What is a phony locksmith?
There are hundreds if not thousands of dishonest individuals out there that have been posing as locksmiths. When in fact they are just the opposite and are only interested in one thing, and that is ripping off you the consumer. There have been tens of thousands of complaints to local and federal law enforcement agencies stating that these people have ripped off the general public with a variety of scams.
One of the most common scams happens when you lock your keys in your car. You go to your local yellow pages looking for a locksmith to help you out. Most people tend to call the locksmith with the biggest ad thinking that they should be reliable when in fact many of these giant ads (not all)are placed by the very people who are offering a bait and switch scam . When customers call these companies they are usually quoted a very low price over the phone only to be hit with a bill extremely higher than the quote they were originally given.
To avoid being ripped off there are several precautions that you can take in order to protect yourself. The first thing is to make sure that you are dealing with a legal locksmith. Our website will help you locate a legal locksmith in your city. (Please note that there are many legitimate locksmiths that are not on our list at this time becuase they are not aware of us)When you contact a locksmith make sure that you are given a quote before they dispatch a service truck to your location. Also, be sure and ask the dispatcher what kind of service vehicle will be coming to your location. Most of these criminals are not in service vans, but instead they are driving personal driving cars. Once a service vehicle arrives at your location, be sure to check the locksmiths credintials and have the locksmith give you a written quote. With this quote in hand you will know up front what you are expected to pay.
There are numerous local and national stories that have been written about phony locksmiths and their scams. We have provide several links on this website that will take you directly to these stories by reliable news sources from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNBC news , AARP and many others. Click here to see the dozens of news stories that have been reported on these scams.
