I just got the text last night, said she was hearing impaired and needed to text only. She wanted my rates , my area, and availability, but gave no address. then she stopped over night. first thing this morning she says she’s from worcester area address, i say sorry do not cover there. Next thing i know i am getting calls from Google voice asking me to input a code. this is a scam to hijack your number and divert it to them. I banned them both from my phone. Went into google and changed my password as well as looked at recent activity to see if anyone had made changes. they had not. NICK, they are going down the list, can you do something on this?
Paul B
Hi,
This scam is unfortunate, but there is little we can do to stop it. For one reason, they keep changing their email address and name and details, so we can’t simply block them. For another, the whole goal of our inspector search pages is to get your name and contact info out to the world - so if you have a phone number or email listed on your website, any scammer will be able to see that just by clicking your website link on our page. If you have any sort of business listing anywhere with your phone number or email, they appear to be searching for it. Some of these scams come through InspectorSeek, but others are emailed directly based on your website.
We also don’t have a very good way to track that person down in whatever country they are in, and very little legal recourse even if we did. Luckily, members are all posting about it, so most people should know about this scam by now.
I mention the phone number because you had the Google Voice issue - but we haven’t heard of that before. It might be an unrelated scam.
I received the email, too. I told them I only did local inspections on the Sea of Tranquility, on the Moon, and asked for the address. They replied that they were local, haha…
Hi Everyone,
I just received the same text from Vanessa with the same phone number and same message.
Called Sprint and had the number blocked after I reading everyone’s comment. Thank you all for the alert, it will save me a lot of hassle down the road.
I received a message from Vanessa yesterday. I referred her to the inspection company I refer people to (I am currently not state licensed, still in the pre-licensing education) I then spoke to that inspector who also had recieved a message from her. Claims to be hearing impaired, claimed to have purchased a house for her mother.
Then today I got a message which said “How is your business today?” I blocked her number from my phone. I entered her number in google search and…I find this thread at NACHI.
Maybe she is a home inspector groupie. We’re HOT!
I sent “Vanessa” a message asking that she not contact me and that she was listed in fraud alerts. “She” replied…“F**K YOU! This is how I make a living! If I don’t scam, I can’t pay for school”
Nice.
Not sure what “she” expected to “get”. But if she engages you to conduct an inspection, you can rest assured it is a wild goose chase.
I got the same sad story in West Virginia but the name was Felisha Terrel.
I received the same request today from a Kiomara Schuler. I’m trolling them. I figure the more time of theirs that is wasted is less time spent scamming others.
I got the same one from Kiomara. I told “her” to FO.
I have gotten the same email from “Gabby”, “Melissa” and “Mitchell”. The first one I went back and forth through email a couple of times before I figured out the scam but the other two I just blocked.
This is the one I got.
Hello ,
Thanks for the quote. I am OK with the quote and i would have everything put in place for the inspection,first of all i will like
you to know that the house if for sale by the owner and not by Realtor,I will like you to know the house is still occupied and it will be vacant next weekend,I want you to know that the caretaker will send you the key and you can go there for the inspection,i need you to send me your full name and office address and a valid phone number as requested by the caretaker he would need it to contact you to schedule the inspection and get the house keys to your office immediately they receive their balance,I will like to know what kind of credit cards you accept for payment so i can make the payment asap,I would have to seek a little favor from you and i would be happy if you can be able to grant me the favor i seek from you.Due to my present health condition,i would provide you my credit card details for you to charge for the total cost of the service and also i would like you to charge an extra sum of $ which would be used to balance up fees for the house,I am sorry if i am asking for too much but i would have forwarded the balance to him myself but i am held down with health issues right now and am still at the hospital and the seller stated he wants the balance by bank transfer that’s why i am seeking your favor on this,i would be willing to compensate you if you can assist me on this.
Your urgent response would be appreciated.
Warm Regards
Got this same scam request from a person named Kiomara Schuler -xiomarag7m@gmail.com
He emailed me as well yesterday.
And this morning I got a text at 6:30 am from Mr. Smith asking if I did property inspections.
Scammers are busy.
These are as bad and time consuming as the “Hi I’m Sharon from Google plus” that I get three or four times a week.
Same here.
Also I got one of these last week from Maxie Martinez… looks like they are just copy/pasting. To me, this is just a form of marketing, they send out several hundred to thousand of these monthly and see how many they get to fall for it. Same idea as marketing… I really hate marketing.
[FONT=arial]Thanks for the quote. I am OK with the quote and i would have everything put in place for the inspection,first of all i will like
you to know that the house if for sale by the owner and not by Realtor,I will like you to know the house is still occupied and it will be vacant next weekend,I want you to know that the caretaker will send you the key and you can go there for the inspection,i need you to send me your full name and office address and a valid phone number as requested by the caretaker he would need it to contact you to schedule the inspection and get the house keys to your office immediately they receive their balance,I will like to know what kind of credit cards you accept for payment so i can make the payment asap,I would have to seek a little favor from you and i would be happy if you can be able to grant me the favor i seek from you.Due to my present health condition,i would provide you my credit card details for you to charge for the total cost of the service and also i would like you to charge an extra sum of $ which would be used to balance up fees for the house,I am sorry if i am asking for too much but i would have forwarded the balance to him myself but i am held down with health issues right now and am still at the hospital and the seller stated he wants the balance by bank transfer that’s why i am seeking your favor on this,i would be willing to compensate you if you can assist me on this.[/FONT]
I just received an email from inspector seek. After reading some forums on here I realized it appears to be a scam as well. The email is the same with other scams. Hope this helps somebody.
**William L. Nickerson lovief3b@gmail.com via sendgrid.info **
A message has been sent to you via www.InspectorSeek.com – a InterNACHI owned website.
The sender also checked the “I would like to book an inspection.” box.
Message:
Hello am William,I am currently searching for a Home Inspector,I will like to know your service hours please get back to me as soon as possible
of course I replied initially with an answer and I have not got a return email. Glad these forums are on here so we are able to somewhat verify peoples integrity.
Also, does anybody actually get real leads from inspectorseek? If not then is there a way to be taken off of that website.
I got William Nickerson at lovief3b gmail. Did not bother with it 'cause I read this thread.
I opened a similar email a week ago, and the attachment was presented as a fax. I thought it was a scanned document or something sent by someones printer.
The malware is called CryptoLocker - a type of RansonWare. Bad stuff. Basically encrypted all my files and “held it for ransom”. It came with daily demands and everything. Pay 500 today, or tomorrow it is 750…the whole nine. Computer is now wiped, files are gone too, and now I treat every email like it is toxic. Kinda paranoid.
I finally got one from a William Nickerson asking for a 2100 sq ft home quote.
I responded & asked for a phone number to discuss.
Then he told his sob-story about being hearing impaired & just got over surgery so email is the best.
I replied with a $900 fee & require he overnight my office a 50% deposit by certified money order.
After the deposit clears I will call him with the schedule.
hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
No reply… :twisted:
I never open email files from strangers without a McAffee scan first.
My text this morning from “Mr Smith” (he is still busy trying to scam home inspectors) lists smithkenneth160@gmail.com as his email. Beware!!!