Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: In early February, a guy followed me into my driveway and said he noticed I had some dents and scratches on my car. He offered to do a professional job to fix it up. I told him I didn't want to have anything done, but he kept talking. He was a smooth talker -- about 5 feet 10 inches and over 200 pounds, in his 40s. He had a companion, a younger guy, about 5 feet 8 inches, in his 30s. He said if I went to a shop it would be $800 to $1,000, but he would do my job for $250. Like a darn fool I said, "OK." To make a long story short, I got scammed. Can you warn your readers to watch out for these people? Auto-fix scammers work
the islands looking for preyAnswer: Detective Letha DeCaires, coordinator of the Honolulu Police Department's CrimeStoppers Program, sighed when she heard about your experience.
She hasn't had any recent complaints about the scam but said in the 13 years she's been a detective, the car repair scammers have been an ongoing problem. "They come and they go. There's a season that they come," she said. They leave the state for a while, then return, often with other family members.
Typically, they work the area between East Honolulu and Salt Lake, DeCaires said, usually targeting the elderly and single women. They also tend to seek out Asians, believing they can count on the "shame" factor to get away with their scam.
Victims often "would prefer not to have anyone know that they've been taken," including adult children who might become concerned about their competency to handle money, DeCaires said. Many victims never even make a police report.
But it's important to call police, she said, if for no other reason than to warn others.
Basically, it's buyer beware. People should remember "you don't get something for nothing," and "you get what you pay for," DeCaires said.
She also noted that, depending on the circumstance, it could be a civil case vs. a criminal one.
"A criminal case is if someone promises to do something for me, takes the money and does absolutely nothing," she explained. "A civil matter would be someone saying they will do something and they do something, but it's not done to the manner agreed to."
As an example of the latter, DeCaires said an actual case involved a man who said he would get rid of the dents in a car for $100. After the car owner agreed, the scammer took out a plunger, proceeding to "suck out" the dents. That's not the "professional" job the owner was expecting, "but a business transaction has occurred," DeCaires said.
She also warned people to just use common sense and to look for red flags. You may not always opt to go to a mechanic at a shop, but "you have to be wise on how you spend your money," she said. For one, ask for references; for another, don't pay up front, making a payment only after the job is complete.
Many scammers will say they need to have money immediately in order to make repairs, she noted.
But "if they are in that dire straits and cannot front the money to do the job, that might be a red flag that this might not be a good thing," she said.
"These people also play on urgency -- 'I have to do the work right now,' 'It's a one-time deal,'" she warned. That's another red flag. She suggests asking to see a driver's license and writing down the information. "If a person feels that's not right or necessary, that's another red flag," she said.
While you encountered a duo, DeCaires says her experience is that these scammers tend to work alone. "The reason is the individual approach is less threatening."
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