07/06/2023
*** SCAMMER ALERT***
Good morning, This post is a real incident that happened to Hackney Painting & Restoration. On June 23, 2023, we received an email in regard to a potential job located in Apalachicola. During this process the scammer let us know that his family was relocating from Georgia by the end of July. They let us know that he was unable to meet us at the residents however if we felt more comfortable about the job process that they would have the paint supplier company let us into the property. They gave us in detail the dimensions of the home (which were correct because my wife looked this property up.) and asked us to give them an estimate based on the dimensions that were given by the scammer, We gave out a rough estimate and the scammer said he was ok with the price and let us know that he would be paying in 40%, 40%, and 20%, as a business owner we suspected that this was a scam and didn't move forward. Little did we know, that the scammer retrieved our address and sent us a check for an amount of 5,900.00. The check itself had everything a real check had, the ridges from where the check was cut, the account number was there, date, signature, everything like a real check, the scammer had the correct banking address, correct routing number. My wife did some digging and realized that this check was indeed a scam- the check number was not located at the end of the check, it was listed in the beginning. The company listed on the check, was not the same mailing address it was sent from. My wife called the bank to make them aware of the check we recieved and which they did confirm the check was fraudulent, She did make a report to WCSO and they did come and confiscate the check for destruction. The point of this post is to help other local businesses check for possible scams. People can find your business info anywhere! Thank goodness we were smarter than the individual and didn't deposit that check.