Alberta RCMP are warning the public about inexpensive paving or roofing services which may be offered by crooks claiming to be with out-of-town companies.
Staff Sergeant Ian Ihme with the Innisfail RCMP Detachment points out that the paving scam is fairy common, has been around for a long time, and has popped up again this year. He says “generally after they take payment they either do nothing, they just disappear, or they do such a shoddy job with a quick little top coat of asphalt and then go on to the next person. What they are doing is definitely not up to industry standards and definitely not worth the money that these people are paying.”
Sergeant Ihme notes that they have received two reports of the paving scam in the Innisfail area recently, three in the central Alberta area around Innisfail, plus at least one elsewhere in the province. He says “there was one in Hinton but I’m sure there has been other ones across the province too that just I personally haven’t heard of. It’s definitely something that happens across the country and often times it is organized groups of people that kind of move around and start doing these scams.”
An unsolicited offer for services from a someone claiming to work for a paving company at your door would be worth making a call to your local RCMP detachment about and he says they will then come check if it is legitimate or not. Sergeant Ihme encourages people not to hesitate and to call their local RCMP detachment whenever they feel something is suspicious.
