Victim Location 35226
Type of a scam Home Improvement
We received an email from "Robert Feinberg" with a subject "Message Sent from BBB.org" requesting we provide a quote for a roof repair. He provided the details of the address and the sqft of the roof repair needed but said he could not meet us on sight due to an illness.
We provided an estimate of $6992.20 which was over market pricing because we do not regularly work in that area and we didn’t want the job b/c it seemed like the pieces weren’t adding up. He accepted the offer and then he asked for "a favor":
"OK fine i haven’t complete paying the commission fee balance since i bought the house from the ex owner for past weeks now so i need to get the commission fee complete before i can proceed on the house work so that he wont have to disturb you or stop you from working on the work on the house for me, when the work start. I will give my card info to put thru for sum of $8,900.you be holding $3,500 as a deposit for the work need to be done and you will send the remaining $5,400 to the ex owner via bank account. Can you handle the payment for me "
We have responded to the email (as a professional courtesy) with this:
Mr. Feinberg,
Unfortunately we will not be able to complete your request to pay another individual from the proceeds of an over payment on your behalf. At this time, we will no longer be communicating with you as this is a well-known scam in the roofing industry. We will not accept payment nor initiate work at the address listed below. We will forward this back to the ScamPulse.com for their investigation.
I’m forwarding this information to the ScamPulse.com in hopes that you will also disseminate it through your state agencies. The construction industry has it share of bad apples, but I would hope that the information about this scam gets out there and helps others in our industry avoid taking losses.
Thank you for your time and support.