Posted on 10/19/2008 6:36:05 AM PDT by Dysart
New Mexico state Rep. Bill Rehm has heard the line more than once, so when a Traveller came calling to his Albuquerque home in March, he recognized the scam.
"They must go to college to learn this line," said Rehm, a retired sergeant with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, recalling the pitch: " 'We are working on a [paving] job just down the street, and we can do your driveway for $2 a square foot. Today. Right now.’ He said they had over-ordered materials."
Rehm turned the Traveller away, but others weren’t so savvy.
This spring and summer, some Travellers — nomadic clans of Irish, English and Scottish descent — roamed the country soliciting construction jobs and home repair work, bilking people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to law enforcement officials and a Traveller who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.
"It is crazy how much money can be made," the informant said. "You can make $100,000 a week."
From New Mexico to Iowa to Washington state, officials warned residents about swindlers — including some Irish Travellers based in the Fort Worth area — rolling through their towns.
Still, plenty of people got taken. And only a handful of Travellers got arrested.
"A lot of cops don’t understand about the Travellers," said Lt. Mike Moore of the Casper, Wyo., Police Department, who believes that the public needs to be better-informed about the clandestine group. "These people are very, very good. They are masters at their trade. I’m not going to say all of them are scam artists, but it is unfortunate that you have to go to the press and tell people, 'Watch out, they are about to take your money.’ "
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Just do business with people in your local phone book, the cops know where they are.
I can see where that would be easy to fall for.
When I owned a business, someone showed up and said they had excess materials and could pave my driveway and parking areas, for $2 a square foot and the offer was only good for the next day. I called around and everyone else wanted at least $4.
They did an excellent job. But I didn’t pay until they were done.
Ripped from the (script) pages of Law & Order!
In this area they were known as the WILLIAMSON gang. I first heard about them in the 1970’s but they were known to law enforcement long before that.
Last summer, while I was doing some yardwork, I had a guy pull up in my drive way and give me this same line, except that he wanted me to buy some unused asphalt from him for $175. I was immediately suspicious since I had heard about the Irish Travellers and had never seen this guy in our neighborhood before. I turned him down flat. When he actually tried to argue with me, I disinvited him from my property.
These guys are real crooks.
“said they had excess materials and could pave my driveway and parking areas, for $2 a square foot and the offer was only good for the next day. I called around and everyone else wanted at least $4.
They did an excellent job. But I didn’t pay until they were done.”
My experience too. Got a great driveway at a fraction of the cost but did not pay until the job was done.
It is a shame that people do things like this. That being said, I note that it takes two to make a “deal”. I am involved in the kitchen remodelling business and have worked with both homeowners and investors of “flip houses”. The people who I’ve seen get hoodwinked like this are mostly people who were looking for things “on the cheap”. I pointedly exempt from that characterization the elderly who are often victimized by bums like this. I have often had people turn down my fair price in favor of some much cheaper person who takes them for a ride. I don’t exactly gloat, but sure as hell don’t feel sorry for them.
Remember that Irish Traveler gal that was videotaped beating her four year old in a Target parking lot? The four year old girl had somehow interfered with mom returning something to the Target so mom buckled her into the carseat, looked furtively around and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of her. they showed it on the national news, tracked down the mom and arrested the mom, took the little girl into protective custody. I think the car was a brand new huge Toyota SUV.
Hmmm. Someone called me yesterday and offered to clean my carpets for free. I hung up on him.
“You can make $100,000 a week.”
Heck! You can make that in 10 MINUTES from your home computer. Don’t have a computer? Don’t know how to use a computer? No problem! We’ll loan you one. We’ll train you, too! And all at NO OBLIGATION to you, whatsoever!
Ask me how! 1-800-EZE-MARK *SMIRK*
There’s a sucker born every minute. :)
Just used the laws that this country provides.
The law of gravity as I helped one get off my roof and the laws of physics in which I tried to determine the ideal moment of inertia of a baseball bat.
It was either that or maybe it was when I told I was writing a fictional story of a crazy man that would track all of them down and who know what, cause I hadn't gotten to that point in the story.
They're not "Travellers", they're f##%ing thieves. Law enforcement is sh#t. All they'll tell you to do is to file a civil suit cause there is "not much we can do".
If you meet one of these "Travelers", good luck. Our legal system isn't set up to do much. They'll string you along with half-a##ed jobs then skip town after starting about 50 jobs in an area. If the price sounds to good to be true, it is. I got lucky, cause usually they have some muscle with them. I wasn't worth the trouble I suppose.
The author wrote 26 paragraphs before mentioning the word gypsy.
The author wrote 26 paragraphs before mentioning the word gypsy.
This is peanuts compared to what the con-artists in Washington rake in.
“The author wrote 26 paragraphs before mentioning the word gypsy.”
You noticed that, too, eh? PC crapola.
They were gypsies, and their victims got gypped! There, I said it. So throw me in jail.
One of my sainted GM’s (Co. Monaghan, Eire) favorite epithets was “damn Tinker”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Traveller
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