Same here too... customer claimed that he was out of town receiving treatment and wanted the work done before he arrived. I attempted to call or make an onsite visit and kept giving me the run around. He was persistent on asking me if I accept credit cards and nothing about how much the services would cost or if I were a reliable contractor.
They don't care if you were reliable or what the services cost. It would have went down something like this. If you had given him a price he would have said it sounded fine, no matter if it was too high. He would have then given you the card, and told you that someone else needed to be paid but that they don't accept credit cards. So he would have "overpaid" you, asked you to wire the money to someone. Eventually, the charge would have been disputed because the card number was stolen, and you would have been out the money and the fees.