(U) Warm weather brings the potential for increased solicitation by international travelers offering residents home improvement work. These scams typically target the elderly and disabled. Suspects often damage portions of a victim’s home or exaggerate the need for repairs during initial inspection. These scams often begin as a small masonry/construction job that gets larger as the work progresses and victims are pressured to pay to complete the job at increasingly higher rates.
(U) In past years, Massachusetts residents have paid tens of thousands of dollars for masonry, driveway, paving, roofing, and other home improvement / repairs only to be left with damaged property or little to no improvement. Massachusetts residents are urged to take precautions from becoming a victim.
Please refer to the attached joint bulletin produced by the Commonwealth Fusion Center (CFC) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) to view tactics used by criminal actors, as well as recommendations.
Joint Situational Awareness