Free resource · Pressure washing
The scam texts going around right now
If you run a pressure washing company, one of these has landed in your phone. A big job, an owner who cannot meet you, a check for more than you quoted. Here are the four making the rounds, written out the way they actually arrive, with the tells on each one.
- Unknown number+1 (555) 0142 · SMSScam
Good morning. I got your number from a listing. I need a full house wash and driveway at my property before closing. Are you available this week?
I am out of state caring for my mother, she is going through chemo, so I cannot meet you there. I will send a check to cover it.
My check will come in for more than your quote because it also covers the floor installer. Deposit it, take your amount plus $400 for the trouble, and send his part by Zelle. Is that okay?
Written from the patterns operators report. Not a screenshot of a real message.
The owner who needs you to pay someone else
A big job from someone who is conveniently unreachable, and a check that arrives for more than you quoted. The extra is the whole point.
How you spot it
- It reads like a script because it is one. Operators report getting word-for-word identical texts from different numbers and different names in the same week.
- The property is listed for sale, and nobody is there when you turn up to quote.
- Call and they confirm every detail without pausing, including details you invented to test them.
The check looks real and may even clear. Banks can take three weeks to catch a fake. When it bounces, the money you already sent is gone and you owe your bank the difference plus fees.
- Unknown number+1 (555) 0197 · SMSScam
Hi, do you do commercial? I have a strip mall that needs the walkways and dumpster pad done. Traveling for work so I will handle it by card.
Just charge whatever the job costs, I trust you. Take the card details now so it is sorted before I fly.
Actually run it for an extra $1,800 and send that to my hauler, he is doing the debris. I will forward you his details.
Written from the patterns operators report. Not a screenshot of a real message.
The job that pays before you have quoted it
No haggling, no site visit, no questions about price. They want a card on file before you have seen the property, which no one paying their own money has ever wanted.
How you spot it
- The address does not exist, or it is a foreclosure.
- They will not pick up the phone. Everything stays in text.
- They are relaxed about price. Nobody spending their own money is relaxed about price.
The card is stolen and you are the machine turning it into cash. When the real cardholder files a chargeback, the money leaves your account and you did the work for free.
- Unknown number+1 (555) 0168 · SMSScam
We manage 14 bank-owned properties in your area and need exteriors cleaned on a rolling schedule. Interested in the contract?
Before we assign it, the previous owner has to sign a release for site access. Our processor handles it for $3,000, refundable on your first invoice.
The bank needs this closed by Friday. Send it today and I will have the work orders to you in the morning.
Written from the patterns operators report. Not a screenshot of a real message.
The job that needs a fee before it can start
Often a whole route of properties, which is what makes it hard to walk away from. There is just one thing to sort out first, and it costs you money.
How you spot it
- You are being asked to send money in order to be allowed to work. That is not how any of this works.
- The urgency always belongs to someone else. The sale closes Friday, the bank needs it, they are about to fly.
- Refundable on your first invoice is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
There is no contract. There was never a contract. The fee was the job, and the 14 properties were the bait.
- FromGoogle Business Verification
no-reply@gbp-verification-center.comSubjectAction required: your listing will be removed in 24 hoursOur records show your Google Business Profile is unverified and scheduled for removal from Maps. To keep your listing active, confirm ownership using the 6-digit code we have sent to your business phone. Reply with the code or call our verification line. A one-time reactivation fee of $89 applies to unverified profiles.Written from the patterns operators report. Not a screenshot of a real message.
The call or email about your Google listing
This one does not want your labour, it wants your Google Business Profile. That profile is what puts you in the map pack, which is where most of your calls come from.
How you spot it
- Google does not cold-call or email about suspensions, and never charges to add, edit, or remove a listing.
- Nobody legitimate will ever ask you to read back a verification code. That code is the key to your profile.
- Real platform problems do not arrive with a countdown attached.
If they get in, they own the profile feeding your map pack rankings. Recovering it is a support case measured in weeks, and your phone stops ringing for all of them.
One rule catches all four
If a job asks you to pay, it is not a job.
