Possible Scam from customer using InterNACHI "Find an inspector" link.

Watch out. I had a customer who used this site to find an inspector. He used the name Joe Rupert. He immediately asked to do business by email as he had just had ear surgery. The first clue is he asks you to do him a favor in the credit card charging process. Obviously he did not want to provide a phone number. I guess he has no one to talk for him and handle details. He also claimed to be doing the transaction for his elderly parents to use this as a retirement home. I have to admit a 4000 square foot home is pretty sizable for a retiremnt nest.
Anyway, he wants to mail you a key to a place he does not own yet and the owners just moved out.
There is no RE agent involved. And of course he doesn’t give you the owners contact info so you can validate entering the property.
He goes on to say he wants to email his credit card info to you and then charge him plus add aditional fees to pay the owner for some crazy reason.
None of it makes sense and he resisted answering any questions I asked.
He also tried 3 times to circumvent the normal payment process even after very detailed explainations of the procedure and the pre-inspection agreement.
I even told him how to get and use a lock box for the key.
Soooooo… if it walks like a duck… Be aware-SCAM ALERT

p.s. Sorry about any spelling errors. The spell check on this site didn’t work.

This is the 5th thread on this.

Joe seems to get around!

Thanks for the post. I just received an email from Joe Rupert this morning. His story is the same. I’ll see if the next email is the same with the credit card. What could this guy be looking for?
Chad LaPerriere