Grey James jamesgrey44444@gmail.com Maria CONTACTED VIA HOUZZ FOR BOGUS NEED FOR STAGING SERVICES Internet

A friend of mine who is an interior designer on Houzz forwarded me a text she got from "James" stating he needed "interior decorator to do installation and styling (staging) of items ordered. We are moving very soon." He left his email address jamesgrey44444@gmail.com.  My friend is out of the country so she forwarded the text to me. I emailed James and said I was interested. I then got an email full of broken English, odd content and really screwed up syntax. He attended the Florida School for the Deaf, his wife, Maria lived in the UK and was a software developer. They had 2 kids. He gave the address of a home in Steamboat Springs. I knew the subdivision, but when I google the address the home was still listed for sale. Odd but okay I thought because they could be renting. He also asked my rates and stated that he would pay me by certified check.

The next email was from his wife Maria, again full of broken English and screwed up syntax. She said my rates were fine and they were going to send me more info once they got it. I had high suspicion due to the way the emails were written but I kept playing along.

Her next reply referred to the house as an apartment and said that they need my mailing information because they were going to send a retainer check of $280 and were going to add to it so I could pay the mover. That confirmed the scam, but I continued to play along. I emailed them back and said "I prefer not to pay vendors hired by them. I asked the names of the mover, the electrician, drapery installer that they said they hired. I asked the name of their agent. Gee, what a surprise that I haven't heard back.

So then I decided to report them to Houzz and googled "freporting fraud to Houzz" and saw the exact scam reported! Email addreeses using the names Audry King and Lori Arnold with the exact M.O. Unbelieble! Check out Heather Bates blog-it happened to her and a bunch of her readers. It goes without saying, there were plenty of warnings in the emails they sent, but the "sending a check with extra funds to pay someone else" is a scam that has been around for a while now.

Don't be fooled by these scumbags!