Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada- At least 3 roofing companies were recently targeted by a fraudulent email regarding a roof replacement.
The companies each received an email that requested an estimate for replacing a roof on a recently sold house. The sender had an American phone number, and made the claim he got information about the roofing company through Yelp.
There were spelling and punctuation errors in the email. Two of the companies were skeptical, did some research and found it to be a scam. One other roofer was not as fortunate.
After receiving a complete payment (plus a little extra) via check, the roofer went ahead with the job. The owner of the house came out to find a crane loading shingles onto the roof.
The scammed roofing company had been asked to return the difference through an email transfer. The scam works when the individual quickly returns the extra money via transfer before the initial check clears (which it won’t).
Always be skeptical of communications you receive that have odd spelling and grammatical errors, suspicious names and/or email addresses, and unconventional offers such as getting paid and then being asked to return some of the money via wire transfer.