Scam Alert!!

[Sierra Aero Recon]

I started receiving text yesterday about a potential new job. Some aspects of the situation threw up major red flags wile other aspects made it seem like it may just be a very odd person with a legit request. I did google the property and it was listed for sale online. I called the realtor and they said that they did have a potential buyer but that the timeframe that was proposed for construction in the text I received was completely unrealistic as the property had not even gone into escrow yet. They then checked their records and had no idea who this person was. I am also lucky to have a Private Investigator that works in my office. I gave her the business info and they guys name and phone number. The PI ran some checks and could not find anything on the business or the name. They did find information on the phone number and that it was potentially tied to fraud and scams. I am posting images of the entire text chain along with the phone number. Once I started to ask some serious questions the person just disappeared and there has been no response. Hopefully this helps someone else out. I can only assume that at some point there would have been a request for personal info or account info in an attempt to "pay" me.

 

[vindibona1]

I think the way to avoid getting scammed out of payment or worse is to request a significant retainer before work begins, paid in cash or via Zelle. NEVER EVER GIVE OUT ACCOUNT INFO.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I am not sure I see the scam but its an elaborate one if it is.

The first thing you should do is set up arrangement for Payment, simple enough Cash App for the Deposit.
and I would charge a daily rate , 150 /$300 day paid after you upload your work. . Simple enough,

If one day you do not get paid , your done.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Pouring Rain.

 

[Sierra Aero Recon]

I am not sure I see the scam but its an elaborate one if it is.

The first thing you should do is set up arrangement for Payment, simple enough Cash App for the Deposit.
and I would charge a daily rate , 150 /$300 day paid after you upload your work. . Simple enough,

If one day you do not get paid , your done.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Pouring Rain.

I have now received confirmation that others have been approached by this same phone number. When you call it it goes to a messing system that request that you text this number. From the responses I have received on the commercial drone pilot board this is not an uncommon thing.

 

[WildDoktor]

This scam has been around since at least 1991...that's the first time I've seen it, and many, many times after. It goes like this:

You set up arrangements for payment, even a schedule of payment. The scammer will agree to literally *any* payment arrangement you can come up with, because their *only* goal is to give you their CC number.

Then they give you their CC number, and ask you to over-charge them by a significant amount. Then they want you to write them a cashier's check for that overage so they can pay "so and so".

The problem is, it's a stolen CC. And if you fall for it and charge the card, you've just committed CC fraud, get caught, and your life is ruined. And the scumbag who started the whole thing has a nice fat cashier's check that he can cash with no issues.

Don't fall for it!

Scum and villainy. Modern day piracy.

 

[Sierra Aero Recon]

This scam has been around since at least 1991...that's the first time I've seen it, and many, many times after. It goes like this:

You set up arrangements for payment, even a schedule of payment. The scammer will agree to literally *any* payment arrangement you can come up with, because their *only* goal is to give you their CC number.

Then they give you their CC number, and ask you to over-charge them by a significant amount. Then they want you to write them a cashier's check for that overage so they can pay "so and so".

The problem is, it's a stolen CC. And if you fall for it and charge the card, you've just committed CC fraud, get caught, and your life is ruined. And the scumbag who started the whole thing has a nice fat cashier's check that he can cash with no issues.

Don't fall for it!

Scum and villainy. Modern day piracy.

That is great to know. I was wondering what the play was and how they were extracting money out of the situation. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I am not sure I see the scam but its an elaborate one if it is.

Indeed I feel it's a scam, first in hospital with flu, then for an operation.

And while it's close enough for a job, it's still a 6hr drive each way !!
Note in the above screenshot, he comes to say "make yourself available for up to 1 hrs daily" ?
Darn that is not a good thing for the OP, sound like he's wanting to pay for an hour a day, but "not spend up to that sometimes." Not a very good command of English, nor is it a good offer in any way with daily travel of 12 hours, or get a rental up there (which is feasible for a long days work for 12 straight days).

