to investigate before taking action.
- Claims without supporting evidence: The sender insists your website has a problem but provides no meaningful explanation, technical details, or verifiable findings.
- Pressure to act immediately: The message warns that your website will be suspended, your data will be lost, or your business will suffer unless you respond or pay quickly.
- Requests for sensitive information: You are asked to provide passwords, hosting credentials, account verification codes, or other information that would give someone access to your business accounts.
- Suspicious links or attachments: The email directs you to an unfamiliar website, asks you to download software, or includes an attachment you weren’t expecting.
- Unusual sender information: The sender’s email address doesn’t match the company being represented, or the message comes from an address you don’t recognize.
- Unsolicited invoices or payment requests: You’re asked to pay for services you don’t remember purchasing or to send payment to an unfamiliar account.
In the past, poorly written messages filled with spelling and grammatical errors were often easy to identify. That’s no longer a reliable indicator. Modern phishing emails can be professionally written and visually convincing.
Likewise, the presence of a company website, business address, or telephone number doesn’t guarantee that an offer is legitimate.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides a useful guide to recognizing phishing attempts.
How to Verify a Website Security Warning
If you receive an email claiming there’s a problem with your website, don’t immediately assume the warning is either legitimate or fraudulent.
Instead, take a few steps to investigate independently.
- Don’t use the links in the message. If the email claims to be from your hosting company, domain registrar, Google, or another service provider, visit that company’s website directly using a known address or saved bookmark.
- Check your account. Sign in through the provider’s official website and look for notifications, security alerts, billing problems, or other relevant information.
- Contact someone you trust. If you work with a web developer or website administrator, forward the message for evaluation. They may be able to determine whether the claim has merit.
- Ask for evidence when appropriate. A legitimate security professional should be able to explain the findings sufficiently for you or your developer to evaluate them. Avoid granting access to your website simply to have an unsolicited claim investigated.
- Use established monitoring tools. For example, Google Search Console includes a Security Issues report that can identify certain problems Google has detected, including hacked content and malware.
Google explains how its security monitoring works in Preventing Malware Infection. Keep in mind that a clean Search Console report doesn’t guarantee that your website is free of vulnerabilities.
Similarly, if you receive a domain renewal warning, check directly with your domain registrar. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) provides guidance on fraudulent messages involving domain registrations.
What Actually Protects Your Website?
While it’s important to recognize misleading security offers, website security itself is a legitimate concern.
Years ago, many website owners believed that static HTML websites were effectively immune to hacking because they didn’t use a database. While a static website generally has fewer application-level vulnerabilities than a database-driven website, it can still be compromised through stolen credentials, insecure hosting configurations, vulnerable server software, or third-party scripts.
Similarly, having a reputable hosting provider doesn’t eliminate the need to maintain your website’s software and access credentials.
For most small business websites, the following precautions provide a good foundation:
- Keep software updated. If your website uses WordPress or another content management system, keep the application, themes, and plugins current. Remove software that is no longer used or maintained.
- Use strong, unique passwords. Your website administration, hosting, domain registration, and business email accounts should each have their own secure credentials.
- Enable multifactor authentication. Whenever available, use an additional authentication method to protect important accounts, particularly those with administrative access.
- Maintain reliable backups. Keep current backups of website files and databases, store copies separately from the website when possible, and verify that they can be restored.
- Limit administrative access. Only provide website access to people who need it, and use account permissions appropriate to their responsibilities.
- Use secure connections. Your website should use HTTPS, and secure methods should be used when transferring files or accessing hosting services.
- Monitor your website. Periodically check for unexpected changes, software vulnerabilities, security alerts, and unusual activity.
For those using WordPress, the official WordPress Security Hardening Guide explains additional precautions that developers and website administrators can implement.
No security measures can guarantee that a website will never be compromised, but maintaining these basic protections can substantially reduce common risks.
Watch for Emails Impersonating Your Business
Another concern is email impersonation, where someone sends messages that appear to come from your company or from someone your customers already know.
For example, scammers may contact your customers while pretending to be your web developer, hosting provider, or another trusted business associate. They may request payment for nonexistent services, ask for account credentials, or direct recipients to fraudulent websites.
These messages can be especially convincing because they may include familiar names, company logos, or information gathered from public websites.
One way to help protect business email is to configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These email authentication technologies help receiving mail servers determine whether messages claiming to come from your domain are authorized.
They don’t prevent every type of impersonation, but properly configured email authentication can make domain spoofing more difficult.
If you’re unsure whether these protections are enabled, ask your email provider or website administrator to review your settings.
The FTC’s Cybersecurity for Small Business resource explains email authentication and other useful security practices.
What Should You Do With a Suspicious Email?
If you’ve determined that a message is suspicious, there’s generally no reason to engage with the sender.
Don’t reply simply to challenge their claims, and don’t click an unsubscribe link in a message you believe may be fraudulent. Doing so could expose you to additional risks.
Instead, report the message as phishing or spam through your email service and delete it. Suspected fraud can also be reported to the Federal Trade Commission.
If you’ve already clicked a suspicious link, downloaded an attachment, entered a password, or provided payment information, the appropriate response will depend on what occurred. You may need to scan your device, change affected passwords through the legitimate service, contact your hosting or email provider, or notify your financial institution.
If someone appears to be impersonating a company you work with, contact that company using a telephone number or email address you already know to be correct. Don’t rely on the contact information included in the suspicious message.
Final Thoughts
Website security is important, and there are legitimate reasons to invest in professional monitoring, maintenance, and security services. The problem arises when someone uses misleading claims, exaggerated threats, or impersonation to persuade business owners to purchase services or reveal sensitive information.
My advice is simple: be cautious of unsolicited warnings, verify claims independently, and don’t allow a message designed to create urgency to pressure you into making a decision.
If a genuine security problem exists, it deserves attention. But you should be able to understand the problem and evaluate the recommended solution before paying for anything or providing access to your website.
A little skepticism, combined with sensible security practices and the assistance of someone you trust, can go a long way toward protecting your business.
