PSA: Scammers

N

NoahsArc

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Residential EC
I'm sure anyone who's been in business a while already knows this one, but for anyone new I wanted to send out a warning to a common (as in I get attacked by this at least every 6 months) scam targeting smaller contractors:

The basic attack is someone claiming to be a homeowner/small business owner will contact you and ask you to quote a basic service job. Once you waste your time building a quote for them, they will then tell you that another person will be delivering the materials, and this homeowner will pay you for the materials, and you are to then pass that payment on to their materials guy. The logic is often tortured as to why you need to be involved, I've had one tell me "I can't write two checks at one time" or something hilarious like that. They will often offer to pay you extra for the trouble.

They will invariably mention a "cashier's check" as payment. You will in fact receive such a check in the mail, it will be from a US address, it will look legit. If you try to cash it at your bank, they may let you do so [never gotten to this step, but I assume this is how it all goes - I would not recommend cashing the check]. The money may seem to go through. You will then pay the Other Guy and in a week your bank will contact you and tell you the check was forged and you owe them whatever you paid Other Guy. Fin.

Other Guy will have a US bank account, but it is compromised and the funds will be instantly sent back to India.

So red flags are:
  • cashier's check mentioned
  • you paying someone else
  • that other person not being the homeowner
  • the emails using the word "kindly" or "sir" (granted a lot of Indians use these, so it's more of an orange flag, maybe a green and orange flag...)
Try not to fall for it.

Also, if you have some spare time, mess with them and go along with it. Tell them you never got their check, send another please... See how many checks you can get them to send. It's a game I like to play. They wasted my time after all.

Also when they give you the bank account to send the funds to, alert that bank and if possible the account owner, as they are usually unaware they have been compromised. Law enforcement won't do anything, for reference.
 
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I had something similar sent to me several times, either text or email. The sender says he is in the hospital but needs work done at a certain address. He wants you to bill him $1000 up front, then bill him for the work. This is for any inconvenience you might encounter with the next step. He will pay you by credit card.

Then he wants you to meet the "key holder" to let you in, but first send the key holder a "Western Union" check for $500 for his fee for management of the property and some of the materials. You get to keep the other $500.

If you do this, you will soon find out the credit card is stolen and the funds have been refunded to the person who's card was stolen. So you not only don't get the $1000, you lose the $500 you gave to the key holder.

I happened to be out driving to a job when I got another one of those texts. They usually just say the name of your town, but not the exact address. I decided to mess with them so I asked for the exact address. They sent me an address and said it was a single family home. I just happened to be very near the address so I drove to it. When I got there, it was an apartment complex. Seems they just "Googled" the town and got a random address. I sent a text back and said the address wasn't a house as it was apartments.
I never received a reply.

One other time I got the text with this garbage. I just replied "take your stolen credit card and jump in the lake!" Didn't get a response to that either.
 
I recall some version of that but I've forgotten the details. I'm sure a lot of hungry contractors fell for it when nothing was coming in.
 
These scams aren't very sophisticated so it's amazing that people actually fall for them. Around here the biggest current scams are the toll violations on EZ-pass or if you don't call us with your credit card we will shut off your electricity in 30 minutes.

I've heard about scams similar to the OP for home inspectors.
 
I had one who claimed to be in the hospital for cancer surgery and was also deaf so they had to text. The wanted me to rewire a house they were buying. I strung them along for about a week before I dropped the hammer. They instructed me to get $2400 off the card and keep $1000 for myself and send $1400 by wire to the seller as final payment. I told that I got the money, but instead of sending it, I told them I knew the owner of the property and I slipped it under their door. The scammer went insane. I have good fun with those.
 
infinity said:
These scams aren't very sophisticated so it's amazing that people actually fall for them. Around here the biggest current scams are the toll violations on EZ-pass or if you don't call us with your credit card we will shut off your electricity in 30 minutes.

I've heard about scams similar to the OP for home inspectors.
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Yeah, its sad because you know its mostly elderly that fall for it, and they're already usually short on money.

I am fine with sending in navy seals to bust these guys.

Anyway, I am as annoyed by legit companies and run of the mill estimating services/google profile services/website developers that endlessly cold call me just because I have an online presence. Also, I called Hartford one time for a workers comp policy quote. They have called me back over 100 times since...
 
James L said:
The idea is to make it so obvious that if they do get somebody on the hook, it's a sure thing.

They don't want to be wasting their time with somebody who figures it out somewhere along the way
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On Dr. Phil, it is known that cat-fishers intentionally add or leave spelling and grammatical errors in their messages and letters, because the recipients who overlook them are usually easily taken in.
 
Remember that these scammers are trying lots of different modalities, and it is virtually certain that you will come across one (a different one) that gets through your filters. Don't imagine that you are stupid because you get caught.

One of the ways that scammers keep their claws in you is by amplifying these feelings of embarrassment and using them to keep you separated from your support community.
 
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