Last Friday police arrested a man posing as a worker from a West Palm Beach locksmith company answering a service call to an island residence. The resident thought she was calling Wilson Rowan Locksmith who she had used for locksmith services in the past, after searching the Internet for the company’s phone number. According to Palm Beach Daily News, the man who came to the residence identified himself as “Peter from Wilson Rowan,” she took him around the house, showing him the locks that she was having problems with. Without examining the locks, Peter told her there was nothing wrong with them, then engaged the homeowner and her husband in a conversation about their alarm system, inquiring if they put their alarm system on bypass, and even going so far as to ask for the code. The man refused to provide him with the code. Smart thinking.
The posing locksmith gave the couple a bill for $180 and asked that the check be written directly to him, Peter Lomagistro, because he was subcontracted by Wilson Rowan Locksmith. After seeing him leave in an unmarked older Chevrolet she went to her Rolodex to check the business card she had for Wilson Rowan. I think we all know how this story ends, the phone number she called didn’t match the one she called. After contacting the right number she was informed by Wilson Rowan Locksmith that they had no knowledge of a service call to her residence and had never heard of “Peter” who had showed up at her door. After dozens of complaints from residents and businesses claiming that they were victims of a copycat locksmith police organized a sting operation and the man was arrested. This man was somehow able to post his phone number in place of the legitimate contact information for Wilson Rowan and was going on service calls to both residences and businesses for around two months before he was caught by police. Unfortunately, Wilson Rowan isn’t the first locksmith to be the victim of scammers stealing their information and their customers, check out this story on Locksmith Ledger discussing this crime wave the locksmith industry has seen recently. It’s a scary reminder to go online and search like consumers to verify your business contact information is showing up properly.