Officers at Thanet’s community safety unit are warning people to be on their guard for rogue traders after two pensioners were targeted on the isle.
The scammers are claiming to have cleaned gutters and then asking for payment.
The first report came from Dane Crescent, Ramsgate, where a male and a female knocked on an elderly lady’s door saying they had cleaned her gutters and asked for £20.
The second was in Rosemary Gardens, Broadstairs, where a 93-year-old woman has been conned into handing over £100 for gutter cleaning which never happened.
Stay safe:
DO NOT agree to any work being undertaken at your property by doorstep traders. Even if they are insistent that they can give you a good deal if you agree to the work there and then, DO NOT say yes!
if you do need some odd jobs done on your property, always ask a friend or a relative to recommend someone or go to a viable company whom you know to be genuine.
NEVER feel pressured into having anything done at your property that you haven’t agreed to.
ALWAYS tell anyone that comes to your door that you will talk to your partner/children/friend, etc and ask them for a contact number, where you can contact them back – if they are genuine, they may have business cards, and this can be checked. If they are reluctant to give you a contact number, they are probably scamming you.
My God these people really are the lowest of the low.
Why would you hand over cash to random people, saying they have done something for you without your instruction to?
Steve you really do not understand how these morons work they pick there victims very carefully knowing that they are gullible,in future think before you make stupid comments
I understand perfectly how they work. Just asking why anybody would hand over cash to any Tom, Dick or Harry who knocks on their door & tells them they did work on their property & want cash, when that person has never met them. Legitimate comments/question & not deserving of such a hostile comment.
Hi Steve, why don’t you try using this wonderful skill the majority of humans are equipped with, empathy. Put yourself in the shoes of someone with learning difficulties/dementia et al…
Age Steve, just because you know what you are doing now don’t mean you will when in your 60s 70 or 80s.
These are the people they pick on as easy target .
Because you’re 93 years old, and no longer completely in full possession of your faculties?
Steve I got scammed by 2 rogues who I found on the Trade Agency Website “Bark”. I thought as they were on the Agencies list of tradesmen, they would be vetted and OK, but they conned me out of £250.00! This is how it works: Two men apply to go on the Trade Agencies books, someone contacts the agency because they want work done, gutters cleaned etc, and their phone number is sent to a number of tradesmen. One of them contacts you, and gives their name as say “Stoneboard” from Herne Bay, and they quote you a price for the work. They turn up later that day, make out they have done the work, and demand the £250.00! This is what happened to me, and I paid up because I thought they would damage my property, or me!
I contacted the Trade Agency “Bark”, and they said they didn’t have anyone of that name on their books! So, thats how the scam works, the Trade Agency supplies your phone number to a rogue trader, who you trust because they were recommended by the Trade Agency, but they give you a false name, and fail to carry out the work! They then disappear, and continue to con people who are recommended by the Trade Agency, because they can’t be traced, Duurh! I am in my ninth decade now, and I thought I knew all the tricks these scum can pull, how wrong was I?
One word -SCUM
I know of an 86 year old woman charged £400 for an areil shorty after her husband died. It started at £250 but went up to £400, nothing can be done because not only she no contact details she agreed to pay.
It is a shame , yes she is a bit shot at that age but it may happen to any one of us.
Lowlife scum!
Thanks for the warning Kathy
This is a well-known traveller scam. The poor victims are fortunate that they didn’t return to ‘repair the loose tiles they saw’ while cleaning the gutters and continue to fleece them of their savings as happened to an old man in Teynham a couple of years ago and happened to several elderly people in Medway to the tune of £500,000.
I thought unsolicited calls at residents homes was illegal so if you get people turning up who you haven’t asked to come then call the police.
You thought wrong. We have the sum of human knowledge at our fingertips and are the product of billions of years worth of evolution. Isn’t it time we acted like it, KR?
Because you are older and trust people, or scared and it’s easier to agree.