CityvettedAvoiding Scams spot it before it costs you.
The red flags, scripts, and checks that protect your wallet.
Storm-chaser roofers are back. The five sentences that send them packing.
After a hailstorm, your driveway fills with out-of-state trucks offering free inspections. Here's the script our editors use to separate the licensed from the louts.
All Avoiding Scams
The 'we were just in your neighborhood' pitch, explained
It sounds like a lucky coincidence. It is a script. Why the door-to-door discount is almost always a setup, and what to say.
Driveway sealcoating scams and the leftover-material lie
The crew with leftover asphalt from a nearby job is running one of the oldest cons in home services. How it works and how it ends.
Tree-service door-knockers and the deposit that vanishes
A storm drops a limb, a stranger offers a cheap removal, and your deposit walks away. The pattern, and the safer way to hire.
Fake plumbing emergencies: the burst-pipe upsell
How a routine call becomes a four-figure emergency, the scare words to watch for, and when to ask a tech to stop and explain.
The mover hostage scam, and how to never be its victim
Your belongings on a truck, a bill that doubled, and a demand for cash. The hostage scam, and the paperwork that prevents it.
Water-treatment scare tactics at your front door
Free water test, alarming results, urgent fix. Why the in-home water-quality demo is built to frighten, and what the numbers really mean.
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