Try to scam me, will ya...

[notalwaysright]

For something like roofing, wouldn't you need the owner to actually sign the work order before you could start work? Any work I had to have done on my house, I was required to physically sign something before the contractor would begin work.

Oh, well they could send the proposal back snail mail, or email (scan and send). One of the guys could go pick it up, which we liked because then we could bring out color samples at the same time. Honestly, we very rarely had any problem making contact with a person. Most people want to talk with us, they are going to be spending thousands of dollars, after all. If they want impersonal, they should go with one of the large companies. They don't give a crap as long as they get the money.

[EvilEmpryss]

For something like roofing, wouldn't you need the owner to actually sign the work order before you could start work? .

I was getting estimates for roof repair a few years back, and not one company asked me to prove I was the homeowner.

I guess that it's one of those "who else would want to pay to put a new roof on a house?", but now that I know about the scam, I'm not sure how I'd prove it short of pulling out my purchase paperwork.

[Jetfire]

I was getting estimates for roof repair a few years back, and not one company asked me to prove I was the homeowner.

I guess that it's one of those "who else would want to pay to put a new roof on a house?", but now that I know about the scam, I'm not sure how I'd prove it short of pulling out my purchase paperwork.

A bill in your name to that address (paper or ebill) would probably be enough. If the place has a history of being a rental property (or if the contractor is getting a renter vibe instead of a scammer vibe) you might need more proof, but I suspect that should be enough most of the time.

[ZumZum]

Similar scam was attempted on me years ago. I was a restaurant manager. Guy calls in using TTY (not sure if he was really deaf).
Claimed to be having a party soon, but he was in the hospital. Wanted to order about $1000 worth of one item on our menu. This after asking for things we don't have.

Then he says he is hiring a delivery truck to pick up the food. Can we charge his card an extra $750 for the delivery charge and give it to the driver?

Oh yeah, charge an additional $150 as a tip for me (for being oh so kind).

Then way the TTY operator was delivering his messages, I could tell she was cringing, but couldn't say anything.

I tried to get the credit card number so I could alert the CC company, but he wouldn't give it to me until I the day of the sale. I just told him I needed to get authorization. He then gave me a fake phone number and ended the call abruptly.

[An Haddock]

For your amusement, here's my latest couple of email exchanges:

I'm sure he'll understand. Just give me your address and we'll be happy to provide transportation for free.

By the way - how did you hear about our company? Was it from the predator watchlist site?

i have negotiated with the driver and i don't want to disappoint him because the driver has been texting me about it. so please can you do this for me......God bless

Thanks,

Cole.

Since you're in the hospital, we won't charge you for the transportation service. We have a business van with boarded-up windows we use to transport children to our facility. Just give me your address and we can come pick them up so you will save yourself $1800.

Isn't that great!?

the favor is that i have not pay for the private transportation driver that will be bringing the 4 kids for the whole training and i can't do that myself,am at the hospital will undergo surgery in 4 days and also the driver's does not have credit card facilities to charge a card , so while charging my card i will like you to include extra $1890 for the driver's bill and you will have the $1890 send via western union to the driver and add extra $100 tip for your self as an inconvenience fee, so go ahead and add everything up.

[notalwaysright]

I was getting estimates for roof repair a few years back, and not one company asked me to prove I was the homeowner.

Nobody needs to sign anything for us to just do an estimate. If they want us to do the work, that's when we get back the signed estimate. Can't remember the legal wording, but it doesn't have to be the owner, it can be someone authorized/responsible. We don't normally check who is the legal owner! We did that one time, because of the scammer.

[EvilEmpryss]

Boy, I love it when people throw the "god bless" crap in the scam, like that's going to make me less suspicious.

Some of the worst crimes in history have been committed by religious people, and they weren't even doing it for religion, necessarily.

To paraphrase Inigo Montoya but with the same heartfelt lack of interest, keep your 'god bless'.