2023-05-18 18:55:00
Pseudo moss removers and roof repairers mainly attack the elderly. It is the Nivelles-Genappe police zone that is sounding the alarm that all of Walloon Brabant would be affected but, according to our information, they are acting everywhere.
They go to older victims and manage to convince them that the roof of their home is damaged or that it needs to be removed.
They then demand a staggering sum (more than €1,000) for the work done. Sometimes they use a card reader and take out more money than originally planned. Other times, they find a pretext to enter the house and search it while one of the 2 perpetrators distracts the victim.
In general, they are two accomplices. Either they will carry out the work not very correctly and then ask for a huge sum, which can go up to several thousand euros; either they will use a card reader and take more money than the sum initially planned; Either they will use a card reader and they will make several withdrawals saying that the first and the second did not pass, and that way the victim will not immediately realize that a lot of money has been withdrawn from him. It also happens that they find a pretext to enter the house. And while one of the perpetrators will distract the victim, the other will search the house to steal money, valuables or gold.
The perpetrators of these misdeeds reinvent themselves depending on the circumstances or the weather. At other times, they are police or water agents, but their modus operandi is often identical.
In the door-to-door genre, it’s not just the moss removers or roof repairers who warn various police areas.
Beware of this new ATM scam
Asphalt/bitumen workers
Individuals come to your home, often when you live in a house with a dirt, grassy or gravel driveway. The scammers, of good dress (often speaking in English but don’t be fooled by it) explain that they work for a large company with a construction site nearby. These people inform you that they have bitumen left that they propose to put on your driveway, subject to payment of course!
Several scenarios are then possible if the victim accepts:
- either the victim accepts, signs an estimate and a team comes to carry out work of more than questionable quality (sloppy work, poor quality bitumen, damage, coating that is too thin, etc.)
- or the victim accepts, signs an estimate and pays a deposit (amounts of several thousand euros) which is enough for the scammers who never come back.
The false police, water agents, electricity…
Several techniques are known.
One or more individuals come to your home and pose as representatives of an electricity, water, gas or other company. Under a misleading reason, they manage to enter your home (checking the meters, technical problem to be checked, etc.). They then take the opportunity to (try to) rob you.
In some cases, following leaving the scene, a few minutes later in the same day, fake police officers show up, often accompanied by this or these “fake agents”. They then explain to you that they have arrested these “fake agents” who tried or succeeded in stealing from your home.
Sometimes these “fake policemen” show you an object that comes from your house as proof of their quality.
These “fake police officers” ask you to go and check if you have been robbed of something else, in particular more valuable goods. Of course, your reflex will be to go and check the places where you have hidden your savings and/or jewelry and/or other more valuable assets.
You thus allow these “fake police officers” to know where these objects are and to seize them either by deceiving your attention, or by using violence.
In the wake of its warning, the Nivelles-Genape police zone conveys advice in particular to make our elders aware of this type of scam!
– Do not accept work that you did not request;
– If you have to carry out work, contact contractors yourself and compare quotes;
– Do not let strangers enter your home, let alone walk around your home alone;
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