You get paid for washing things. You do not forward a payment, refund an overpayment, cover someone's permit, or wire a difference. You never have to work out which scam you are looking at. You only have to notice which way the money is pointed.
If you already took the bait
It happens to careful people. Fast beats perfect, so start at the top and work down.
- Call your bank before you call the customer. If a check is involved, say you suspect fraud and ask them to hold it. Speed matters more than certainty here.
- Already sent money? Ask your bank about a wire recall the same day. After roughly 24 hours the odds fall off a cliff.
- Took a card? Call your processor and reverse it before you do the work. A refused job is cheaper than a chargeback.
- Someone in your Google profile? Sign in, remove unknown managers, change the password, turn on two-step, then report it to Google Business Profile support.
- Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general. It rarely returns your money, but it is how numbers get shut down.
- Post it in your groups. Same script, same week, different numbers. Naming it saves the next person the loss.
Questions operators actually ask
How do I know if a pressure washing job offer is a scam?
Watch the direction the money is travelling. In a real job it moves one way: from the customer to you, after the work. If any part of the arrangement has you sending money out, forwarding a payment to a third party, refunding an overpayment, or paying a fee before you can start, it is a scam. That one test catches the fake check, the stolen card, and the fake authorization fee without you having to work out which one you are looking at.
A customer sent a check for more than the job. Is that legal?
It is the oldest version of this scam. The check is counterfeit and the extra amount is the entire point. Your bank may make the funds available in a day or two, which is not the same as the check clearing. Fakes routinely take three weeks to come back. When it does, the bank reverses the whole deposit and you owe whatever you already paid out. Never send money against a deposit your bank has not confirmed as fully settled.
Does Google actually call pressure washing businesses?
Google does place some automated verification calls, but only for a process you started, like verifying a new listing. It does not cold-call about suspensions, does not charge to edit a listing, and will never ask you to read back a verification code. If a caller says your profile is about to be removed unless you act now, hang up and check the profile yourself by signing in directly.
Why do these texts all sound the same?
Because they are copy-pasted from a script and blasted at every number scraped off contractor directories and Facebook groups. Operators regularly report identical wording from two or three numbers in the same week. If a message feels like it was written for nobody in particular, search a distinctive sentence from it. You will usually find another contractor who got the same one.
Should I stop taking jobs from Facebook messages?
No. Plenty of real work arrives that way. Just make the first phone call before the first dollar moves. Scammers avoid live conversation because the script does not survive it, and they cannot produce a property they do not own. A two-minute call at the quoting stage filters almost all of this out.
Where this came from
Every pattern above is one operators have reported publicly. The messages are our reconstructions of those reports, not captured screenshots. Check the originals yourself.
- Operators reporting the text scripts and the pay-a-third-party ask, on the ProPowerWash and Pressure Washing Resource forums.
- The Federal Trade Commission on how fake check and overpayment scams work, including why a check can clear and still bounce weeks later.
- Reporting on which Google Business Profile calls are real and which are not.
- Report fraud at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Everything else here is free too
No email, no signup, no trial. We build software for this trade, so we make the tools we would want on a truck.
- Estimate calculatorSquare footage and surface in, a job total out. For quoting on the driveway instead of guessing.
- Cost per hour calculatorWhat an hour actually costs you once fuel, chemical, insurance, and your own time are in it.
- Soft-wash dilution calculatorMix ratios for the strength you want, without doing the maths on a tailgate.
- Measure-up calculatorWork out surface area from a few measurements before you get to site.
- Contract templateScope, older-surface disclaimers, damage waivers, and payment terms. The clauses that stop arguments.
- SOP and safety checklistA soft-wash job SOP and an SH safety checklist you can hand a new crew member on day one.
- Industry statisticsMarket size, growth, and what operators actually charge, with the sources shown.
Who wrote this
We build websites and run local search for pressure washing companies
That is the only reason this page exists, and it is why scam number four is on the list. We spend a lot of time inside Google Business Profiles. Take the checklist, share it, ignore the rest of the site. If you do want the marketing side handled, the pressure washing page has the numbers on it.
Free SOP and safety checklist