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There is a scam going around from Nigeria that is targeting carpet cleaners. They email you saying that they need some carpets cleaned and that they are moving. They want you to clean the carpets and then pay a guy for delivering the rugs. They pay for the rug cleaning and then want you to send the guy that will deliver the rugs some money. It is just a scam to get you to pay the guy, then their payment is withdrawn (usually by credit card) and you are swindled out of about $900.00. You can check with your local Police Department, and more than likely they have heard about this scam. The Better Business Brueau is also a good place to contact and report any thing like this. There was a segment on our news the other night regarding these type of scams. Many times it begins by an email or a phone call needing some rugs cleaned. It usually looks like you could make about $1600.00 for the job. They tell you the customer is deaf so they go through a special phone system so you do not talk to the scam artist, but the message is relayed. I know of at least two of our operators that have been contacted by these people. Both of these operators called me to see if I thought it was on the up and up. I am glad we were able to keep these two operators from being cheated by these con artists. Carpet cleaners are not the only ones being targeted by these con artists. Please be cautious and do not get taken to the cleaners.
CodyThere are people always trying to steal money by using scam tactics. There is a scam that people are trying on rug cleaners. They say they have 15 rugs that they want cleaned, but can’t deliver them unless you send them money first. If it sounds too good to be true, it is! Below is the letter we received for us to clean rugs. Do not feel sorry for the guy, he doesn’t have lung cancer, isn’t a US citizen, and as you can tell doesn’t know English very well. You can tell he doesn’t know English very well because he uses some sophisticated words, but then messes up a lot on the simpler words (ie. he used a dictionary to translate for him).
Another way they do this is by calling you. Sometimes they call using the telephone operator, so all they do is type and then the operator talks. This hides their crazy accent, so you think it is legitimate. They ask you to charge their credit card, then wire them x number of dollars to the shipping guy and you get to keep most of it to clean the rugs. The thing is that you send them your money while waiting for the credit card to process, they get the money and cancel the credit card charge. So then you get to say goodbye money. One thing to remember is that if they can receive wired money, they can also send wired money, so that is why you tell them to just wire the money instead. Then they hang-up and stop calling you.
EXAMPLE LETTER:
Hello,
This is Phillip David, i would like to know if you do rug cleaning service.Am relocating from my old house in Florida down to state here and i would like to know how much will 20×10 area rug cost for cleaning and actually i have 15 rugs of that, can you do the total calculation for the cleaning for the 15 rugs sized 2500 square feet.Kindly send me an email with total cost of cleaning the rugs and your shop address in order to have its send to the private shipping guy that will deliver the rugs down to your shop for the cleaning.Basically am just moving in to state here and i am at the hospital right now because i was down with a diagnosis of cancer of the lungs as such i had to spend some time in the intensive care,so i want to do the cleaning arrangement of the rugs and after copmleting the payment with my credit card,the private shipper can have the rugs move down to your shop for the cleaning.
Actually i wouldn’t be able to do the delivery and pick up due to the nature of my illness but have made a booking with a private shipping guy that will be delivery the rugs to your end and pick its up after you have the cleaning done.Kindly get back to me via email at –email–Thanks
Phillip David
They have called me, but since I don’t accept credit cards they ended the conversation. whew!
The people running this scam are hitting up other kinds of companies also. We have seen one that is targeting mechanic shops as well.
I got my 3rd attempt to scam me yesterday. A TTY Operator was the go between, when I told them it was a scam, they hung up.
I received a TTY operator call on this a few days before it was posted on the HB site. It seemed way too fishy and I simply ignored the whole thing.
Thanks to the news letter I was prepared when I recieved the email so I knew it was a scam. I went along with it and tried to get him to call me but he made up excuse after excuse why he couldnt. Would have loved to of spoken to him so i could give him a piece of my mind! HAHA. He tty called me yesterday but hungup after I told the operator he was a scam artist.
I received two calls today. I have two phone numbers. Mine were thru the operator. I have a few customers who are deaf and use operators for there initial contact so I took a few questions first. She asked if I took credit cards (I do) and if I was the owner. As soon as she said they had 18 area rugs and were from Alabama and moving to California I knew it was the scam posted here. Just told the operator that it was a scam and they hung up.
Thanks for posting all.
We had the same scam for almost a month over and over again. It was almost daily for awhile 3 times a day as they went through the phone book, and hit each of our numbers. we just told them we didn’t clean rugs and didn’t take cards. adventually they quit trying
I am still getting calls, I take it one step further and tell them that I am reporting them. If you still are receiving calls, maybe this will help keep them away from Heaven’s Best. I dislike scammers and so should you!
I am so glad I found this post! It is several years old, but I was targeted for this scam via text message just a few minutes ago. I quoted over $3500 to clean 15 large rugs, and then things started to sound fishy. The language in the texts sounded a lot like the ridiculous spam emails I get every day.
Mrs. Faith Cook (the scammer’s persona) must be really down on her luck. She’s deaf and has lung cancer! Too bad s/he won’t be scamming me out of my hard earned cash.
If you receive a text from 330-999-8607, I would suggest you report it.
I got the same text message. I replied that I don’t do business via text message and to call me. They never did. Go figure.
I received this email about 2 weeks ago.
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