Fighting the Scammer Locksmiths

The scammers aren’t paying taxes or other fees like the rest of us, are they?
That’s right; it’s the legitimate professional who is being victimized. We help run these office buildings; we pay payroll taxes, state taxes, federal taxes…..we pay everything! We’re paying through the nose. These guys here don’t pay a dime. With hardly any overhead, they have a phone bank someplace and all they do is drill and replace and pay nothing because it’s cash only.

Do you talk to your customers and make sure they know what’s going on?
Didn’t you see the signs on the wall? I spent so much money on ads just to protect the people. I’m thinking about going out to retirement centers to give talks and pass out flyers to protect the senior citizens. They come in here crying while they tell me what happened.

What can we do here in New Jersey? What would you do if you were in charge of it all?
Like they’re doing in Las Vegas, run sting operations. Get them to come to the job and arrest them. The problem is that these guys make so much money that the states can’t afford to fight them. The typical fine when they get caught is $1,000. The states going to spend a heck of a lot more than $1,000 to collect; it’s nothing to these people. We have to up raise the fine to $10,000 each time and let the municipality and the state split it. The municipalities are broke; this way they’d be motivated to make some money.
I’ve been in contact with NJ State Sen. Bill Baroni and I’m told this matter will be discussed in front of the State Assembly. It seems like the states are finally filing law suits against the Yellow Pages and phone company. We’ve got to support the folks who are leading the fight. Tim McMullen of ALOA and Larry of legallocksmiths.org are two people who need our support. We’ve all got to stand up, fight and join with the people who are doing this for us all.