Tool sharpening scam warning

[Phil Pascoe]

We used to get loads of travelers and didicoys (in the early '80s) stop and ask to take dead elms down, or to tarmac the drive. One morning I was on the landing with my mother when we heard a dog bark. We looked out and saw the obligatory Transit parked in the lay by and a guy of about 6'4" face to face with my Doberman, who had decided in her wisdom (and her wisdom was usually exactly that) that he was coming no further. We heard the low growl, we saw the hackles pointing forwards, but it didn't deter him. As he stepped towards her, and there was a bark that those among you who have never heard the serious, meaningful bark of an Old English Mastiff intent on doing her job can only imagine - it seems to come from the centre of the earth. Yes, the mastiff was six feet behind him ... on top of a six foot hedge, crouched ready to jump, looking down on him. It is without any doubt the fastest I have ever seen anyone do our drive and clear a six foot gate.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The funniest offer I ever had was from the a woman who offered to get her son to change the locks on my off licence - he was known to be the biggest burglar in the area.

 

[iNewbie]

Now thats what you call doing a favour for a drink...

 

[ColeyS1]

Just had this happen.
Grey Mercedes reg DA-153 and a few other digits.

Not sure if he hardens the tools with his breath but I've never smelt anything like it ! Cheers for the heads up. Must be doing the rounds

Coley

 

[Eric The Viking]

We had some very well-heeled travellers briefly in residence on Bristol Downs, near us. That was until a fortnight ago, when the council got an eviction order. There were about 25 caravans and other vehicles.

We were impressed by the late-model luxury cars they own, similar to the one above (and other Mercs, BMWs and so on). Plates from France, Belgium, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

I'm not sure where you are, Coley, but it looks as though you've met some relatives of theirs.

E.

PS: That said, apart from the camp they caused practically no trouble and left the place relatively tidy when they left. We were pleasantly surprised, although I wouldn't want it to become a regular thing.

 

[Rorschach]

We had some very well-heeled travellers briefly in residence on Bristol Downs, near us. That was until a fortnight ago, when the council got an eviction order. There were about 25 caravans and other vehicles.

We were impressed by the late-model luxury cars they own, similar to the one above (and other Mercs, BMWs and so on). Plates from France, Belgium, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

I'm not sure where you are, Coley, but it looks as though you've met some relatives of theirs.

E.

PS: That said, apart from the camp they caused practically no trouble and left the place relatively tidy when they left. We were pleasantly surprised, although I wouldn't want it to become a regular thing.

You obviously get a better sort than we do! lol

 

[Bigron]

Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.

One does wonder... if part of the point is to check out the size of padlock you're using on your shed doors, and where the security cameras are.

I know I'm an old cynic, etc. But then pessimists are the people who have pleasant surprises, whereas optimists only suffer disappointments.

E.

 

[Chippie02]

West Sussex /Hampshire area.

 

[Chippie02]

RE sharpening scam, I did post a picture of him, to help others, but it seems to have disappeared?

 

[finneyb]

Had the scammers walk into the boatyard in Hastings, East Sussex on Thursday , they did the chisel on the scaffold pole trick, took it away with 3 drill bits fetched them back 3 hours later, all nice and sharp, touting for more work, I sent them packing with 4 freshly smoked Mackerel, they were as happy as Larry. Just be aware they are in the Sussex area.

One does wonder... if part of the point is to check out the size of padlock you're using on your shed doors, and where the security cameras are.

I know I'm an old cynic, etc. But then pessimists are the people who have pleasant surprises, whereas optimists only suffer disappointments.

E.

You cynic and why would he want to do that you can't sharpen padlocks I know perhaps he wants to have a career in TV - and is starting with CCTV.

Brian
Also a cynic

 

[nev]

RE sharpening scam, I did post a picture of him, to help others, but it seems to have disappeared?

Pictures of individuals are not required thank you. We'd like to avoid any possible libel/ slander accusations.

On a personal note:
I think its safe to say that any individual turning up unannounced and offering to take your tools away should be politely told to go away thank you.

 

[RogerP]

Many, many years ago when I was kid a chap used to turn up in our area on bicycle fitted with an arrangement that with the bike on its stand pedalling turned a large grinding wheel. He must have done a decent job as many of the locals regularly used him.

