Parkville Police Warn Of Home Improvement Scams

An email from the community outreach division of the Baltimore County Police Department's Parkville Precinct warned homeowners to be aware of home improvement scams during the summer months.

The email followed an incident on Tuesday where an elderly homeowner was approached by four men who offered to do home improvement work, police said.

According to police one of the men quoted the homeowner a price of $9 to clean the gutters at the Texas Avenue home. The victim asked the man to repeat the price, and was again told $9, police said.

After the job was completed, police said that the homeowner tried to pay the workers $15, thinking the original price was too low and the workers became angry saying that they had quoted a price of $900.

The workers then left and no payment was ever made, police said.

The full text of the email, sent by Parkville community outreach officer Jason Goorevitz follows.

Please be aware that Precinct 8 had what appears to have been a possible home improvement scam occur on 6/11/12 around 1200 hrs on Texas Avenue. The elderly male homeowner was approached by an white male in his 50's who was accompanied by 3 other workers, also white males in their 20's, who were offering home improvement work. The homeowner advised that he needed his gutters cleaned and the older male quoted a price of $9.00.  When the homeowner questioned this, he repeated $9.00. When the job was completed, the homeowner attempted to pay the workers $15.00 thinking the original price was not enough. At this point, the older male became angry and started yelling at the homeowner that he quoted a price of $900.00. The workers left without further incident and no payment was ever made.   

Please be aware of incidents like this. Get written estimates for work, check out references of companies and call police if anything appears to be suspicious.

If anyone has questions, please contact me.  

Jason
Officer Jason Goorevitz #4256
Baltimore County Police Department
Precinct 8-Parkville/Community Outreach Team
8532 Old Harford Road
Baltimore, MD 21234
410-887-5439
jgoorevitz@baltimorecountymd.gov