Smyrna/Rutherford County Door to Door Solicitation info ... Fraud alert

[Guest Jason F.]

Found out some interesting info that I personally did not know so I thought I would share. It might help someone else on here.

Yesterday someone came to the door and rang the bell. Nothing new as we get a fair number of solicitors at our door. In most cases I can ignore and not answer but in this case I was A) expecting someone to come over and it was the middle of the day on a Saturday and it was obvious I was home.

I answered and saw it was a sales pitch. No biggie I just say no thanks and run them off. I went this morning when I had time and researched their sales pitch on the 'ol internet and found it to be a known scam.

I decided to report it to the Smyrna Police department just in case they were still in the area. I placed a call to the switch board and later got a return call from an Officer. I spoke with him for several minutes and they had already picked up one of the group overnight on outstanding warrants.

Here is the information that was interesting from the Officer:

1) Smyrna (and possibly other areas) has a law requiring any solicitor to present themselves to the Smyrna office and obtain a solicitation permit. This involves a background check. This applies to non-profit organizations and fund raising organizations as well. If someone knocks on your door selling something the first thing you should do is ask to see that permit. If they do not have it send them packing and call the Smyrna Police. They want to know about it and will send someone out to check on the person/persons. This permit is required for every individual that will be doing the solicitation not just one member of a group. All must pass a background check. Obviously this should be a call to the stations direct number and not a 911 call.

2) Smyrna and Rutherford County have a very high number of the illegal and fraud based solicitations. The Officer stated that the numbers here for this type of activity are very high.

3) One particular problem was teenagers and young adults selling magazine subscriptions. Of course most of these kids are problem kids sucked in by adults running the scam and the subscriptions will never be filled.

4) He knew of very few legitimate businesses that solicit door to door. The exceptions were actual lawn care treatment businesses that spray yards and Pest control companies. Apparently they are often legit but still a pain in the behind if you hate door to door solicitation. Others included non-profit groups like churches and campaign folks during election season. Again legit but a hassle if you do not want folks on your doorstep.

So if you are in Smyrna keep that permit thing in mind if someone knock on your door. If you live elsewhere you may want to check with your local Police Department and see if they have a similar setup. Do not hesitate to call the Police if you feel someone may be pulling a door to door scam. You may be smart enough to run them off but the old lady 4 doors down or one street over may not be as sharp about it. By calling you may be protecting someone else.

I am sure the crew that was in my area yesterday are long gone but if anyone would like to know what the scam was it was art work.

The person who knocks on the door as a line about being a artist that has banded together with other artists to sell their work door to door to avoid high commission charges by galleries. They try to show you their portfolio of smaller art that is easy to carry and get you interested in looking at larger pieces that someone has down the road in a vehicle. The art is not original or done by these people of course, instead it is cheap stuff imported by the truck load from China at about $15 a picture. They try to pass it off as their own work for hundreds of dollars more. This particular group was Israeli but after reading the internet there are groups who claim to be Irish, French, and other Mediterranean groups. I have read threads on the internet this morning from at least 4 countries and many US states where these groups have hit.

The person who came to my door was not pushy or hostile but there were reports of some of the groups being very pushy. There are also some rare reports of these solicitations being an attempt to scope out houses for later break in. There is also the possibility of a back door scam where they try to get another con artist in to the residence later as a framer who will frame your new art work on site for you for a small additional fee.

In short let no one in your home you do not know or did not call yourself. If someone is selling something door to door and it is not the girl from two houses down with candy bars there is about a 100% chance it is a scam. Protect yourself and you family.

[shaftbass]

Maybe they were just out of work software engineers.

[Branket]

Maybe they were just out of work software engineers.

Who may know a lot of the same people that you do, so watch what you say to them or the advice you ask them for.

[towerclimber37]

so does that mean we can't greet them at the door with a very large caliber firearm?

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

"Excuse me sir. Let me get the 'Owner' of the house. Mr. Mossberg" or may be "Mr. Remmington" at your house.

[Guest RN MEDIC]

There has been more than one murder of an elderly person living alone in this area with the suspect (later convicted) being someone going door to door under some pretense. I ALWAYS meet strangers at my door with a "friend" in my hand that they don't see. Can't be too careful.

RN

[Guest Old Chief]

Holding a friend out of sight is the only way to go to the door.

[Smith]

As one who has worked door to door in several capacities, don't be too quick to jump the gun. There are some folks honestly trying to make a living and then those who scam off there backs. Most of them are legit, a few aren't. Be careful, but be nice in case it is one of the decent hard working ones.

[The Rabbi]

Funniest thing I heard about was the 300 lb man who would come to the door for solicitations nude. Particularly effective on Mormons.

[Guest Jason F.]

As one who has worked door to door in several capacities, don't be too quick to jump the gun. There are some folks honestly trying to make a living and then those who scam off there backs. Most of them are legit, a few aren't. Be careful, but be nice in case it is one of the decent hard working ones.

How long ago did you do that because to be honest I can not remember the last time a legitimate sales person came to my door. Since moving into this house in Smyrna 2 years ago I have not had one legitimate business person come to my door. I have had a couple honest and polite church going people at my door and a couple honest school fund raisers at my door but not one real sales person at the door.

I have had two of the Magazine scam folks, twice had a truck full of guys with a load of cheap mulch knock on the door, and one person offering to clean my carpets for free as long as I made a donation to a non-profit group which I later looked up and found to be a scam. Now add the starving artist door to door scam and that makes at least 6 scamers at my door and that is only the times I was home to answer the door.

Now you can cut the guys with the mulch some slack since you could say they were just trying to find honest work but the rest deserve no slack or respect. I am sorry but I think the days of honest door to door sales are dead and gone. I know they are for me, no matter how honest you may or may not be if you knock on my door you will be lucky if I answer and I am sure as heck not buying a darn thing off my door step.

[TGO David]

Holding a friend out of sight is the only way to go to the door.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that.

[The Rabbi]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that.

Not just yeah, but heck yeah.

The two gentlemen soliciting has been the opening of some very nasty business in many cases. I would never answer the door without my buddies Smith and Wesson close to hand. Nor do I let my wife/kids answer the door without me lurking not too far away.

[Guest NeuralFizz]

About a month ago one of those Magazine salesmen came to my sister-in-law's house. She was expecting my wife to come over, so when the dude knocked on the door she opened it wide open, and he stepped in. He was one of the hostile ones that wouldn't leave until she cut him a check for a magazine subscription for 300 dollars.

She was by herself and was scared to death so she wrote him a check and cancelled later.

He should have been glad I wasn't over there.

[Westwindmike]

Can't we stop bringing these two year old threads back to life?

[Guest abailey362]

little girl scout at door - would you like to buy some cookies?

"show me yer f*&in permit and say 'ello to my lil friend!"

lol

I hate door to doors, never heard anything about a permit for it before...good info

[Guest bkelm18]

Can't we stop bringing these two year old threads back to life?

No kidding.

[Guest abailey362]

lol.....i didn't even look at the dates...or notice who had a post in here....there has been a lot of these popping up lately...guess others are as bored as I am ....and i haven't even went as far as to get threads fro 2 yrago going

[Guest NeuralFizz]

Yeah when I first replied to it I just saw July and not 2007. Not sure how I found it. Either way, my post is relevant regardless of the date.

[Guest kerstuff]

You said the group was Israeli but in most cases they are "Middle Eastern". This is usually a case of verifying Federal law enforcement on their part. They were gathering their own intel to verify FLEO's. This has been passed around the Feds for sometime now as a warning to employees.