Arlington police charge Boston man for yet another home improvement scam

Criminal offense

This is the next time this week that Arlington law enforcement have arrested anyone for a household advancement scam.

For the next time this 7 days, Arlington police billed a guy for scamming a resident using a frequent property advancement scheme.

Jack Clarke, 23, of Boston, was billed with larceny by untrue pretenses more than $1,200, destructive destruction of residence about $1,200, conspiracy, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

On Saturday, Jan. 14, Arlington law enforcement were contacted by a resident who believed he was the victim of a dwelling enhancement fraud, Arlington police mentioned in a news launch Wednesday.

The victim instructed law enforcement that two males, one particular of whom was later on discovered as Clarke, quoted him $14,500 to paint his basement. When the men started off their perform on the victim’s basement, they allegedly ruined element of the basement foundation and then persuaded the sufferer to pay them $68,000 for repairs, law enforcement explained.

In this scenario, the suspects delivered the sufferer with what looked to be a business contract. Faux company contracts can aid scammers glimpse like a legit corporation, police claimed.

The target eventually wrote several checks for a portion of the total sum. These checks ended up allegedly cashed by Clarke, law enforcement stated.

On Jan. 17, the victim alerted law enforcement that Clarke had returned to the victim’s property to gather equipment and other products he remaining in the victim’s basement. Police were being then equipped to positively determine Clarke as the scammer and positioned him less than arrest, law enforcement stated.

Via their investigation, police mentioned, they discovered that Clarke was also allegedly driving without a license.

Clarke was arraigned in Cambridge District Court docket on Tuesday and launched on own recognizance bail.

On Friday, Arlington police arrested 3 men for using the exact same fraud on an aged resident.

Arlington police say that the rip-off used in both of those circumstances is a frequent rip-off for which the aged are frequently specific.

Usually, a scammer will obtain a property in need of repair and give the house owner a quite small cost to correct the issue. Then, the scammer will destruction the household and quotation the home-owner a considerably greater value.

The scammer finishes by convincing the concentrate on to pay for the new repairs upfront, promising to total the get the job done later, but does not return to fix the property.

Recommendations for steering clear of frauds:

• Scammers might solution possible victims for household advancement ripoffs by cellphone, email, or door-to-door
• Scammers normally quotation potential victims unreasonably lower selling prices for the providers they are giving
• Verify to make certain the contractor is registered with the Workplace of Buyer Affairs and Business enterprise Regulation by applying its dwelling enhancement contractor registration look up provider
• Be wary if the individual is driving an unmarked auto
• Generally request a duplicate of the contractor’s conventional agreement
• Request no matter whether the contractor will deliver a warranty and how prolonged that warranty will last
• Scammers may possibly assert they’ve been undertaking do the job regionally and have surplus substance
• Constantly ask for a small business card or web site for the contractor’s organization
• Never pay out a lot more than one particular-third of the complete cost of services upfront, and only do so after you have verified that this individual is a registered dwelling improvement contractor and you have a agreement

Anybody who thinks they could have fallen victim to any type of fraud is inspired to get hold of the Arlington Police Office at 781-643-1212, or make contact with their regional police section.