Beware of Home Security Scams

Will the home security scams ever stop? The latest scam has fraudsters going door to door, posing as sales reps for "Trio Alarm." They first make sure that the houses they visit already have a security system (e.g., security decals on windows), then tell the occupant that the company for that security system has gone belly up. (Yeah, right, ADT has gone belly up!)

But there's one born every minute, right? The scammer tries to get the resident to sign a five year contract for "Trio Alarm."

The alleged Trio Alarm company doesn't even have a business license in the city of Huntington, West Virginia, where these scams have been occurring. There really is a Trio Alarm company, but it's not known if the scammers are associated with them.

At any rate, if someone shows up at your door and says your alarm company has gone under, are you really naïve enough to take their word for it and sign a five year contract on the spot, rather than simply thanking that person, taking their business card, closing (and locking) the door, and then calling your alarm company to verify what you just learned?

Contact the atto ey general's office if you feel that a sales rep at your door was a con artist. And though Trio Alarm really exists, their D-minus rating with the BBB also exists.

Preventing Home Security Scams

• If you have a home security system, and you receive a call from someone claiming to be from that company, requesting personal information for an update or whatever…don't give out this information; tell them you'll call back. Then call the company to see if the call was a scam.
• Beware of the door-to-door home security "sales rep." If you don't have an alarm system and tell them "no thank you," and they leave…that might not be the end of them; they may break into your home in the future, knowing you lack a security system.
• Never give out any private information to anyone at your door! A company that really needs this information won't send someone out in person to ring your doorbell to get it. And really, no company needs this information.
• You'll be a lot safer in life if you worry more about you and your family's safety than hurting the feelings of a stranger at the front door. If the "sales rep" is persistent, including insisting he come inside because it's hot out, or he needs to show you some papers, etc., do not give in! SAY NO, and do it through the door, don't even open the door. If he's legit, he'll forget about your "rudeness" by the time he gets to the next doorbell!