I'd say by the sounds it is a mini scam and a clever one more likely to get results.
Targeting X number of commercial drone pilots in the region they find online, usually they don't go to anywhere near as much trouble.

Good luck with it, but agree the party seems evasive.

 

[GFields]

Greetings welcome to the forum! Yes, this is a very popular scam. I am a certified Zillow (real estate) photographer and I get these a lot.

 

[MiragePro]

I have had several of these over the years, and I can usually tell its a scam immediately. First clue is that they will contact you by text or email, not a phone call. The last one was a few months ago. They said they were going to shot a film in the Palm Springs area, and needed a camera crew. He even provided a script and the location they would be at. They were supposed to be a production company out of Taiwan. When I suspect that its a scam, I always immediately give them a large inflated price and ask for information so I can send them a contract. They always say, no problem and will FedEx me a check for more money in order to pay someone else. I love to string them along and say no problem. Make them pay for the FedEx, get the check, always drawn from a legit company, but forged. I then call the company from who the check was issued from and let them know. The will keep bugging you why you haven't cashed the check, Sometimes I can string them along for a couple of weeks, If it's a credit card, I tell them that it will be through PayPal. They will refuse and say they don't do PayPal.

 

[GFields]

I have had several of these over the years, and I can usually tell its a scam immediately. First clue is that they will contact you by text or email, not a phone call. The last one was a few months ago. They said they were going to shot a film in the Palm Springs area, and needed a camera crew. He even provided a script and the location they would be at. They were supposed to be a production company out of Taiwan. When I suspect that its a scam, I always immediately give them a large inflated price and ask for information so I can send them a contract. They always say, no problem and will FedEx me a check for more money in order to pay someone else. I love to string them along and say no problem. Make them pay for the FedEx, get the check, always drawn from a legit company, but forged. I then call the company from who the check was issued from and let them know. The will keep bugging you why you haven't cashed the check, Sometimes I can string them along for a couple of weeks, If it's a credit card, I tell them that it will be through PayPal. They will refuse and say they don't do PayPal.

LOL, I do the same thing. The last one I received (last week) I quoted them $20,000 to do the real estate photoshoot they wanted. Had them create a client account in my billing software and after stringing them along a day or so, I told them that their IP address, email address, and physical address had been provided to the FBI, FCC, and local authorities, and to be safe as they await arrest. Needless to say, I didn't hear back from them LOL

 

[MiragePro]

LOL, I do the same thing. The last one I received (last week) I quoted them $20,000 to do the real estate photoshoot they wanted. Had them create a client account in my billing software and after stringing them along a day or so, I told them that their IP address, email address, and physical address had been provided to the FBI, FCC, and local authorities, and to be safe as they await arrest. Needless to say, I didn't hear back from them LOL

A lot of times their return address will be from a house that is listed for sale. The checks appear to be legit, but the account number will be different from what it should be. I did once contact the FBI, who told me to contact the Treasury Department, who then told me it was not worth the time to investigate. So now I just play with them and have fun.

 

[Tom Johnson]

I started receiving text yesterday about a potential new job. Some aspects of the situation threw up major red flags wile other aspects made it seem like it may just be a very odd person with a legit request. I did google the property and it was listed for sale online. I called the realtor and they said that they did have a potential buyer but that the timeframe that was proposed for construction in the text I received was completely unrealistic as the property had not even gone into escrow yet. They then checked their records and had no idea who this person was. I am also lucky to have a Private Investigator that works in my office. I gave her the business info and they guys name and phone number. The PI ran some checks and could not find anything on the business or the name. They did find information on the phone number and that it was potentially tied to fraud and scams. I am posting images of the entire text chain along with the phone number. Once I started to ask some serious questions the person just disappeared and there has been no response. Hopefully this helps someone else out. I can only assume that at some point there would have been a request for personal info or account info in an attempt to "pay" me.View attachment 131127View attachment 131128

As a promotional products distributor, I get these scam emails at least twice a week. They usually request 2 or 3 hundred power bank chargers or several hundred T-shirts with minimal printing. I just tell them first time purchases are cash, cashiers check or money order only (and there’s a waiting period for the funds to clear). Then I attach my new client account form. Never hear from them again.

