12 November 2013 Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe today issued a warning to the residents of Coffs Harbour not to deal with Irish travellers touting for work including car park marking. Mr Stowe said Fair Trading had received a report from a Coffs Harbour employee who was door-knocked at his place of business yesterday (11 November) by a traveller offering to do line marking in the business’s car park. The man, described as having a strong Irish accent, red hair and a crooked eye, was the passenger in a white two-door Holden panel van with Victorian number plates TAF 706 and the sign “free quotes” on the side of the vehicle. The same business was approached by a second man today, again sporting an Irish accent and making the same offer. The vehicle on this occasion was an older green Tarago with South Australian number plates S133 AUP. On both occasions the men offered to do the line marking at a reduced rate of $3 per metre instead of $10 per metre, because they had “leftover materials” from a previous job. Mr Stowe said this was a well-known ruse the travelling conmen use and there had been a significant increase in reported sightings of travelling conmen in NSW in recent weeks. “They get property owners’ interest up by quoting ridiculously low prices for painting or home building jobs, take the money up front and then either disappear or do such an appalling job it will cost thousands of dollars more to rectify,” Mr Stowe said. “I strongly urge everyone not to deal with these men as they can be extremely aggressive and intimidating. “Anyone with any information about travelling conmen or groups or their whereabouts should report them to the Travelling Conmen Hotline on 1300 133 408. Watch our video Driveway Scam – don’t get fooled by dodgy tradespeople Visit the Stop Travelling Conmen Facebook page and check the interactive map for reports of travelling conmen at: stoptravellingconmen.org Media contact: 0407 529 553
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 23:23:51 +0000