Scam Making the Rounds

Little Rock, AR – The Better Business Bureau serving Arkansas has been notified of several instances of a possible scam making the rounds. This scam has been aimed at local business owners. It appears that the goal is to gain financial information. The scammers may also take different approaches to this scam and have different objectives. They are asking all local businesses to be on alert for this activity and use extreme caution when dealing with consumers from outside of the area.

The interaction starts off in the same way in the cases reported so far. A business owner or employee receives a text or electronic quote from a consumer who claims to be moving to Arkansas soon or own a property here, but they are currently out of the state. The business is given an address and asked to provide an estimate. Once the business provides the estimate, the “customer” usually requests financial information in order to wire transfer the deposit or they will actually send a check for the deposit amount.

This can be a very convincing ploy, as the scammers usually have detailed information such as addresses and key codes to access the empty houses.

Often the goal of these scammers is to gain access to financial information through wire transfers. Another tactic that they will use is to send an “over-payment” of the deposit, in hopes that someone will send back the amount that was over payed. In this way, they end up with a legitimate check and the business is left with a fake one. They may also have other objectives. What we do know is that they are NOT legitimate consumers.

BBB gives the following advice for dealing with these scams regardless of the scammers tactics or end goal:

1. If you receive text messages, quote requests via email, or calls that start to follow the pattern above, stop engaging. (The scammers will usually start the conversation by digital means such as email, text, or an automated quote system.)
2. If you are unsure of who you are dealing with, proceed with extreme caution. Do not give any financial information for wire transfers, do not deposit any checks, and do not perform any work up front until you can verify the requesting party is who they say they are.

Legitimate customers will often use text and e-quote systems as a means to communicate with a business. Also, many legitimate customers live outside of the state. Which is exactly why this type of scam can catch some off guard! Please use extra caution when dealing with consumers that are not from the area and also when corresponding with them online. If you encounter this scam, please report the details to BBB’s ScamTracker.