This is a door-to-door scam carried out by opportunist criminals.

They generally target elderly people, especially elderly single women in houses that look as if the owner will have cash available.

They will often claim that they were driving past and noticed that you had a problem with your roof or missing tiles or a leaning chimney etc. They turn up at your door to warn you of the problem and offer to have a look and assess what needs to be done.

Having checked it out then they tell you the bad news – it’s a dangerous problem and has to be fixed urgently and of course they have the skills to do the job and can so straightaway.

There’s usually the incentive of pay in cash and get a big discount.

This may seem helpful to the homeowner, but it’s all a scam.

If you agree to them doing the work for you – they either disappear once the cash is handed over or they may do the work, but to such a poor standard that you have to get in a professional roofer to fix what’s been done. In some cases, they cause deliberate damage then charge even more to supposedly fix that.

However it works out –  you lose.

To avoid the scam roofers

• Do not deal with someone who turns up on your doorstep – tell them to go away.
• Do not allow anyone to look at the ‘problem’ unless you have called them out to your property and they are known to be a local reputable business.

If you need roofing work or anything similar, find a local professional who is recommended by someone you know or at least has positive reviews online.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.