Chimney Repair

How the scam works:

Scammers advertise themselves as chimney repair specialists, dropping flyers in your mailbox advertising free evaluations and clean-ups. You hadn’t thought about it before but now you start wondering if you should have the chimney inspected, so you call them in.

The scammer comes in and starts cleaning up your chimney. As he works away, he shakes the bricks and pretends the chimney’s structure is unsound. “You are very lucky I found it in time”, he says.

Convincing you that there was nearly a catastrophe, he offers his “reduced” price services to fix up your, perfectly sound, chimney. Very appreciative, you think he is your life saver.

How to avoid:

Always use recommended workers for home improvement. But if you do bring in someone unknown and he tells you he needs to do extensive repairs, tell the scammer you will need to think about the offer, and after he leaves ask for a second opinion.

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