Scam Alert!!

Dawnvt · Jun 27, 2021

Sierra Aero Recon said:
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 131127 View attachment 131128

Hi, I have been a professional event photographer for a long time(terestrial). This sounds like a lot of tricky offers I received. They never sent the contract, and since there was cash/credit involved, I was able to give them a receipt for what cash I was owed for the project along with all the 220 films I had used. They grumbled... I was not cheated that time. I turned down all of the future offers, as I had portraits, weddings, and kids pictures to take. Look carefully and choose wisely. Best wishes for a happy pt 107 career.

Drone4 · Jun 27, 2021

Sierra Aero Recon said:
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 131127 View attachment 131128

I had this same thing in the fall of last year and they kept telling me they couldn't talk because they are in the hospital with Covid, "but I'm fine" just need this job done. I called the first property owner and confirmed they were unaware of anything like this. It's a scammer.

DronePilotNH · Jun 28, 2021

I got the same message three days ago. I will be calling the company that I got the notification from.

fastfed · Jun 28, 2021

WildDoktor said:
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.

Restaurants, stores and basically anyone who accepts credit cards runs stolen cards. You don't get in trouble unless you're the one that stole it. You get your money taken back for sure.

Desert Sands · Jun 28, 2021

FastFed said: Restaurants, stores and basically anyone who accepts credit cards runs stolen cards. You don't get in trouble unless you're the one that stole it. You get your money taken back for sure.

True, but the deliberate overcharging is where fraud comes in.

Cymruflyer · Jun 29, 2021

Just a word of warning for anyone who goes through with any deals and accepts a cashiers cheque for the work. Most if not all of you do not know that a cashiers cheque that even looks legitimate to your bank, can take up to a few months to move through all the monetary channels linked to the money movement.

At the end of all that time, if it is not a legit one, despite what the bank originally thought or might have told you, it will come back to your bank as a fake cashiers cheque and your bank will remove that money from your account and you are left with nothing. Most people think if they give a week or ten days to get the cashiers cheque cleared through their bank, that all is well and then they hand over whatever it was the cashiers cheque was payment for, thinking everything is good now.

However, a bank can take 3 months or more to come back to you to inform you that the cashiers cheque that you gave them, was a forged one, despite the fact that the bank originally felt it was a legit one. So please be aware that giving a cheque a week or two or even three to be sure it has cleared, will not be enough time, if it is a well hidden scam, using cashiers cheques. It used to be that that was the safest form of payment to accept, especially for large amounts of money. Those day are long gone, so never accept such a cheque for any amount you are not prepared to have taken away from you, up to several months later.

R.Cowan · Dec 18, 2021

Sierra Aero Recon said:
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!

I have been a target of this type scam 3 different times now. Now, I have to admit, that the 1st time seemed like something that was a legit request, however I also picked up on some red flags and when I started to dig deeper and insist on a phone conversation prior to doing anything, I got the same response about being in the hospital yada...yada...yada and needing to do this by text. And in my gut I knew something wasn't right with this and when I insisted that I would not do business with the gentleman without having some phone conversation, the communications immediately stopped. Again I've seen this 2 other times since then. Everyone beware!