Aware of this scam?

Ha! I got a very similar message last week. My policy is to never take the conversation off of Rover, so it did not go very far, but I didn't realize it was a scam til I saw this. They also asked me to provide walking, which I do not provide, and said they were going to pay me $20/hour for boarding. I went to report them, but their profile is now deactivated.

Just got something similar. Very strange wording and wanted to text out of Rover right away. Which doesn't always mean anything bad, some people use it on their laptop. But after that it was all strange wording and just asking for my full name and address so he can fedex me payment for services:D Anyway, totally weird. Now I recommended to do a meet and greet and I have not heard back, and also said I am not comfortable with this and his answer was: okey. Reported it to Rover.

Thank you so much for this information! I knew the request was too good to be true, and this post helped clarify my same situation.

Please folks, in order to get these folks removed from Rover, please do the following:

-Report them to Rover immediately. -Do NOT respond to them -Do NOT contact them off platform. -DO be suspicious of any request that seems odd. Legit requests never need your email, for example.

Here's what happens when you respond. It gives them the impression that someone else will too. It's motivation enough for them to keep creating fake accounts until someone falls for it.

FWIW, Rover's 'bots' automatically detect specific words in all Rover messages. They usually pick up on the Spam request immediately, and remove it. That works great. However, they're checking your messages too, and since they are automated may suspend your account if it believes you are trying to take them off platform.

A similar thing just happened to me today. I responded on Rover to a booking request. I said I'm already booked for one of the days he requested, he didn't seem to notice. He said he was at work and wanted to go through email. I know that's a red flag but some people might have legit reasons, so I gave him my email, and this is the email I got a few hours later: " Jun 24 at 2:10 PM Hello Rachael, I am delighted to share this detail that involves the supervision of my pet. More importantly,the custody of my beloved dog. My name is Tyler Anderson and my wifes name is Shelley. My dog is at the moment living in Texas with my wife,but on the verge of moving into our new home located here in the city. I recently got promoted at work thus making me very busy most of the time once i resume working fully. I am currently here to finalize some-paper works for the office ,and more also,to supervise furnishing of the new house. My wife also runs a small scale event planning service that she runs on contract basis. Thus,limiting care for the dog once she arrives. This is a huge change for us,so this is where i hope you come in and offer us your assistance because i want everything to move smooth and stress-free during this transition,especially with the Pup. Thanks, Tyler."

I mean, no one in the world talks like that (not even ESL people I've talked to sound like that). And it didn't mention anything I had talked about on Rover which was that I could not do an overnight stay on one of the requested stays and I said what he probably actually wanted was the 30 minute check-in service? He didn't mention that at all. And no one calls Peoria "the city". They use the term "to the city" to be vague on purpose. But in Peoria, IL, Chicago is "the city". They have this generic, confusing message they spam out probably to hundreds of sitters, so beware.

I received this kind of request today, 11/16/18. The bad guys are still out there. If something feels suspicious, go with your gut.

This is happening to me right now. Profile set up today, Micheal J. Asked me to message him off rover at his cell number because he doesn’t understand how Rover works. I indulged him. We then discussed payment rate, He added another dog at full price which sounded good to me. I thought it was a little bit odd that he didn’t tell me anything about the extra dog other than it’s name, and didn’t answer my questions about whether I could walk the two at the same time. I was ok with him not being interested in a discount for the second dog but a little surprised. I figured we could discuss it at the meet and greet. Then he said he wanted me to buy supplies for the dogs as well and that I would receive a tip for the service. I thought that was odd too, but fine. Then he said he wanted to meet and greet two days before the walks were supposed to start, not this Saturday. I said that was fine too. He then said great, and that his “financial clerk” would send out a “certified check” to me via fed ex for the supplies and the month’s service in advance. He just needed my full name and mailing address. This raised red flags and I said I think we need to send and receive payment through Rover. He said that the cashiers check is more convenient for him. I said I needed to check on the website and sorry for the inconvenience but we need to follow the rules of Rover. I told him it is easy to pay on Rover with credit card or PayPal. He did not respond further.

Wow, it's been a couple of years since I've been active on here, and I've forgotten what the signs of a scam are. Good thing I checked here! I just got a message yesterday and he wanted my personal phone number (which I stupidly gave, but I haven't responded to the text). Here's what was sent to me below. Very similar wording to some of what I've been reading. I'll be blocking this phone number and reporting the profile.

