Enticing Txt

RetiredGuy1000

RetiredGuy1000

Active Member
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Location
St. Petersburg, FL
I received a text about midnite last night. Here is what it said:

Hello this jones i heard you do computer repair

Hi, how may I help? (me)

I would need your help. i have 18 used HP pavillion 500-281 laptops running windows 7 pro. I want them wiped and load to windows 10 can you handle that?

Sure. Do you have 18 licenses of Windows 10 yet?(me)

yes I have the licenses for the windows10 pro

cool. Are you in Tampa Bay? I noticed your phone number is from West Virginia.

yes I just relocated here in Tampa Bay
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway he went on to request 8Gb or RAM instead of the existing 4. I asked about the need to backup anything and pitched the SSD opportunity. No answer.

Now, obviously this looks like a decent ticket. But it looks too good to be true. Like if this guy is real, maybe he is just getting my price to shop. Which is fine. Not much I can do about that. Or he is not real, and someone is playing me. At this point I dont know.

Since I need the practice, I'm going to work up an estimate and maybe discount 20% off our price list since he has 18 units. Send him the estimate and see what happens. I smell a rat though.
 
Cash on the barrel head. NO terms. Net 5 minutes. Be careful if it happens to be a check - do not take a check - a check can be can be cancelled. As far as that goes so can a credit card transaction. I would sniff this one out checking out his company with better business bureau. You are talking $1-200. DON'T GIVE IT AWAY TO A CROOK.
 
The text message at midnight is also a problem, both because it's not how someone who legitimately has 18 business laptops works and because you shouldn't be responding to non-client text messages at midnight (or client ones, but that's a different issue).

The response for something like that is "Great, send me your email address and company information and I'll get a quote out to you during normal business hours." (sent during those business hours, or at least not at midnight)
 
Last edited:
First off that isn't even a laptop model. It's a desktop.

Second any message like this where they have X amount of devices that need Windows loaded is almost always a scam.

I wouldn't even reply.

They will go into detail about how say a courier is going to deliver the computers to you, blah blah blah.
 
timeshifter said:
Certainly a scam. But he's done you a favor by pointing this out:

So the number you're advertising for your business is not a local number? Not good on many levels IMHO.
Click to expand...
timeshifter said:
Certainly a scam. But he's done you a favor by pointing this out:

So the number you're advertising for your business is not a local number? Not good on many levels IMHO.
Click to expand...
No, the 'customer' is from Virginia (supposedly)
 
I didn't respond at midnite. In fact, i didn't even follow up the next morning, He texted again around noon today.

Im sending a $3500 estimate. Cash only.I doubt this dude is legit.
 
I have some ideas about how the scam works but... the 18 windows 10 licenses confuses me...the scammer cards the windows 10 pro licenses too?

Edit: or does it never get to that? like one of those, i pay you in advance and you need to pay the shipper to finish delivery
 
ComputerRepairTech said:
I have some ideas about how the scam works but... the 18 windows 10 licenses confuses me...the scammer cards the windows 10 pro licenses too?

Edit: or does it never get to that? like one of those, i pay you in advance and you need to pay the shipper to finish delivery
Click to expand...

Many variations but typically the scammer pays you by PayPal in advance and pays far more than the invoiced amount "accidentally". They then politely request a refund of the difference. Soon after you've transferred their refund you receive notice from PayPal that it was a stolen card and you ain't getting any payment from them. And of course you've now also lost the money you "refunded" to the scammer, which was the whole aim of the scam anyway - they have zero interest in your IT services.
 
Last edited:
This was his last three messages to me today.

Hey how are you doing today and how is business?

i want you to send me your name and your address so i can send it to the driver that will deliver the computers to your location.

and also want to proceed with the down payment so you can get the materials and labor ok ..i hope thats clear to you
 
RetiredGuy1000 said:
This was his last three messages to me today.

Hey how are you doing today and how is business?

i want you to send me your name and your address so i can send it to the driver that will deliver the computers to your location.

and also want to proceed with the down payment so you can get the materials and labor ok ..i hope thats clear to you
Click to expand...

run far away. I suggest ignoring this guy before you get into a bigger hole.
 
Id you want to find yourself wrapped up in a scam and out a bunch of money then this is the direction you want to go.

This scam will involve you cashing a cheque then taking money out to give another party then the cheque will bounce

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk
 
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