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Scam Awareness?

NOT A QUESTION I believe I was just almost scammed. The owner sent me the request through Rover initially but quickly said that their app was glitching and they wanted to use Google chat instead. I will include word for word text because this scam seemed almost identical to another scam reported for Rover.

"Hello, Thanks for sharing me your contact on Rover and thanks for understanding me, I am delighted to share this detail which involves the supervision of my pet. My name is Ethan Paterson and my wife's name is Jennifer. My dog is at the moment living with my pregnant wife in San Francisco, California, but on the verge of moving into our new home located here in Indiana. I recently got promoted at work thus making me very busy most of the time once i resume working fully."

"You will be paid $400 weekly. I want you to watch him for 3 days a week, 3 hrs each day..."

The amount and the type of stay were both different from what was put into Rover. Significantly more money than I was expecting and it became a daycare stay instead of a overnight at their house. He went on to talk about how his financial advisor would be in touch, asking if I was mobile and telling me what expensive foods his dog would require. He then asked for my full name, email address and address so he could drop off a check. These were all red flags and I told him I needed to complete booking on the Rover. He then said he could do a phone call the next day to ease my fears and told me he didn't have the Rover app. He also asked for my phone number twice. There were many red flags such as odd language usage, inaccurate capitalization of words and grammar and of course the too good to be true payment. I am sharing this because as someone new to Rover and being my own boss I did not feel alarmed until he began asking for personal information. If I didn't see the very similar scam reported on here I probably would have fell for it. The other scam said that they would ask you to buy stuff in advance and then the check would bounce. I am not sure what else they would get out of this scam but better not to find out. Good luck out there and be safe.

The email used was patersone97@gmail.com

3 Answers

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Yes, that was a Scam attempt.

There’s no reason to give out personal information to someone who found you on rover and didn’t book through Rover. For people who are having a hard time using the website or the app, they can see a rover assigned number for each sitter’s profile, which anonymously reroutes to sitter’s phone, to call each sitter.

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I had something very similar happen once. The owner was very vague on why she wouldn't use the Rover app (but later told me it's because she had a bad experience with a Rover sitter and she didn't want to pay the fee that Rover charges the owner). I was skeptical, so I asked my husband to look at it with me. He was "noping" all over the place. Plus the woman wanted to do the meet n greet at our home, instead of a neutral setting. I wasn't comfortable with that at ALL and "noped" that right away. I won't have a strange dog and people come into my home without meeting them on neutral ground first. After I expressed my concerns about her booking outside of the Rover app and wanting to bring a strange dog into my home for a meet n greet, she ghosted me and the stay was never booked. My point is, moriah, if your senses are sending up red flags..........PAY ATTENTION to them and don't go any further. I REFUSE to book a stay outside of the Rover app if I don't know you and your dog(s) personally. I just won't do it.

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I just had a scammer try me last night- first time I've had a problem like this and I've been using the app for almost 2 years now. He wanted to chat via WhatsApp and made like he didn't know how to use the app/ was having difficulty because he was travelling- should have ended it there but I've had lots of successful bookings with technically challenged clients previously. Anyways the interaction just feels a bit weird, and the guy wants to send me a certified cheque- I say "sorry I only take payment through the app that way I have the rover guarantee insurance" he replies "there is nothing risky here dear"- and that was the big red flag for me- calling me "dear" / not respecting my safety boundaries. So I take his profile photo and picture he sent me of his dog and ran them through the google reverse image search- bam they are stock photos he nabbed online. I just reported him just now and also gave him a bit of a verbal lashing via text. I think this is a cheque scam- essentially the send you a cheque that is not certified, and is for more than you agree upon. They tell you to cash it anyways and just return the difference- you do and then a few days later their cheque bounces and they make off with the money you sent them. Anyways beware beware beware. I don't think I realized before how creepy this app could be- not only financial scamming but finding out where you live and even getting invited into your home. Highly recommend running peoples photos through a reverse image search.