Home repair scam artists targeting senior citizens in Queens

NEW YORK - Authorities are issuing a new warning to seniors in several Queens neighborhoods, after people were targeted by home repair scammers who pose as contractors offering to do repairs.

However, instead of fixing the homes, the scammers make off with thousands of dollars from unsuspecting owners. 

Kathryn Saffran, 80, of Glendale is one of those taken advantage of by the scammers. 

On February 10th, Saffran was looking out her window when she noticed a construction truck pulling up. A man got out and came to her door. 

"He said to me ‘We’re doing your neighbors roof across the yard and we noticed something on your roof  didn’t look right,'" Saffran said. 

The man told Mrs. Saffran he could take a look and give her a free estimate.

Saffran says she agreed and went inside for a quick second to grab her coat, but once she came out "there on the floor there are shingles and a piece of wood and they are soaked and wet."

She says the man came down from the ladder and showed her a picture of her roof. The photo, she says, showed a big hole and the scammer told her she had a lot of water leaking into her home.

Scared and believing something was wrong, Saffran took the man at his word, even though she never had a leak.

Saffran told FOX 5 NY that the scammer was very convincing, and that he told her he could take care of it. 

The scammer gave her a contract and a business card and asked for a down payment of $10,000. She didn’t have that much money on-hand, so instead, she gave him $5,500. 

"He said to me if you give me cash i won’t have to charge you $10,000 in tax," Saffran said.

The next day, two workers showed up and started ripping Saffran's roof apart. 

Over the course of time, she ended up giving the scammers around $31,000 in cash.

When she went to the bank to get him more money, a bank employee caught on and said she was being scammed. 

"I just felt so bad that i did that, actually guilty when I think about it, you know," she said in tears. 

Saffran isn't the only victim. Dozens have fallen for the "roof scammers" who are preying on the elderly across Queens.

"It's an organized crime ring, they're international. even so, it's you know, many of them are coming from the south. The scammers, many have an Irish brogue. Some have an English accent," said Robert Holden, the City Council member for the 30th district in Queens.

Councilman Holden says this has been a problem for years and says police need to do more. 

"Police don't realize that this is a scam. Even so, if you call the police, they'll tell you it's a civil matter. And I run into that obstacle for a couple of decades now. And finally, I think this administration, is getting wind of it. And now they're going they're going to actually address this," Holden said.

Meanwhile, Saffran says she had to pay $20,000 to fix the damage on her roof, so in total the scam cost her $51,000 dollars, money she had set aside for her husband's nursing home in the event something happens to her.

"This is like a perfect crime because the seniors are not going to go up on the roof," Holden said. "I wouldn't climb up on a ladder to go to my roof to check it. I have to rely on a legitimate roofer. And that's what people should do. People should not answer the door to these people that solicit. They ring your bell, and they want you, they want, your money, or they want to work for you. Don't hire them."