I just got off the phone with Edwin Bright, the vice president of the Northaven Park Neighborhood Association. He tells me that in last month, there have been two reports of possible scams targeting the elderly in the neighborhood.
Bright says he spoke with two elderly neighbors who had very similar incidents: In both cases, a man knocked on their door, claiming he saw squirrels entering their attics. The man told each of them he’d remove the squirrels, but a price was never agreed upon ahead of time. Both times the man went into the attic for about 30 minutes, and claimed he’d fixed the problem. He charged one elderly woman $650 for the service, and he charged another elderly man $900 for the service.
“Both these neighbors felt obligated to pay him—and when someone’s standing in your living room demanding you pay them, that can be intimidating, especially for the elderly.”
What makes this alarming is the man handed out a seemingly phony business card.
“The PO box on the business card doesn’t exist and I tried calling the phone number, which has been disconnected. And there is no website for the business. It’s virtually untraceable.”
Both neighbors told Bright the man was middle-aged and had a teenage boy working with him, who he said was his son.
Bright says he’d like nearby neighbors to be on alert.
“If this guy’s doing it in our neighborhood, he’s probably doing it in other areas around here.”
