David N. Kirkman
Task Force Alert Chair
Asst Attorney General
Consumer Protection
NC Department of
Justice
P.O. Box 629
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-716-6000

North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services

******Alert #224 ******

Det. Mike Davis with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department shares with members of the Task Force the following item. It describes a very expensive scam where home owners are approached by con artists when they employ legitimate repair companies to work on their homes. The incident described recently occurred in Arizona. It is similar to the “bank examiner” scam that has been reported in earlier alerts.

BOGUS AGENT SCAM

An elderly resident was recently having some plumbing repair work done at her home when she was approached by two "agents": one identified herself as an "insurance agent" and the second as a representative of the District Attorney's Office. The two "agents" (bogus) told the elderly resident that the plumbers were going to scam her, and the two agents were there to apprehend them.

The suspects told the elderly resident that she would need to cash a $12,000 check and split it between the “agents”. One “agent” told the resident that the plumbers would ask for money the following day, and that when the “agents” gave the plumbers the $12,000, the "agents” would arrest the plumbers.

A friend of the resident's stopped by as the suspects were getting ready to take the resident to the bank to cash the $12,000 check. The friend questioned the suspects, who became nervous and fled.

******End of Alert******

Date: June 2, 2009

Consumer Fraud / Alerts

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