Saturday, April 22, 2017
Phony contractors are scamming the elderly
From CBS 2:
Con artists appear to be targeting elderly homeowners in sections of Queens.
The suspects convince people to get roof repairs and pay in cash — only later do residents learn the work is sub-standard.
As CBS2’s Dave Carlin reported, police in Middle Village posted signs warning residents of a door-to-door scam.
Police said sometimes, scam artists steal the identities of legitimate roofers, making them difficult to track down. They said they need neighbors to help spread the word and help them stop the scam with tips to avoid getting conned.
The warnings posted on trees and power poles are a heads up for homeowners to ignore anyone knocking on doors offering roof repairs or other fix it jobs.
Tip offs that the workers are not legit include vehicles with out of state plates and demanding cash payments for the work.
Another scam involves awning repairs. Con artists get money up front for the work, but never return.
7 comments:
silver paint? the glaze entermann's uses on their danish cakes looks more resilient.
These fiends seem to prefer scamming people when the weather's warmer.
Perhaps a police presence patrolling the area might deter these travelers. You rarely see police cars in Maspeth or Middle Village.
They juat spray used motor oil on the roof and say it all fixed
It is sad they prey on the elderly. Because some are lonely, they fall victim to friendly scammers. On that TLC show about gypsies, a traveler tried to sell a homeowner a new asphalt driveway. He drove a load of hot asphalt from house to house till he got a customer. He'd promised his little girl a super expensive birthday party. He was racing against the clock because when the asphalt cooled you couldn't pour it. This was to show an "honest" traveler because he used real asphalt and not black paint on the driveway. Totally staged for the show--shame it still happens here in NYC
Spring Tinker Gypsies are working the area, look for out of state plates especially Pa, West Virginia and points south.
They always claim the came from a job and have "extra material" Its just used motor oil or cheap driveway sealer cut with water.
These gypsies are out in full force because they need $40K for 15-16 year old daughter June weddings. The dresses alone cost $15,000.
The usually don't cross the bridges into NYC for fear of being tapped in traffic and caught unless they are very desperate.
Don't be fooled by the died black hair and spray tans you see on TV. Most Romani and Romanchiel gypsys in the USA are of 90% Irish-Scottish English and go natural when they come north to hunt for work.
We had the equivalent Irish roofer contractors going up our block pointing out "dangerous problems" in various roofs. And since they happened to be passing by, they would graciously be willing to fix a whole bunch of them (for cash). All the signs of fraud were there--uninvited contractors, cash payments, trucks with stick-on plastic company names (no painted trucks), no addresses or phones, nothing that checked out on the internet.
I called 114th Pct. and spoke to a community officer there. Zero response.
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