Conmen fleece $20,000 from 81-year-old for bogus roof repairs

AN 81-year-old man who has lost almost $20,000 on bogus roof repairs in three different stings is imploring others not to be as gullible as him.

Ken was scammed out of almost $20,000 from a crew of travelling Irish scammers. Picture: Richard Serong

AN ELDERLY Elsternwick man has been left shattered after being scammed out of almost $20,000 by travelling conmen.

Ken (who doesn’t want his surname revealed) has been targeted on three separate occasions by Irish-speaking tradies claiming his roof needed urgent repairs.

To date the pensioner has spent $19,550 on bogus roof repairs, money which has come from his emergency stash.

“I’m donating all my money to charity; this money was my emergency money,” Ken said.

The 81-year-old said he was walking home from the railway station in October 2014 when he was approached by a man offering him a lift home, and a free roof check.

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At the time Ken said he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and had been the victim of a mugging a week prior. “I was having a bad run,” Ken said.

“He caught me hook, line and sinker — I was in a terrible state.

“He looked at the roof and came down with some broken pieces. He told me the capping on the roof was broken and water would seep in.”

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Before he knew it the tradesman was “fixing” the roof and after a day’s work Ken was stung $3000.

“He asked me to go to the bank and bring back the $3000. I went down there and when I came out he was in his ute waiting for me, he drove me back home,” he said.

The fake tradie then told Ken he needed further works to his roof which would cost $10,000, but after Ken told him that was too much he eventually lowered the price to $6000.

“He told me it was very serious so I said ‘go ahead’.

“But I couldn’t see any rust or holes in any of the materials he was taking down.

“He then said that the bricks needed replacing. I thought ‘my God there are children next door, I’ll be in big, big trouble if something happens so I should get it done’.”

Ken said the men returned and after completing the work told him it would cost $10,000.

“They were intimidating me,” Ken said.

“They told me it was $10,000 and he was looming over me. I was speechless so I wrote him a cheque for $10,000.

“Sick people and older people are defenceless.”

Ken said he wanted to “make it plain what’s happening” and reveal the tactics used to scam his money.

He said the conmen were unusually polite, used distraction techniques, only worked on the roof, provided quotes after the work was done and costed in multiples.

Ken was targeted again in August 2015, but after paying an initial amount of $550 he asked the men to stop working and leave, but ended up paying a further $1600 to get that work fixed.

Just last month Ken was approached once again, but this time told the men had he no money and was left alone.

Consumer Affairs Victoria spokeswoman Courtney Crane said travelling conmen moved across the state, knocking on people’s doors to offer cheap “today only” deals on a range of jobs around the home and typically asked for cash upfront before leaving behind unfinished or substandard work.

Between July and December 2015, there were 74 reports of travelling conmen activity across Victoria.

Ms Crane said there were a number steps senior citizens and other people could take to ensure they were only hiring tradespeople with appropriate credentials including shopping around for the quote that is best for them and only using established tradespeople who provide written — not just verbal — quotes.

The police encouraged people faced with a similar situation to Ken’s to say no to any work offered by doorknocking tradespeople, and contact a family member or friend who could help.