Elderly targeted for unsolicited services 03-29-12

Hawaiʻi Police Department
Criminal Investigations Section, Area II
Lieutenant Gerald Wike
Phone: 326-4646, Ext. 266

Media Release

Big Island police are warning the public about strangers who approach elderly persons and offer to provide services for them.

These individuals are aggressively approaching elderly persons at their homes or in public places and offering landscaping services or telling them they noticed repairs that need to be made to their homes or cars. They typically set a price for the repair work, do a shoddy job, and then ask for more money than the agreed upon price. Sometimes they return to the same victim and aggressively offer additional services.

Police urge the public to warn their elderly friends and relatives to beware of unsolicited requests to perform work. If someone requires this type of work, they should hire a licenses contractor or someone they know and trust.

Police ask that anyone who has been the victim of such encounters call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.


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