Four people have had locksmith fraud charges brought against them. They were caught by a collaboration of the federal government and the State of Missouri. The investigation took place in Kansas City and St. Louis. Though the investigation was in Missouri, the company they ended up going after was located in Tampa, Florida. Dependable Locks, is said to have employees working across the country. It was found that many of the people working as locksmiths for Dependable Locks were illegal aliens or on Visas, and therefore not legally allowed to work as locksmiths.
The fraud part came in the form of the “Bait and Switch” scam we have read about before. A person who needs a locksmith calls the dispatch center and is quoted a low price, however when the locksmith arrives to perform the service, the price ends up being drastically higher than the original quote. As in this case, motorist needing a door unlocked were told a price of $54 on the phone, but after a technician showed up were asked for $179. So pretty much three times the quoted price.
It is always a good idea to research a locksmith before you actually need to hire one. Ask your friends and family for referrals to any locksmiths they had good experiences with in the past. At the same time find out about any bad locksmith experiences and what company it was with. Check out the company name with the Better Business Bureau. Many scam artist companies will buy big ads in phone books and directories and list local addresses. Your local company may not be local at all. Go the location of their listed address. Fraudulent companies will list addresses to businesses that aren’t themselves. Or sometimes the address will be a residence or just an empty lot.
Read the Story Here:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1552102.html