Law enforcement says security sales people may be scammers

A recent arrest in Grandview, reported by Fox 4 news, again points out the need to be aware that home security sales people coming to your door could be scammers.

In Midtown, complaints about aggressive security sales are an ongoing topic of discussion on Internet discussion groups. In fact, some Midtown residents think they may have opened their doors to the two door-to-door salespeople recently arrested in Grandview for allegedly misleading an elderly women into upgrading her security system.

According to Fox 4, a man and woman from Utah knocked on the women’s door and implied they worked for the company that provided her home security, ADT.  They said her system could be compromised if someone cut the phone line and convinced her to pay an additional monthly fee for a system upgrade.

Grandview police told the TV station sales representatives often identify themselves as affiliated with whatever security company sign the resident has displayed in the front yard.

Kansas City police say the scams are especially rampant in the spring, and residents should be suspicious of sales people who claim to represent their alarm company. In a Facebook message today, Central Patrol’s Jim Schriever echoed the warning.

“Most of the time they prey on elderly citizens. They also have been known to flat out lie to the citizens telling them that they are representing another alarm company that is having financial issues and is about to be bought out by their company. The many complaints I receive after the fact is that the alarm user cannot get anyone to respond to their phone calls and inquiries,” he wrote.

Schriever also said the scam can be a way for the phony salespeople to enter homes to either case the residence or possibly steal items from the residence.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said recently that home security companies generate the second highest number of complaints to the Attorney General’s No Call Unit, behind credit card debt servicing companies.

Koster recently filed three lawsuits against companies selling home security and monitoring systems, alleging they falsely told consumers that the FBI had reported increased neighborhood burglaries. One of those lawsuits was filed in Jackson County.

One Comment

  1. Michael Grimaldi says:

    I’m always suspicious when the first question is, “Do you have a security system now?”

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