After a Bellaire resident was scammed of $950 last week, police are warning others to be weary of door-to-door solicitors selling roofing or house work services.
A woman visited the Bellaire Police Department on Friday to report that someone had come to her door the day before offering to do roofing work. She paid, but the man never returned to complete the work.
Police suspect the same person in other recent door-to-door scams. They hope to locate and arrest the man soon. Even with this suspect off the streets, residents need to keep their eyes out for similar scams.
“Basically, they’re trying to talk you out of your money,” said Bellaire Officer Russell Brown. “This is not an uncommon type scam.”
Brown said that the scammers will sometimes say they’ve done work on the home previously, and they’ll even provide business cards to make it seem they are from legitimate businesses. They will sometimes offer discounts for having the work completed immediately. Scammers ask the resident to pay in advance, but never return to complete the work. Other times, the scammers pretend to work, but they do not attempt the substantial tasks that homeowners ordered.
“It takes on a lot of different variations,” Brown said.
The best thing residents can do to avoid becoming victims of such scams is to refuse any work from unknown door-to-door solicitors.
“If someone shows up at your door unsolicited, a red flag should go up,” said Byron Holloway, assistant chief of police. “They need to deal with a reputable company … One that they know and one they’ve gotten either recommendations from, or they talked to past customers and they confirmed the quality of their work.”
Holloway said when homeowners do hire reputable contractors, they should receive itemized contracts listing the work they ordered. He suggested that residents always inspect the work when the contractor finishes. On any major repairs like roofing or plumbing, it’s worth it to hire an independent building inspector to verify the quality of the work, Holloway said.
“(Scammers) prey on people who can’t physically get up and check for whatever damage or work has been done,” Holloway said.
