Elderly Targeted in Roof Repair Scam

Authorities are warning residents of a scam that cheated one Camarillo woman out of $450 for roof repairs earlier this month.

A man posing as a contractor took the money from the 87-year-old woman and promised to fix her roof at a discounted price, authorities said Tuesday.

The victim was approached by the man Aug. 15 at her house on Tranquila Drive in Camarillo. She signed a contract for the work before writing him a check for roofing supplies, authorities said.

The bogus contractor--described as a heavyset white male, about 55 and 5 feet 10--never returned.

The same man tried to pull a similar scam on a 64-year-old woman last Thursday at her home in an Oxnard trailer park in the 2000 block of East Pleasant Valley Drive, Oxnard Police Det. Martin Polo said.

Polo said he received a call from a woman who said the man was unloading supplies from his vehicle and planned to repair her trailer without her consent.

The man quickly left when the woman told him that her family members would be coming over. The woman would not give police her name, Polo said.

“A lot of the elderly are afraid to report it for one reason or another,” the detective said. Some victims fear their family members will no longer allow them to live alone, Polo said.

A similar scam has occurred at least twice in Los Angeles in which people posing as employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency approach homeowners, make false damage estimates on homes and offer discount earthquake repairs, Polo said.

Anyone planning to have repair work done should obtain the contractor’s license number and check it at the local office of the contractor’s licensing board at 654-4515 or by calling (800) 321-2752.