East Toronto resident warns community members of attempted roofing scam in area

By MATTHEW STEPHENS

When Greenwood Park area resident Monica was approached on her front porch by a roofing contractor claiming her shingles needed replacing for a modest $4,000, she believed them to be acting out of good faith.

However, after experiencing inaccurate shingle classifications, progressively exorbitant quotes, and significant vandalism to her property, it quickly became clear to Monica and her husband that they’d fallen victim to a fraudulent renovation scammer.

“I feel that people need to be aware of this. We would like to let neighbours know that this kind of thing is happening,” said Monica.

Monica knew something felt off when several unfamiliar workers she had never seen before arrived at her home the morning after meeting with the contractor’s foreman.

Fearful of liability implications, she asked the workers to get off her roof and promptly called back the foreman to explain that she’d assumed he would be there to oversee the project.

“Friday morning these guys turn up…, so I told them I’m not happy about you up on my roof. They didn’t speak English so I couldn’t communicate with them, and then I realized I don’t know anything about insurance, and thought this is a huge liability,” said Monica.

Her suspicion worsened as she noted that the shingles the contractors brought to her house were the wrong classification for her roof.

“I’d gone out to the truck and taken a picture of the shingles, and they weren’t class four, they were class three shingles. So, I challenged him on that,” she said.

Despite her looming concerns, Monica fearfully continued to work with the contractors.

“I thought ‘Well we better just do the job. I don’t want to hassle him, he knows where I live. He might get nasty; these workmen might get nasty.’ We felt intimidated,” she said.

The foreman assured her that the crew would return with the correct shingles before starting work the following day.

However, what started out as a $4,000 quote to replace the shingles on their roof, drastically escalated to a whopping $50,000, after the foreman contacted Monica and claimed all the wooden rafters in her home needed to be replaced.

Had it not been for the fact that Monica and her husband were away at a charity golf tournament at the time, she said she may have fallen for the contractor’s scheme.

“The $4,000 now becomes $50,000 to replace all the rafters. So, we freaked out of course. But, had we been there, we might have fallen for it,” she said.

After a back-and-forth exchange over the phone, Monica negotiated the price down to $40,000, then $10,000 shortly after.

Desperate to find a legitimate quote, Monica phoned a local contractor she and her husband had used in the past, who later climbed up to their dismantled roof and told the couple there was nothing wrong, and that the wood in fact didn’t need to be replaced.

By this time however, the fraudulent contractors had already stripped all shingles from the roof, leaving only a bare wooden frame and a tarp to protect her home from the elements.

Left without any shingles on their roof, Monica and her husband were forced to find another contractor, whom they paid $5,050 to repair.

Monica and her husband informed the foreman that they had notified the police of their fraudulent activity. However, the police said that since no money had actually been paid to the contractors, they would not be investigating their case.

“I got an email from the police saying because we didn’t actually lose any money, they didn’t really consider it fraud, so they didn’t follow up,” said Monica.

In the response she received from Toronto police, Monica was told that “Online Fraud reports will only be accepted if a financial loss has been incurred by the victim. There has been no indication that there was a monetary loss (incurred), therefore there has been no Fraud committed. Since you have suffered no monetary loss in this incident, your Online Report will be cancelled.”

While investigating the contractors on their own during the process, the couple noticed a slight difference in spelling, and found that the fraudulent contractors had been impersonating a legitimate roofing company with a similar name.

“In the moment, we didn’t challenge it. We just thought ‘well, in North America, everyone spells things incorrectly.’ So, we looked it up, and of course, the spelling was different,” said Monica.

“We realized at that point, but it was after we’d agreed to do the work – but at least we didn’t go through with it in the end.”

Monica hopes her renovation scam story will help keep members of the public aware in case the roofing scammers return to the neighbourhood.

If you or someone you know suspects any fraudulent activity during a home renovation project, cancel services and contact the Toronto police financial crimes unit at 416-808-7300, or go online to https://www.tps.ca/services/online-reporting/

Toronto police also offer the following tips to avoid becoming the victim of a renovation scam:

• Be wary of any unsolicited persons offering a service, such as roofing repairs
• Do not be rushed into making a decision
• Look for paperwork with company letterhead, such as contracts
• Contact the alleged company by phone to ensure the person is employed by them
• Do not provide a large down payment
• Be wary of unsolicited contractors going door to door, especially those using pressure tactics and demanding advance payment in cash
• Avoid impulse decisions to hire a contractor
• Do your research
• There is no obligation to speak to a salesperson soliciting at your door
• Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

Along with contacting police, suspected frauds can also be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s online reporting system at https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm or by phone at 1-888-495-8501.