 

[Trackerputnam]

I started receiving text yesterday about a potential new job. Some aspects of the situation threw up major red flags wile other aspects made it seem like it may just be a very odd person with a legit request. I did google the property and it was listed for sale online. I called the realtor and they said that they did have a potential buyer but that the timeframe that was proposed for construction in the text I received was completely unrealistic as the property had not even gone into escrow yet. They then checked their records and had no idea who this person was. I am also lucky to have a Private Investigator that works in my office. I gave her the business info and they guys name and phone number. The PI ran some checks and could not find anything on the business or the name. They did find information on the phone number and that it was potentially tied to fraud and scams. I am posting images of the entire text chain along with the phone number. Once I started to ask some serious questions the person just disappeared and there has been no response. Hopefully this helps someone else out. I can only assume that at some point there would have been a request for personal info or account info in an attempt to "pay" me.View attachment 131127View attachment 131128

Had the same thing here in Washington they try their best but want your account number scam scam!

 

[monteolsen1]

I am not sure I see the scam but its an elaborate one if it is.

The first thing you should do is set up arrangement for Payment, simple enough Cash App for the Deposit.
and I would charge a daily rate , 150 /$300 day paid after you upload your work. . Simple enough,

If one day you do not get paid , your done.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Pouring Rain.

I can see the scam almost immediately. Two things give it away. His unavailability to phone (typical) and his English usage. He is writing with an "accent, though not bad compared to some, which tells me he is probably from India or somewhere near there.

 

[NG Wildman]

Many good responses here. So, I'll just add the insertion of obvious colloquialisms combined with the poor English and I haven't heard of surgery for the Flu. I would truly like to find the originators of these scams and spend a few minutes alone in a room with a baseball bat.

 

[spsphotos]

I don't do business with anyone who simply texts me. LOL. Or does not have a real company website, company email address, phone number, address that is verifiable and unwilling to talk to me on the phone. Additionally, I will not take credit cards unless I know who I am dealing with. These types of scams will work because you will get some eager beaver who is looking for their first gig or very new to the game and sees easy money. Like someone said earlier, first it's the flu? Covid would have been a better option. THen it's surgery? LOL.

 

[mr.bill]

I got this same exact scam attempt this week too.

 

[Bob Dempsey]

I started receiving text yesterday about a potential new job. Some aspects of the situation threw up major red flags wile other aspects made it seem like it may just be a very odd person with a legit request. I did google the property and it was listed for sale online. I called the realtor and they said that they did have a potential buyer but that the timeframe that was proposed for construction in the text I received was completely unrealistic as the property had not even gone into escrow yet. They then checked their records and had no idea who this person was. I am also lucky to have a Private Investigator that works in my office. I gave her the business info and they guys name and phone number. The PI ran some checks and could not find anything on the business or the name. They did find information on the phone number and that it was potentially tied to fraud and scams. I am posting images of the entire text chain along with the phone number. Once I started to ask some serious questions the person just disappeared and there has been no response. Hopefully this helps someone else out. I can only assume that at some point there would have been a request for personal info or account info in an attempt to "pay" me.View attachment 131127View attachment 131128

The moment a request for anything starts with - "do you accept credit cards" It is a scam.

 

[dawgpilot]

I am not sure I see the scam but its an elaborate one if it is.

The first thing you should do is set up arrangement for Payment, simple enough Cash App for the Deposit.
and I would charge a daily rate , 150 /$300 day paid after you upload your work. . Simple enough,

If one day you do not get paid , your done.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Pouring Rain.

CashApp shouldn't be used for anyone that you don't know personally. They don't offer any seller protection, so if the person who pays you ends up reversing the charge with their bank (via filing a dispute), the money will be taken back from you with no recourse from CashApp.

 

[Desert Sands]

Yes the Hospital story and the strange language used seems like it is a phishing scam.

Joe