Walnut Creek Police are warning the public about a scam that recently occurred in the Northgate area.
Please beware of anyone who comes to your house unsolicited.
Here are a few details about the scammers, according to the WCPD:
- Subjects offer to repair damage you didn’t even know you had. Common jobs offered are auto body work, driveway resealing and roof work.
- Subjects create a sense of urgency with the work. Common examples are that they just completed work around the corner and have left over materials, or that they’re only in the area for another hour so they can do the job quickly for cheap.
- Subjects ask to use the bathroom and use that opportunity to look around the home for valuables and signs of vulnerability.
- Subjects target the elderly, and they frequently attempt to create a relationship with the victim by asking them to go to lunch or telling them they could be their friend. They usually try to get the victim’s phone number.
- Subjects frequently claim to have sick family members to solicit more money from the victim.
- Subjects will sometimes travel as a husband and wife couple.
If you encounter anyone exhibiting the above, please call police dispatch.
25 comments
Don’t answer your door (or your phone) to anybody you don’t know. It’s a shame that society has come to that, but for your own protection, it’s not worth it. Nobody needs the aggravation, nor do any of us want to be scammed. If you insist on letting someone know you’re home, talk through an open window and send them packing.
Yeah, unfortunately now you have to let them know you’re home or they’ll try to kick in your front door like that family in Pleasanton last week. (Mom and young son were home.)
out of state hoods. Boy they are in for a rude awakening when my team fillets them
Hopefully, more Ring or Nest doorbells will be installed in the coming holiday season, and fewer doors will be opened to scammers. Nobody needs to speak face-to-face to anyone who just shows up in the neighborhood. As video evidence is captured on more doorsteps, it’s also harder for the scammers to escape consequences even if the activity happened elsewhere. You’re not just protecting yourself or your elderly relatives, you’re protecting the entire neighborhood and community.
ooops forgot this is criminals first land
sorry just cough up the money or your labeled a racist or bigot or anti democRAT
EXPECT it to get worse for anyone concerned for their safety or children’s safety ….the board and city councils have been prompted by the king in sacramento to let criminals be it illegals or thieves or rapists or murderers that a suspended sentence is always available from the king newscum in demifornia ….
democrats have had a hold on this state for 50 years ….it appears everyone is fine with how the gov has run it ….maybe its time everyone takes on the notion if you cant beat them join them …..embrace the lunacy and offer up your children to the king newscum ….an opinion based rant to appease a distorted reality…..
relax everyone …YOU WON
“CRIMINALS”??? Didn’t you hear? California doesn’t have any more criminals. We now have “justice-involved individuals”.
See how quickly we can reduce the criminal population? Its easy…just call them something else. We got rid of crime…now we just have a lot of justice associated acts. Aren’t we lucky??
wow what a huge bunch of hogwash
Sounds like a typical day out here in Commiefornia!
Nothing new under the sun.
You liberals made your bed! Now you complain to the Police and tell them to do something about it and sue them when they do.
Will be nice retiring to a state not overrun & controlled by lemmings on the left!
Yeah! Be glad when you move too.
It never ceases to amaze on Claycord how even the most basic story here becomes a political battle ground.
Here’s the moral of this story: Don’t talk to strangers. KISS.
Thank you!
Gonna be a lonely place. My wife was a stranger before I talked to her.
Without a physical description of the people this sounds a lot like Gypsies – aka Romani or Roma peoples.
And no, in case you were wondering, these are not the colorful, free-spirited harmless vagabonds and fortune tellers of popular folklore. This is a subculture that has no interest or intention in participating in civil society. They are a people that is profoundly tribal, proudly illiterate and aggressively larcenous. They view anyone outside the tribe to be ‘fair game’ for any criminality that they can perpetrate upon them. Stealing and scamming is how they exist – always has been, always will be. It is how they define themselves. To do otherwise is to not be Roma and not of the tribe. That is a fate they fear most.
So, all praise to our Rulers for bestowing the blessings of new and interesting Diversity™ upon us and importing yet another underclass as a much deserved punishment. An underclass that has an innate intelligence a notch above our traditional underclasses but with none of the charm.
Our Rulers hate us. You know this of course, right?
The Roma have been in California since WWII when the state was very Republican.
Well, I guess I’ve been properly schooled. I suppose the only rational thing to do now is bring in more, More, MORE!! What with that definitive historical precedent, and all.
The population of California in 1950 was just under 11M. Today it is just under 40M. So, what’s your point? A little extra criminality never hurt anyone?
Grrrr…..
I’ve been caught between car and front door twice by similar “contractors”. “We were just in the neighborhood, doing such and thus to your neighbor’s at 1234 Stupid St and have some leftover CRAP and would like to offer you a discount to install it on your home”. Scares me to death, but I always say, “Gee, thanks, but my husband would kill me if I agreed to something like that when he hasn’t had a chance to talk to you about it. Let me go get him.” They’re usually gone when I return to the front door.
@Russ Emery – “Don’t talk to strangers” is not good advice. I talk to strangers all the time but keep in mind that they are strangers. If they want to give me some BS then shrug. Throwing in the random non sequitur is also a handy tactic. Oh!, you are here to pick up the dead bunny rabbit! The goal is to get them off message.
Make a return appointment with them then call the Police, in case they’d like to be the ones who answer the door when scammer comes back.
Might be able to cite them for not having a city business license, but for sure can do an FI or field identification. A valid ID might allow detectives to get a break.
I usually have my dog chew on them for a while then spit out some parts. But then later they come back and ask, “do you have some of my parts back?”
Sad part is, one time a young tree-trimming company was doing a job around the corner and offered me a good deal on trimming a few of my trees. Saved me time and money and gave the crew a little more work that day. But now, because of stuff like this, you just can’t trust anyone.
We need much stiffer penalties for “Flim Flam” people who prey on the elderly.
Even in Walnut Creek: Don’t get out of your own car in your own driveway until you are sure there is nobody there waiting to acost you. Seniors shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. If accosted, politely decline their alleged services and offer them some flavored vaping materials.
“Travelers” from Murphreesboro, Tennessee.
All those guys who come by here saying they just happen to be “in the area” always start off telling me they’re with PGE.
“Go ahead, make my day” 108RS
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