In September, a council in Portsmouth revealed an increase in deceitful tradespeople in the vicinity.

Many homeowners felt distressed, unsafe, and in many occurrences, suffering a huge financial loss.

Action Fraud found an increase in doorstep scams and fraudsters.

And very recently, it was revealed that an array of homeowners in the area argue they fell victim to such deceit.

Throughout the inquiry, it was found that a deceitful tradesperson goes by a selection of identities, including ‘Tim.’

One of the homeowners in the area revealed that she had an encounter with a gentleman called Tim who suggested that her roof needed to be attended to.

He forced his way onto Mrs Wilkinson’s property and made her aware that the labour would come to a total of £650, or £1,260 with additional labour.

The resident stated the following: “I said no way can I pay that.”

Tim made the resident aware that he would agree on a payment of £960, if the resident was able to settle the payment in under 3 hours.

The homeowner then called their son, to discuss whether they were being scammed.

Tim received a phone call from the resident’s son, revealing that the payment would be settled by the end of the week, and Tim responded with the following: “No way, within three hours.” He then advised Tim to “Go away.”

The resident stated the following: “He was so genuine, because he said he knew Paul next door. But Paul doesn’t know him, Paul has no idea of the name (Tim).” “It just makes me feel vulnerable now.”

Additionally, a one of the resident’s neighbours revealed that they also had an encounter with ‘Tim,’ after viewing a video recording.

Soon after the first resident’s experience with the tradesperson, they said they viewed some photographs of him on social media.

When being presented with the footage, the first homeowner stated the following: “Yes definitely yes; his hair and the way he’s speaking.”

“What he’s saying is exactly what Tim, as he was called, was telling me what was wrong with my gully.”

Portsmouth City Council and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary revealed that such deceitful tradespeople “Will often offer to do minor repair work first before driving up the cost or could apply pressure to pay for the work upfront.”

Source link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqy3x954p8o