The paving scammers are back, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), where a call came in earlier this week from a would-be victim.
“Our property crimes investigators spend a lot of time helping Hall County residents who’ve been victimized (or almost victimized) by fraudsters who want access to your money,” a Facebook posting from the sheriff’s office says. “This week, investigators want you to watch out for workers who travel door-to-door saying they can help you with a home project, specifically, paving your driveway.”
The fraud/scam works something like this:
The fraudster pulls up to your house and says something akin to, “𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺.”
Long story short, if the victim goes for the “deal,” the scammer asks for money up front, does a really poor job (claiming the driveway needs more work than he first thought) and then demanding additional money to fix the mess. If the victim refuses, the scammer often gets aggressive, threatening the victim.
In fact, just (Wednesday), a resident in the Sardis area reported two men approached him with a similar offer. Two men, both wearing safety vests, occupying a white Chevrolet pick-up, wanted to do a quick paving job. “Fortunately, the citizen was suspicious and refused. And, he reported the incident so our patrol deputies can be on the lookout for these guys.
“Just like we’ve said when other scams are running rampant, here’s what we want you to do before you hand over money to anyone, especially someone you don’t know.
𝗣𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 (Don’t act immediately!)
𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 (Does this offer make sense?)
𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗙𝗬 (Ask for a business card or a reference.)
𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗘 (If you really need your driveway paved, get recommendations from trusted sources.)
As always, you can call the non-emergency number for Hall County Dispatch at 770-536-8812, ext. 8 and ask for help from one of our deputies.”