January 25, 2020 - 888 views
Doorstep callers who are targeting areas in North Wales offering small household products for sale may not be all they seem warn North Wales Police.
These callers may claim to be ex-convicts attempting to mend their ways, however, they are not part of any recognised rehabilitation scheme.
Please warn your neighbours, particularly elderly or vulnerable neighbours, not to open the door to strangers or buy or sell on the doorstep.
Some doorstep callers may offer poor quality goods at inflated prices and if a caller is not genuine, they may be gathering information for future crime.
The sellers may say that they are on a “rehabilitation course” arranged by probation services or other organisations trying to find people work.This is not the case and often they are known criminals. Probation services do not run such schemes.
They may show a card which claims to be a “Pedlars Licence” or work permit.
The bag of household products is supplied by someone who employs them and they charge a minimal sum for the contents. They can keep whatever they make, above this amount.
Usually they are deposited in an area from a car or van and given a list of streets to work. An hour or so later they are picked up and dropped off in another location. They often work from 9am to 9pm.
They will knock on a door, offering cleaning items which they know are cheap and of very poor quality; the householder may also recognise that they are poor quality, but that is part of the scam.
Many people will purchase items and pay them out of their good nature as they have fallen for their story or, just to get rid of them.
There have been cases of elderly residents handing over large sums as these people can be very persistent and confrontational.
