Francestown Police warned residents Tuesday to be wary of a potential scam involving asphalt.
The department received a report Monday from a resident who stated that a suspicious person was driving a vehicle past their house. The vehicle was described as a black pick-up truck with no business name. The operator of the truck came up to the front door and stated that he owned an asphalt business and had leftover material from a local job. The resident told police that the man offered to use the leftover asphalt on their driveway.
“The resident felt something was wrong and declined having the work performed,” said Chief Fred Douglas.
The actions of the reported individual speak to a potential scam, Douglas warned. Some companies use a strategy like this to scam unaware citizens, he said.
“They indicate that they have extra asphalt and essentially talk citizens into asphalting the driveway, saying they can do it cheap, that it won’t cost much, and the workmanship is poor at best,” Douglas said. The work is usually done quickly, he said, to complete the scam.
“They are known to ‘target’ senior citizens, receive payment in advance, then intimidate the citizen by demanding more money when the driveway is completed,” Douglas said. Some of these scams have resulted in arrests and criminal charges.
Douglas requested on behalf of the Police Department that any citizens who are approached in this way decline the work, get a plate number from the vehicle if possible, and notify the police.