I received a text a few weeks ago from a potential customer. They said they were currently out of town but asked if I could look at their yard and send them an estimate. They approved the estimate. For large jobs I require a down payment of half the invoice, however this wasn’t a huge job, only $2500. The person was quick to want to give me the half down. Which I told them wouldn’t be necessary since this isn’t a huge job and that I would collect their payment after the job was done. This was all about 2 weeks ago. Today this potential customer sends me the exact same message inquiring about giving me the half down again. Same message word for word, as if I hadn’t already said that wouldn’t be necessary. So I sent an invoice with the payment link included. Then this person says the payment link doesn’t work, and they would also like me to add $5000 to the invoice, for no reason. That was an immediate red flag. So I told this potential customer to call me and he actually did. However he barely spoke any English so I definitely don’t believe him when he said his name is Terry. I declined to take on this job after such a strange interaction. Does anyone know if this is a scam? Or has anyone had a similar experience?
