Has anyone had issues with being scammed? I am skeptical and wondering what information anyone can pass on?

If you get any emails or texts from someone outside rover who says they got your name from rover (or in my case care.com) and a friend wants you to sit their dog for an extended period of time, it's a scame. They ask you to email the friend with your contact info.

Only answer texts/emails from rover.com. Or go to your inbox on the site.

I did! I recently got a request from a lady who hasn't quite moved to the area yet but will soon. She wanted to communicate through personal email and asked me a lot of questions about my age, record, reliability, responsibility and experience. She wanted me to take her new puppy 3 days per week for 4 hours each for daycare but offered to pay $300 per week even though 3 half day daycare for a puppy would only be $78 per week. She even offered to pay in advance to secure me if she thought I was a good fit.

At first i responded back that I dont have reliable transportation because she wanted me to run errands also and I assume watch him at her house. Then she said "thats okay I can drop him off at your house." Seemed a little weird to me from the beginning.

Okay so I got another response and it just seems so weird. She hasn't told me anything about her dog even though I'd asked and I didn't think there would be a meet and greet because they wanted me to take care of some things for them before they arrive on May 20th. Her estate agent would send me a $300 check and their key to the apartment so I can deduct my amount and pick up food stuff and other things needed in the house before they arrive. She wanted my full name, full address, age, gender, phone number, acceptance of offer and closed the email with "All I need from you is total honesty and sincerity. I know you will be committed to the work, You will have a nice period of time working with me and my husband. "Character is much easier kept than rocovered""

TOTAL SCAM ALERT went off in my head and I reported it to Rover.com

Personally, I haven't received any scammy messages through Rover. I also don't advertise outside the site, aside from my Facebook page which is followed almost exclusively by my friends and current clients. In the two plus years I've been working though Rover, the only time my scam radar was triggered (owner out of the country, etc etc) turned out to be a legitimate request. The client really had spent the past two years living in Saudi and was moving back to the states with her rescued desert dog. Just reading past the first few lines was enough to convince me this was a real person with a real dog who really wanted a dog walker; my concerns were alleviated as soon as they appeared and she turned into a repeat client.

If you get messages that give you a funny feeling, feel free to politely decline (don't just ignore them, since this affects your search ranking) and archive them. If you're on the fence, ask a few follow up questions and see how it goes. If someone asks you to move communication off Rover (or contacts you through other means, like craigslist), you're well within your right to request communication stay on Rover's platform until after the M&G or whatever time you feel more comfortable. I like to mention that the benefit of Rover's messaging system is that it keeps all communication archived for the client's and your reference, and can also be reviewed by Rover's staff if need be.

Been with Rover 4 years now and never ran into any scammers. I don't advertise on any social media outlets. Nonetheless, always go with your gut or call Rover support if something makes you feel uncomfortable.