Crime & Safety

Beware the Summer Scam

Phony contractors, sneaky burglars and other con artists turn up with the warm weather

Someone dressed like a contractor stops by and says he noticed some problem with your house -- hail damage to your roof, say. He gets you to follow him outside so he can point it out.

Meanwhile, someone is slipping through the door you just walked out of.

Or a homeowner, often an elderly person, is working in the yard when a truck pulls into the neighbor's driveway.

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"Someone will approach and get the person talking," Detective Lt. John Janowski said. "Then someone else will go around back and into the house."

By the time the resident notices anything is missing, the pair is long gone.

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Scams like those surface every spring and summer in the suburbs, police say, often targeting older adults.

"We haven't had any reported so far this year, but it the past we've had them," Janowski said.

The warm-weather con artists often pose as home improvement professionals:

 • Someone will visit your house and tell you they were doing some work down the street and have some leftover asphalt -- and you can have it at a great price.

"They put a quarter-inch layer down, which won't do any good, but you've already paid," Janowski said.

• Driveway sealing is another common theme. "They use motor oil and water," Janowski said. "It looks like they've sealed the driveway, but they haven't."

Since April 2010, the Ohio Attorney General's Office has received more than 2,400 complaints on household goods or property improvement. Of those complaints, nearly 400 involve home solicitations.

In some cases, door-to-door contractors are con artists, Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a news release.

After severe weather hits a community, some scammers specifically target homeowners who have experienced damage. They offer a quick fix, take a consumer's money and then do little or no actual work.

When selecting a home improvement contractor, get in it writing, DeWine urges -- make the contractor show identification, check him out with the Better Business Bureau and don't pay more than a third of the cost in down payment. 

Here's one more scam that appeared to take place in Strongsville last week, but only mirrored a typical con:

A couple and young child knocked on the door of a Heritage Trail home, said their car had broken down and asked if the girl could use their bathroom.

The resident agreed, then found the woman stealing things from the house.

It's a plan that often works -- although in this case, Janowski said it wasn't actually a pre-meditated con. He said the woman, who accompanied the child into the bathroom, was intoxicated and took only make-up items from the bathroom.

The couple's car actually had broken down, he said. But that same scam has been used by real con artists.

Summer is also a good time for "work at home" notices to start appearing on utility poles. 

Since January, the Ohio Attorney General's Office has received more than 60 complaints about work-at-home services, half of which appear to involve counterfeit check scams. In more than 10 of those complaints, consumers lost between $1,500 and $3,500.

For example, a Warren County consumer said she received notice about becoming a secret shopper. The company sent her a cashier's check and told her to deposit the check, keep a portion for herself and wire the rest to England.

She wired more than $3,500 before she realized the check she had deposited didn't clear the bank. 

DeWine offers these warning signs for a job scam: 

• Companies that ask you to click on a link or otherwise direct you to a specific website for a credit check.

• Jobs to evaluate wire transferring services, such as Western Union.

• Jobs to do at-home medical billing or payment processing.

• Any job that requires you to send money via wire transfer.

• Requests for your personal information and account numbers.

• Companies that charge you for information about government jobs.

Consumers can report job scams to the Attorney General's Office by calling 800-282-0515 or visiting www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/ReportaScam.

"You should never have to give money to get money," Janowski said. "If you do, it's a scam."

On the counterfeit check circuit, people selling items online also often receive larger-than-expected payments for the merchandise, with instructions to cash the check and wire back the overage. Other times, people are told they've won a lottery and need to wire money to claim the prize.

"There's no reason to ever wire money to someone you don't know," Janowski said.

Of course, one bold scam makes you think you do know who you're sending money to. The victim, often an older person, will get a call from someone who says he's a friend of their grandson and they're in Florida together for spring break.

The grandson got arrested and needs $2,000 to get out of jail, the caller says. Often, unsuspecting grandparents rush to Western Union.

Double check, Janowski urges, and if someone is offering you a deal that sounds too good to be true, follow the age-old rule: It probably is.


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