Dramatic INCREASE in Fraudulent Leads provided by Thumbtack

Jerry_Garmon

I am a Solo musician in the Atlanta area. I have been contacted by other musicians who have experienced the same issue I have noted after an analysis of my total spend with Thumbtack and my return on investment. I have to date for calendar 2023, received 62 leads that I have paid over 1000.00 for. I got 4 paid gigs for all my efforts. I respond promptly and have a 5 star rating with my customers. I have GLOWING reviews as is the case for most professionals on TT. What I have noticed is a DRAMATIC increase in fraudulent leads since October of this year(2023). These leads never review my initial response and the number provided is unreachable in the vast majority of cases. They have originated from the 717, 817 and 917 area codes. These fraudulent leads account for close to a 3rd of my total spend with TT. TT support is aware and yet is currently indicating that some customer's don't respond and that I need to focus on my return on investment. That is exactly what I am doing here. This is systemic and any reasonable person would reach a similar conclusion that TT is knowingly allowing this to occur if not actively participating in order to increase their bottom line. All event performers should make note of this trend and the area codes of origination for these leads. TT could easily require 2 factor authentication and at the very least the phone number would be a valid method for reaching the customer. Other services do require this of customers looking for professionals to hire for their events. With today's technology it is simply a matter of time before the perpetrators become sophisticated and are able to utilize more phone numbers making it difficult to spot a pattern. It is very plain to anyone that views that data that this is the case. TT support has been made aware in detail of this matter.