Watch Out for a Band of Gypsies

Niagara Gazette reports that, “A-Best Roofing and Siding may have been burglarized so that thieves could access names and addresses of pending work orders before scamming those customers using the legitimate contractor’s identity.” Apparently similar burglaries have happened before. The article states, “others have been broken into by this ‘band of gypsies’ who stole their contracts...they broke into the office, went through the files and stole nothing other than copies of their contracts.”

http://www.niagara-gazette.com/crime/local_story_181200213.html

I doubt this band of gypsies is stealing contracts to do the actual work (most thieves avoid actual work, that’s how they ended up as criminals in the first place). Odds are, they are stealing these contracts to pose as the contractors and collect payments or to take tools and equipment from jobsites.

If true, this is a bold theft to pull off. Breaking into an office to steal contracts isn’t the boldest act; the truly shameless act is going to the customer’s home, posing as the contractor, and then taking payment for work.