How to prevent third parties (possible scammers) from contacting me?

[JunglePerry]

I have received a number of solicitations from third parties offering to create Google ads for me, for a fee. I haven't even gone live with my store yet. Somehow they obtained my contact information and pretended to be interested in my products but they weren't. They were fishing around to find someone to scam, at least that's what I was thinking, because I could do everything they were "offering" to me. How do I prevent future contacts like that? To my knowledge on my Shopify site I have no publishing of my email address, yet they contacted me by email. I am in the midst of establishing a LLC and will be getting email hosting in that LLC's name and a bank account also, to separate it from my personal information. So I haven't shown any contact information on my shopify site but they found me somehow. I want to shut that down. Anyone know how?

[goldi07]

Hello @JunglePerry 

Why you might be getting these messages:

When you register a business or buy a domain, some of your information might become publicly available through official records or domain ownership databases.

Some companies or individuals monitor new businesses and new websites to offer services, often without being asked.

How you can protect yourself moving forward:

1. Protect your domain registration information
Make sure your domain has privacy protection enabled. This hides your personal contact details from public lookups.

2. Use a separate business email address
Set up a business email address (like info@yourstore.com) that’s only used for your store and official business registrations.

3. Strengthen your Shopify contact form
Use a contact form instead of listing your email address directly on your website. Add spam protection tools like CAPTCHA if available.

4. Use professional email hosting
Hosting your business email through a provider like Google Workspace or Zoho can give you better spam filtering.

5. Consider using a registered agent service
When setting up your LLC, using a registered agent can help protect your personal address and phone number.

Thank you 😊

[Yuparkoti]

@JunglePerry 

In order to avoid irritating spam messages, mask your email address by enabling WHOIS privacy through your domain registrar, employ a Shopify contact form containing CAPTCHA function (Online Store > Preferences) combined with an application similar to Zero Spam Contact Form and change over to using enterprise e-mail for your LLC (Settings > General).

Ensure that applications do not transmit data improperly (Settings > Apps and Sales Channels), as well as sort out advertising letters. Notify about cases of fraud either in the Shopify or FTC service.