Tree work credit card scam

[COREtreeservice]

Commercial/residential tree workers beware!

I am located in Phoenix and I wonder if you guys are getting hit by a similar credit card scam to the one below.

This is a recent email I received,

"Hello my name is Richard i will like to know if you do tree trimming service for the home and can i know if you are the owner or manager and do you accept credit card?"

The scammer always sends out the same general email or text. When I tell them to call they respond that they can't talk over the phone because they are deaf or have lung cancer or some other physical impairment.

At that point they text or email me an address to a real home and claim they need a bid on the trees. However this address is also part of the scam. They are neither the owner nor occupier of the home. I assume it's just an address they found online.

In only one case did I get to talk to one of the scammers. After receiving a scam text I told the man who said his name was "Roger" to call me. A few minutes later I received a phone call from a different number. The man spoke broken English in a thick Indian or middle eastern accent. It was pretty obvious his name wasn't Roger. I could barely understand him and he said he would text me the home's address but that was the last I ever heard from him.

They always ask up front if I accept credit cards so evidently it is some type of credit card scam. Somebody tries this on me at least once per week but I know their lingo so I don't even respond anymore.

 

[ATH]

Weird.

Myself and another guy in town got a similar text. He does not take credit card. In theory I could but haven't. When it happened to me, I went to visit the house and showed up while a realtor was showing it to somebody - it was vacant, bank owned, and for sale (but no sign posted). I communicated with the realtor later - apologizing for intruding while he was showing, and letting him know what I knew because I wasn't sure if the scam was aimed at me or at him/the house. We both agreed that we just aren't sure what there is to be gained. Just knowing a business takes cards seems pretty useless information. (they can't hack card info off of a cell phone if you take cc on that, can they - I don't think the phone stores anything???).

When I found out the other guy got the same message the same day sending him to a different vacant for sale address listed by the same agency, I started to think it is probably aimed at the real estate, not us??? (send us to find out of the house is vacant planning to come back later to steal appliances and copper???). I called the police (we live in a small town, so they had time to take the phone call) - figured perhaps there is something they can connect the dots if there is more info out there. I'd encourage others to notify law enforcement just in case there is a larger scam, hopefully it will be busted up. Now find out you are getting the same thing in AZ really makes it odd.

The phone number that we got the text from was : 404-796-8837. I googled the number and nothing came up. If we post scammer numbers, maybe others will find this post via searching and avoid further contact. Give the bums more dead ends so they quit trying.

 

[COREtreeservice]

Interesting that you are on the other side of the country.

The very first time I was texted by a guy who said he was deaf and I fell for it. He gave me an address on the edge of Phoenix and I drove up to do the bid. However the home was in a gated community and I couldn't enter. So I texted the guy back and told him I couldn't enter the gate. He texted back that I should try and find a new way into the neighborhood. That's when I knew it was a scam.

Since then I've been contacted by text and email at least a dozen more times. Always the same general thing. They ask if I do tree trimming and if I take credit cards. Just about every time it has been from a long distance phone number.

The one time I got the guy on the phone he was a foreigner and barely spoke English.

 

[ATH]

The grammer was pretty poor and used some odd wording. I figured that may have just been text language barrier...but a foreigner makes more sense. For example, wanted to know if we could "do tree removal and stump ridging" and later asked for the cost to get rid of the "tree and stump ridge".

Another oddity: if they just wanted to know that I could take cc, they could have ended the conversation without raising my suspicions... My initial reply was we focus on tree care and don't do large removals. I gave him a couple of other names (regret that now!) and said let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. He replied and said it was not a large tree and wanted me to look at it...gave me the address. He then texted the next day (a Sunday) to ask if he was still on my schedule. I had told him I'd stop by when I had time that week...the conversation was "off" enough at that point that there was no way I was letting him know when I would be there. He was supposedly in the hospital "recovering from a diagnosis of lung cancer" so he wasn't going to meet me any how.

That is what really makes me think it goes beyond getting card info from me...he seems to have wanted me on that property. After it all went down I assumed this was some transient trying to pick up cash on their way through (I am in Ohio...area code is from Georgia). Now that I hear the same thing happening in AZ I am confused. What is the scam? What are they trying to get??? That is why I think law enforcement should be made aware.

 

[pro94lt]

Wow I thought I was the only one... They text me twice last week. Asked if I still rendered tree service... I never responded.

