Don't Be Suckered into a Painting Scam
A painting scam can one of the most annoying and expensive mistakes that anyone can become a victim of. This is usually perpetrated by imposters following a severe storm, a tornado, a hurricane, or even an earthquake. These people will invade the areas that were hardest hit and present themselves as professional painters or painting contractors.
When people are in one of the worst moments of their lives, it becomes easy to be fooled by someone who seems genuinely sorry for all of the horror surrounding them and offer a helping hand. That is why a painting scam is one of the worst kinds out there.
It could be, for example, that your home was spared the worst part of the disaster and that a good exterior paint job will set things right again. So it is little wonder that you would grab onto this person holding out a bit of hope to get your life back to normal.
Typically, people who are involved in this type of scam will offer you an excellent deal to paint your house. It could be some sort of payment arrangement with a rather sizeable down payment, or the painting scam can be an offer of simply a one-time payment upfront and then the work will be done.
However, once that down payment or one-time upfront payment has been paid, this "professional painter" or "professional painting contractor" will disappear with your money, never to be seen or heard from again. When you start to talk to your neighbors, you will probably find that at least a few of them were taken in by this same person.
The thing about this sort of scam is that it is so difficult to catch them once you have paid them the money. They are usually in some sort of disguise and never stay in one place for very long.
A painting scam is really just too easy to organize. All they need to do is appear convincing with a few brochures, business cards and even a fake website. If they have some phone numbers and people for you to talk to, this makes them look even more legitimate.
All of that is why you have to dig deeper before relinquishing any money to this stranger. If this is really a business person, there will be places you can call to find out if it is a registered business. This is definitely something you should do. No matter what you may find out, if you do not feel comfortable or something seems to be "off" about the person, say thanks but no thanks. There will be a legitimate contractor to help you.
About the Author:
Justin recommends reading up on Painting Scams to avoid them altogether. And to look for professional and trained companies not associated with any type of painting scam just hard working and respectful
