We first encountered the Irish Travelers several years ago when we tried to locate a man who had resurfaced a client’s driveway with a low-grade, diluted asphalt, which had washed off in heavy rain a week later. It was a typical scam, well-played for the potential customer, soon to be our client. He pulled up in a truck with several five-gallon cans of asphalt coating, offering to resurface the driveway for a discounted rate, just to get rid of the paving materials left over from a job in a nearby neighborhood. He quoted what seemed like a reasonable fee at the time and offered a further discount if paid in cash.
His technique followed a common script for confidence artists, as detailed on the website of the National Association of Bunco Investigators:
In a scheme, the bunco operator:
- selects a person to participate
- gains the participant’s confidence by telling a believable story
- asks for the participant’s help or promises the participant money or goods
- asks the participant to show “good faith” by producing cash in advance for the promised money or goods.
The word “bunco” derives from the Spanish word for bank. The term first came into use in 19th century England, referring to a confidence game using playing cards. By 1855, gambling parlors along the Barbary Coast were known as “bunco parlors.” The term then generally came to be used to describe any swindle or scam.
We never found that bunco artist years ago. He had used a common surname found among the Irish Traveler clans, and the phone number on his business card was a dead end. And they are called “Travelers” (often spelled “Travellers”) for a reason. They work their grifts during the spring and summer and disappear back into the maze of their widespread, itinerant communities.*
On a recent case, we were more fortunate. Our client had hired a man and his brother to lay concrete floors in two new out-buildings for rescue animals on her rural property, and to install new fencing for the pasture surrounding the buildings. In the middle of the work, she became suspicious of the quality of work and retained Trace Investigations to conduct a background investigation on her “concrete contractors.” She wasted no time in calling us, although it’s something she should have done in the beginning, along with getting a detailed contract for the work. Unfortunately, most homeowners fail in these basic steps when engaging a contractor or home improvement repairman:
- Get referrals from other customers. If offered a portfolio of work, ask to talk to some of those clients. If their work in a nearby neighborhood is mentioned, ask for the client’s name.
- Check them out on the Better Business Bureau website. Conduct a basic background check through the local court’s public access website. Look for not only criminal records but civil lawsuits. For a more detailed investigation, recommended for large jobs, get a referral for a reputable firm to conduct a background investigation.
- If the work requires a local permit, it should be the contractor who gets the permit and not the homeowner. A legitimate business will have the necessary licensing and insurance.
- Finally, get a contract signed before the work begins, and never pay the full price of the work up front. Pay by check or with a credit card, not cash.
In the latest investigation, because we were contacted early enough, we were able to tie the two brothers to an Irish Traveler clan operating around the Midwest, leaving a trail of numerous lawsuits and arrests for home improvement scams. Some previous lawsuits involved paving and roofing scams, often against elderly homeowners. We recommended that our client contact the police, and the brothers were arrested when they showed up for a second payment. Although our client filed a lawsuit against the brothers, she is unlikely to recover what money she has lost.
Construction scams and home improvement frauds are all too common. The Federal Trade Commission offers a wealth of information on the signs of a scam and how to avoid them. When suspicions arise, the best way to avoid these grifters is to contact Trace Investigations right away at 812-334-8857 to conduct a thorough and confidential background investigation.
*This case study does not imply that all itinerant families, regardless of ethnicity, are involved in criminal enterprises, such as those referenced here. In 2003 an article I wrote, “Gypsies, Travelers and Thieves,” appeared in PI Magazine, a journal for professional investigators. In that article, I mentioned my interview with a travel writer who knew many of the itinerant Roma and Irish Traveller clan members. I asked him if they all were involved in the swindles. He replied that he’d like to believe some were not.
Know who you hire. For a complete background investigation on a contractor or into a suspicious fraud, contact Tina@TraceInvestigations.com.
