Travelling con men targeting elderly people in Melbourne’s east, including Rowville and Burwood

Travelling con men are preying on elderly people in Melbourne, scamming thousands of dollars while falsely claiming to fix their roofs. A Burwood woman in her 70s, who lost $9000, and a Rowville man, 88, who was tricked out of $3000, are among the victims.

Travelling con men have duped elderly people out of thousands of dollars while claiming to fix roofs. Picture: stock image

Travelling con men are preying on elderly people in Melbourne’s east, scamming thousands of dollars while falsely claiming to fix their roofs.

In separate cases, a Burwood woman was scammed out of $9000 after handing over cheques to a fraudulent tradie who convinced her he was repairing her roof, while a Rowville man was scammed out of $3000 after falling victim to two men posing as tradesmen, also claiming he needed his roof fixed.

The woman in her 70s, who refused to be named out of fear, said a man knocked on her door on November 22 last year, and told her tiles had come loose from her roof, which he saw when he was working on a roof in a neighbouring street.

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The man offered to put the tiles back at no cost, which she agreed to after fearing her insulation would be wet from recent heavy rain..

After looking at her roof, the man told her she needed a number of repairs and her insulation replaced.

The homeowner said she thought his offer to do the work the next day for $7000 was a good deal because she had previously paid $6000 for less extensive work on her roof.

He motioned to a nearby roof under construction and said he could use some materials from his men doing that job, but would need payment upfront to buy the remaining supplies.

Please be aware of Roof scammers in Rowville and surrounding areas. Two males were posing as roof tradies and approached...

Posted by Eyewatch - Knox Police Service Area on Monday, February 4, 2019

He further convinced her of his credibility by handing her a brochure for his business, which she later matched to a business listing online.

The tradesman supposedly carried out the work when she was out the next day, then returned to say more work was needed.

She reluctantly gave him another $2000, but held off on a further $1000 saying she would check with her insurer to see if it would help with the costs.

The man never returned, and days later an insurance assessor discovered no work had been done to her roof.

The woman said she thought the con man had targeted her because she had a ramp out the front of her house and clearly had mobility issues, stopping her from checking her roof.

“It’s just disgusting,” she said.

“I’ve got lots of medical expenses and not much income.”

Meanwhile, an 88-year-old Rowville man was scammed out of $3000 after falling victim to two men posing as tradesmen.

Senior Constable Ross Mitchell, crime prevention officer at Knox police, said the men knocked on the man’s door on January 25 and told him there was a problem with his roof.

“They said they had been working in the area and as they had driven past, noticed some damage to the man’s roof,” Sen-Constable Mitchell said.

“They offered to fix it quickly and cheaply and asked if they could they get up on the roof and have a look.”

Sen-Constable Mitchell said after climbing on the roof the men came back and said the damage was significantly worse than it looked, and asked to look in the ceiling cavity.

A woman in her 70s was among the victims. Picture: stock image

The Rowville man allowed them inside and they went into the roof where they produced some rags soaked with water.

They told the man he had a lot of water in the ceiling and it was probably going to collapse.

Then they explained they could fix it but needed specialist equipment which they would have to hire, and asked the man to pay a $3000 deposit.

“He went straight up to the bank and got the money out and they drove off to get the equipment and never came back,” Sen-Constable Mitchell said.

“He feels really embarrassed and said ‘I’m a fool’ but we’re stressing to him he’s not a fool, these people are professionals.”

He said the dodgy tradesmen, aged in their late 20s to early 30s, drove a ute and wore tradie-type clothing.

Box Hill detective Senior Sergeant Simon Brendish said con men with Irish and European accents had targeted elderly homeowners across Whitehorse in recent months, offering home repairs before taking thousands of dollars in payment for work they did not do.

Sen-Sgt Brendish said there was no information to confirm these two cases were linked.

He said people should not accept trade services offered by doorknockers or brochures dropped in letterboxes, with the well-prepared con men often creating the illusion they belonged to a local company.

Sen-Sgt Brendish said the con men targeted trusting, elderly people, with some offering one-off discounts for pensioners.

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