 

[Andy69691]

There is always one..........
My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?

 

[Mike Jordan]

Only thieves and con artists sell door to door. It's high time we had a law banning cold calling completely.

 

[Keithie]

There is always one..........
My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?

I used to be a voluntary advisor at a Citizen's Advice Bureau. I'm not up to date any more with respect to the law and couldnt recommend anything specific anyway.

The way I would think about your sort of problem is to consider the options.

If you think you are being blackmailed then one option is to contact the police.
Another option is to pay/negotiate ...erm... would that help do you think? I dont think I'd recommend that to anyone!
There may be other options as well, perhaps depending how well you stand with the local community and who you know.
Do you have a legal advisor?
No doubt there are other options.

As a company director with potentially lots of assorted responsibilities you probably ought to do something!
good luck!

 

[MattRoberts]

Record the phone conversations and take them to the police.

 

[Eric The Viking]

There is always one..........
My maintenance guy fell for this scam and now they are demanding £2600 for "sharpening & coating" about £50 worth of drill bits! When the site manager was confronted by the gypsy he sent him away (after a very long discussion). Now they have tracked down the MD of the company (yes, that's me) and have made nearly 200 calls to my telephone in less than 48 hours. There are veiled threats such as "we want to meet you at your office" and "do you have a family"......... I have had a few discussions on the phone and they guy has offered a £100 discount. Lucky me!
Anyway, no deal as far as I'm concerned but........these guys are VERY intimidating and don't sound like they are interested in going away. They know where my businesses are and, as a company director, I'm not sure if they are smart enough to track down my personal address.
Anyone experienced the same thing? Any advice?

Very simple answer: what they are doing is CRIMINAL at many levels: extortion or "demanding money with menaces" probably being the worst of it (it's not blackmail, incidentally).

They cannot find out your home address from CoHo, unless you have been a director (of one or more companies) for many years, and if you have a good accountant. The law changed on that a while back, such that your trading address can now be the directors' "service" address... but earlier filings WILL have your home address listed (I research companies as part of my job, and use this all the time to find links between companies that people try to conceal). There's nothing practical you can do about that.

Because this involves a firm rather than a private individual (unless your maintenance guy is self-employed), you don't have some of the consumer law protections, but if what you say is true (I'm not doubting you, but you may not have had a complete or accurate account from others), these people are full-on criminals.

The fact remains this should be, and usually is, treated as serious crime by the police.

I'd ring the non-urgent number for your local force, explain, and ask to talk to a warranted officer about it (not a civilian), and that you want to press charges if possible.

I have family members in the police, but unfortunately they're not around this w/e otherwise I'd ask them for advice (and anyway they're not in your force area, and all forces work slightly differently to each other).

Three important things:
1. You want them dealt with for your own peace of mind, and to avoid expense too.
2. If they succeed with you they'll continue - who might they try next?
3. Chances are, the police already have them on record, so catching them might be a lot easier than you think.

If you have security cameras recording, and they're on there, keep the recordings!

E.

 

[Chrispy]

For what it's worth, before they returned the sharpened goods as by then I just knew what was going to happen, I tried reporting this to the police only to be told that so far they haven't committed an offense so the police were powerless to help, this got me thinking and realized that yes they were working on the edge of the law without actually breaking it so probably wouldn't go through with those threats as this would be their demise.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I was lastly replying to Andy69691, and in his decription, they have made serious, criminal threats. They were committing a criminal offence in merely hinting at violence or other harm, either to people or property.

Proving that is another matter, of course, but, in my experience the police have a good idea of who the scammers are. Quite often even if your evidence isn't enough on its own, it might well be enough to get a confession under questioning, along the lines of, "... and we have video recordings of you doing exactly the same thing at XXX limited, and YYY limited, and their directors are quite willing to testify..."

If we don't pursue this with the police, we're just passing the problem onto someone else, and the more attractive the crime is the more persistent the criminals will be.

People who do this are crooks, plain and simple, and probably do other nasty things too. If ypi get through to the right part of the police service (and that is indeed getting more and more difficult), you should find they are interested.