Got a text for 8 Ceiling fans to replace

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Fred B

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
Got a text from a guy (not a local number) who says that he just bought a house and wants to replace 8 Ceiling fans (Unusual around here). He wants a price site unseen, he won't give a name even when repeatedly asked. When I said that there are multiple scenarios that would make a true price not doable without setting eyes on it, even giving specific situations, I gave him a time and Materials price, he continues to press for a full estimate. Last text also appears he want fixtures included in cost. Sounds like a scam or something. Anyone else have this experience or suggestions? Tempted to give a totally unreasonably high price, but afraid that he may be trying to make any written price interpretated into a contract price with no intention to buy just to create a scam.
 
Speaking of scams...last night I got a call from the "Amazon Cyber Security Dept" wanting to verify a suspecious order. Just by coincidence I had just placed an order about an hour before so it gave me pause. I just hung up as I am sure Amazon would not reach out in this fashion.
 
IT'S A SCAM!

You'll be asked if you take credit cards. If you follow through, you'll be instructed to use the card at your bank, charge the card for $thousands, then 'do a favor' such as pay the balance of the sale of the house, provide a security deposit, pay the realtor, whatever. That money will then disappear, and the next day the bank will call you, saying the card is stolen and they want every dollar back.

Myself, I play dumb until I get the card info, then call the issuer of the card and report it as stolen. At least it takes one card away from the scammers and prevents some poor schmuck from getting taken for thousands.
 
Thank you for confirming my feelings that something was fishy about the text. I'm glad I wasn't so desperate for work that I would ignore my instincts. I hate having to question intention of someone asking for work to be done.
 
How exactly does the CC scam work? I am familiar with the cashiers check version where they send you a fake check and want you to wire some of the "extra" to the movers or whatever. This works because for some stupid reason checks actually take weeks to clear even though the bank is required by law to provide the funds next day. It is absolutely absurd that it takes that long for a check to truly clear - I guess they are still sending account information between banks by pony express..... I would think credit cards would be yay or nay pretty much immediately.
 
electrofelon said:
How exactly does the CC scam work? I am familiar with the cashiers check version where they send you a fake check and want you to wire some of the "extra" to the movers or whatever. This works because for some stupid reason checks actually take weeks to clear even though the bank is required by law to provide the funds next day. It is absolutely absurd that it takes that long for a check to truly clear - I guess they are still sending account information between banks by pony express..... I would think credit cards would be yay or nay pretty much immediately.
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They give you a credit card number. You charge say 4,500 to the card. Call and make a cash wire transaction to another account number these people give you for 3,500 supposedly keeping $1000 for your self.
The card, usually stolen has $4500 charged to it which won’t be honored, and your out $3500 because it was a cash wired transaction to an account that can’t be traced.
 
Hv&Lv said:
They give you a credit card number. You charge say 4,500 to the card. Call and make a cash wire transaction to another account number these people give you for 3,500 supposedly keeping $1000 for your self.
The card, usually stolen has $4500 charged to it which won’t be honored, and your out $3500 because it was a cash wired transaction to an account that can’t be traced.
Click to expand...

Ok I see. I have never taken credit cards so I was unsure of the policies. As we pretty much all know, the cardholder is essentially never liable for fraudulent charges, but it seems the merchant typically is for "card not present" transactions:

www.nerdwallet.com

Who Pays When Merchants Are Victims of Credit Card Fraud? - NerdWallet

Cardholders generally can't be held liable for credit card fraud, so the burden usually falls back on the merchants or the card issuers.
www.nerdwallet.com www.nerdwallet.com
 
electrofelon said:
Ok I see. I have never taken credit cards so I was unsure of the policies. As we pretty much all know, the cardholder is essentially never liable for fraudulent charges, but it seems the merchant typically is for "card not present" transactions:
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Right. For card not present (or even card present) transactions all the issuing bank it telling you is that the account can accept a charge of that amount and that the card has not yet been reported stolen. For a card present transaction the merchant is obligated to compare the signature to that on the back of the card, although most don't.
 
I have had several of those. On one, I decided to play along a little. I asked for the address (this was in a text) and the person gave it to me. I just happened to be close to the area where the "house" was supposed to be. When I found the address it was an apartment complex. I texted back and ask how an empty house that needed electrical work could be in an apartment complex? Never got a reply.
The last one I got I was busy and it aggravated me to no end because I knew what it was. I replied "you can take your stolen credit card and jump in the lake". No reply and I haven't had one since!!!
 
Since about 2008 my TEXT reply to this scam was "Quotes By Phone Only". If TEXT persisted I block the number.
Various forms for this TEXT scam has plagued my phone for years, sometimes a few per week.
There was a brief interruption this year when phone carriers adopted robo-call blocking measures, but that didn't last.
Lately I've been blocking these numbers immediately, along with Political, Charitable, and other robo calls.
 
GoldDigger said:
Right. For card not present (or even card present) transactions all the issuing bank it telling you is that the account can accept a charge of that amount and that the card has not yet been reported stolen. For a card present transaction the merchant is obligated to compare the signature to that on the back of the card, although most don't.
Click to expand...

This is the reason I sign the back of my cards with “See ID”. When they see that and ask, I immediately thank them for checking. Too many berate them for checking because they think it’s an inconvenience.
 
oldsparky52 said:
I've been wondering if I will run out of room for all of my "blocked" numbers.
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You'd have to basically block every possible number. The scammers can spoof any number they want. I've even gotten phone calls from my own number.

And not just 10-digit numbers. They can spoof the numbers 1, 12, 123, 1234, 12345, 123456, 1234567, 12345678, 123456789..... etc.
 
480sparky said:
You'd have to basically block every possible number. The scammers can spoof any number they want. I've even gotten phone calls from my own number.
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I've had the same thing, when I contacted the phone co they said there was nothing that they could do as it was "legal" for these scammers to hijack a number.
 
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