Home Security Scam Alert!!!!
Beware! Unscrupulous security companies are sending ‘marketing representatives’ in to neighborhoods claiming:
* They are representatives for the manufacturer of your security equipment,
* That your current system needs repairs or that your system isn’t being monitored,
* The monitoring company has sent them to inspect, adjust or replace your system,
* Their company just bought your current monitoring company and you need to sign a new agreement,
* Your current monitoring company has gone out of business,
* Their company has newer technology than your current monitoring company does.
Their goal: to get you to sign ANOTHER monitoring agreement and it will probably be for 5 YEARS!
If you fall for these lies and untrue promises, you’ll soon be receiving two (2) monitoring bills, one you’ve been paying to your current provider and one from your ‘new company’.
Sadly, it is the elderly that are the most frequent targets of these schemes. Seniors are more likely to allow them in to their home, however, when they can’t get them to leave, they sign paperwork simply to get them out of their home.
By the time you discover the truth and what you’ve signed, you will spend hours and weeks trying to get the new company to cancel their agreement. Seldom does that happen! These companies have been fined hundred of thousands of dollars in multiple states for these practices. Yet, they continue to run these scams because they know most people will ‘give up’ and pay or they’ll send them to collections and get some compensation.
If someone knocks on your door making these or similar claims, don’t let them in and call your current monitoring company immediately! If you have let them in, you may want to leave the door open so the rep doesn’t tear it off the hinges trying to get out of your home!
For more information and tips to avoid being a victim of door to door sales scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission.