"Thanks for sharing me your phone number on Rover and thanks for understanding me,I am delighted to share this detail that involves the supervision of my pet. More importantly, the custody of my beloved dog. My name is Tyler and my wife’s name is Shelley. My dog is at the moment living with my pregnant wife in Nevada Avenue, southeast corner of Colorado Springs, but on the verge of moving into our new home located here in the city. I recently got promoted at work thus making me very busy most of the time once i resume working fully. I am currently here to finalize some-paper works for the office, and more also, to supervise furnishing of the new house. My wife also runs a small scale event planning service that she runs on contract basis. Thus, limiting care for the dog once she arrives. This is a huge change for us, so this is where i hope you come in and offer us your assistance because i want everything to move smooth and stress-free during this transition, especially with Tom.

Thanks, Tyler."

Also, WHO NAMES THEIR DOG TOM??

This just happened to me today (1.22.20). A woman, Debra, messaged me sounding demanding, grammar was strange, sounded like English maybe wasn’t her first language. Wanted me to walk her 2 dogs, Lucy and Maggie, 3 times a week, for a week, any time of a day (which was somewhat strange to me because why would I walk your dogs “anytime” if you are maybe even home?). She asked me where I live and what my price is. The price is on the app... I didn’t share my address, just the general area, shouldn't matter if I’m coming to walk them. Then says she has a new home near me and they are relocating so I can meet the dogs the day they come to relocate. Then she upped the dates to more than requested on the app, just suddenly said you need to walk them 4 weeks. Said my messages were “sending in bits” and to just text, gave me her number. I texted it. Asked me to run an errand for her for an extra $100. Originally I said yes, then got to thinking about how this would work with the app. Realized this is getting weird... Then they said I need to buy the supplies before meeting her and her dogs and the supplies are needed for the meet and greet (why on earth would anything be needed and I shouldn’t have to buy anything at all ever- that’s the owner’s responsibility). Insisted I HAD to buy them before meeting them. It would be out of my own pocket then her “financial clerk” would make a check in my name and send it via mail, USPS, NOT ON THE APP or even Venmo for that matter, for the walks and cost of supplies and extra 100 for doing the “errand” - also didn’t even tell me what these so called supplies are and if it’s the same as the “errand”... I somewhat called them out on how this breaches the guidelines of Rover and I will not pay for supplies for someone else’s dogs especially when I have not met them. They responded by saying “I would have preferred the same, but you have nothing to worry about.” HMM when you tell me I have “nothing to worry about” I definitely have something to worry about when it’s a business exchange.. They also were aggressive with the texting, seemed to get upset with me for not responding for an hour (I was at my full time job...). My intuition was screaming at me. Rover flagged their account before I even reported them and told me not to communicate with them. I am so sketched out.

Hi guys! STILL HAPPENING as of March 2020. I get a request for two week house sitting from a new profile.

Anyways, the message seems normal: “ My dog is very friendly with everyone around. He also sleeps with me at night time and he is only my alarm to wake up. He is very Smart, fun, and very playful. I love him and he’s brought so much joy!”

So I respond with questions about the dogs (Sam’s) schedule and he replies “ Awesome! It seems this piece of app keeps freezing up a lot on my handheld. I think that shouldn't be a distraction to make things workout for us. Do you mind if I get your cell number so we can text and talk about it?”

I give him my number (yes yes I know, red flag, but I didn’t think it was a scam at the time,) and he says he’ll send out a text soon. Only a few minutes later do I get the whole usual shindig I’ve been seeing on this thread:

“ Thanks for sharing me your phone number on Rover and thanks for understanding me, I am delighted to share this detail that involves the supervision of my pet. More importantly, the custody of my beloved dog. My name is Paul and my wife’s name is Shelley . My dog is at the moment living with my pregnant wife in Nevada Avenue, southeast corner of Colorado Springs,but on the verge of moving into our new home located here in The City. I recently got promoted at work thus making me very busy most of the time once i resume working fully. I am currently here to finalize some-paper works for the office,and more also, to supervise furnishing of the new house. My wife also runs a small scale event planning service that she runs on contract basis. Thus, limiting care for the dog once she arrives. This is a huge change for us, so this is where i hope you come in and offer us your assistance because i want everything to move smooth and stress-free during this transition,especially with Sam. Regards; Paul”

Anyways, he goes on a bit more about the foods that Sam eats and how he wants an estimate on the food and upkeep and whatnot.

Lmaoooo why are they so bad at scamming?

Be careful out there guys!