Victim Location 33905
Total money lost $1,600
Type of a scam Home Improvement
"Contractor" Charlie texted in response to request for demolition and removal of doublewide trailer. After back and forth texting negotiations, and inquiries, he stated he was coming to the property to deliver a contract for us to sign, to take pictures for a site plan and apply for a site permit.
He asked for a check for @ 50% down to deliver his equipment, get the permit, and start. He texted that his truck broke down on I-75, but he would have his girlfriend from Lehigh bring him to the site. After handing him our signed contract and our check for $1,600, he continued to text updates, pictures of his truck, before and after pictures of work (as a reference) he finished in the Cape, and news that he was at the permit office, then that his truck was stolen, he had just been released from the hospital, he wouldn’t let us down, … While continuing to communicate by text, he cashed the check within 2 days, too late for us to stop payment on the check.
After he stopped communicating excuses for not starting and finishing the job within seven days, as agreed upon, we found that he is a felon and ex-con, has had multiple LLCs (Creamer Landscape Management, Vue Landscaping, and others) and multiple numbers (239-269-3875, 239-293-7787, 239-293-7272, 239-450-0763,…), none of which he answers or texts. Many costly lessons learned!