 

[ATH]

What state are you in?

What # did they text you from?

 

[pro94lt]

In Arkansas I already deleted the text... I do take credit cards and advertise.

 

[CanopyGorilla]

I'm in Missoula Mt and got the exact same text. I thought it was a scam but went to look at the address just in case. It was for sale as well. I called the realtor and told them about the situation. I also can't figure out what the scam is. I texted the number back a bid of $45,000 to deadwood one sugar maple and never heard back.

 

[CanopyGorilla]

631-577-8512

 

[Zale]

I'm in Missoula Mt and got the exact same text. I thought it was a scam but went to look at the address just in case. It was for sale as well. I called the realtor and told them about the situation. I also can't figure out what the scam is. I texted the number back a bid of $45,000 to deadwood one sugar maple and never heard back.

$45,000.00 seems a little low.

 

[pro94lt]

It's the first text I've got but do all of you not get bs calls all the time?

 

[ATH]

Not like that...

 

[COREtreeservice]

Just got this email today, haha.

"hello good day this is Walker B. i will like to know if you still render tree service and what type of credit card do you accept?"

 

[CanopyGorilla]

It's the first text I've got but do all of you not get bs calls all the time?

I get calls to "update my business listing immediately" all the time. Or "sir are you the business owner of Headwaters llc"? But the text thing was weird. I couldn't figure out what the scam is asking if we take cards. Probably some hacking software thing.....

 

[ATH]

It sounds like it is on its way to a credit card scam, but has anybody been asked more than "do you take credit cards" of "which credit cards do you take"?

 

[gorman]

I got several texts of that nature. I new it was a scam from the start because of the horrible grammar

 

[ATH]

For what it is worth, I called my credit card processing company...bottom line is that they were unconcerned they scammer has anything damaging. They were also confused about what the end game is. The guy I talked to wasn't familiar with similar scams.

 

[CanopyGorilla]

So who is going to pony up and chase this rabbit a little further down the hole?

 

[ATH]

A friend who does high-end internet security suggested calling the FBI... I think the thing is nobody has been harmed, so I doubt law enforcement is going to get more involved.

I did call TCIA. They hadn't heard of it. I passed along what I know and directed them to this forum. They may put out a notice to the industry either on their social media or in regular mailings.

Wondering how they have found us...few questions for those who have been contacted:
Do you have a website?
Are you a TCIA member?
ISA member?
Certified Arborist?
On Angies list?
Is your cell phone listed as your primary contact number (assuming you were contacted via text)?
Any online advertising tied to yellow page advertising?
Can you think of other places your contact information is out there that may be common to the rest of us?

 

[Crusherclaw]

Commercial/residential tree workers beware!

I am located in Phoenix and I wonder if you guys are getting hit by a similar credit card scam to the one below.

This is a recent email I received,

"Hello my name is Richard i will like to know if you do tree trimming service for the home and can i know if you are the owner or manager and do you accept credit card?"

The scammer always sends out the same general email or text. When I tell them to call they respond that they can't talk over the phone because they are deaf or have lung cancer or some other physical impairment.

At that point they text or email me an address to a real home and claim they need a bid on the trees. However this address is also part of the scam. They are neither the owner nor occupier of the home. I assume it's just an address they found online.

In only one case did I get to talk to one of the scammers. After receiving a scam text I told the man who said his name was "Roger" to call me. A few minutes later I received a phone call from a different number. The man spoke broken English in a thick Indian or middle eastern accent. It was pretty obvious his name wasn't Roger. I could barely understand him and he said he would text me the home's address but that was the last I ever heard from him.

They always ask up front if I accept credit cards so evidently it is some type of credit card scam. Somebody tries this on me at least once per week but I know their lingo so I don't even respond anymore.

A friend who does high-end internet security suggested calling the FBI... I think the thing is nobody has been harmed, so I doubt law enforcement is going to get more involved.

I did call TCIA. They hadn't heard of it. I passed along what I know and directed them to this forum. They may put out a notice to the industry either on their social media or in regular mailings.

Wondering how they have found us...few questions for those who have been contacted:
Do you have a website?
Are you a TCIA member?
ISA member?
Certified Arborist?
On Angies list?
Is your cell phone listed as your primary contact number (assuming you were contacted via text)?
Any online advertising tied to yellow page advertising?
Can you think of other places your contact information is out there that may be common to the rest of us?