08/22/2025
PSA FOR QUINCY, IL. THIS IS A RAMPANT SCAM SPREADING AROUND THE COUNTRY.
Years of talking about how the scammers hadn't gotten me yet - finally caught up to me and my little ol' town.
Please be careful when looking for any service on Facebook Market Place. Or Google "Sponsored" ads. Make sure they actually a physical / local business.
This is the same story many dumpster business owners have shared with each other across the county. Just a different place and a perfect storm.
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Polite hispanic man calls. He is very well spoken. And that is not uncommon around here. Books a dumpster but says he won't be there - but someone should be there on site when our driver gets there. Says he will be returning after checking on another house their company is working on.
He pays. Name on the credit card matches the name he booked the dumpster under. Also a Hispanic name.
Driver drops the dumpster off - mentions to me he put it in the best place he could. Because the labor working there was Hispanic and no one spoke English. Homeowner wasn't home.
So at this moment, everything adds up and makes sense. (The perfect storm).
The next day - a very non-Hispanic home owner calls me. Says he needs another dumpster.
But I can't find his name in my system. I look him up by address.
I said "ah, I guess this is the one - your contractor must of booked it." Awkward interaction begins.
"No, I booked it" but dont understand why a different company name is on the dumpster....
A lot of back and forth happens - and customer and I both start to get agitated.
I finally cut to the chase. Because I'm very aware of the current scam occurring around the country. It started in Texas and has spread like wild fire. Each dumpster business owner has reported it being a well spoken hispanic male.
Me: "Sir, is your contractor hispanic?"
Homeowner: "Yes"
Me: "Do you know him personally?"
Homeowner: "Yes, he is a good friend of mine. We just moved back to town this week. But he's been working on our new house for months. But I booked the dumpster with Carlos, he didn't pick-up the phone when I called. So I called the number on the dumpster"
Me: "So you booked the dumpster with a Carlos, but Carlos isn’t your contractor?"
Homeowner: "Correct"
Me: "Sir....did you pay with Zelle or venmo"
Homeowner: "Yes, thats the only way he'd let us pay"
...you know the rest.
Homeowner pays scammer (Carlos) $400 with Venmo. Scammer turns around and pays us our regular price - $495. But used a stolen credit card - name on stolen credit card (Carlos).
Went to meet the customer personally. Worked out a deal. But there is no real winner in this.
Had a weird feeling originally, and even said something to my driver about it. But when he reported back. It all seemed to make sense.
I simply didn't knock on wood hard enough when I talked about avoiding this in the past.
I had a good streak goin there.
