“They were aggressive, relentless in their pursuit of more and more money. They preyed on my trust and my faith… I feel ashamed, frustrated, and betrayed and now I don’t trust others.”

Those were the words of a Washington homeowner at the sentencing hearing last December of two individuals for stealing over $400,000 of his money.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Washington, the two individuals, who were brothers, were part of a group that scammed homeowners across the country. They especially targeted elderly homeowners, falsely claiming that a home needed urgent repairs.

The homeowner quoted above lived in a neighborhood north of Seattle, and lost $435,000 to a scheme that was repeated elsewhere.

The men first approached the victim in January 2024, claiming they were working in the neighborhood and had noticed that the victim had a hole in his roof. The men offered to fix the hole and remove the moss from the roof.

Over the course of a few days, they pressured the victim to write them checks for their “services” of $15,000, $20,000, and $26,000. They also claimed that the victim’s foundation was cracked, and they said they would repair that with a “titanium tie rod system.”

The roof had no hole, and the foundation was not failing. However, the men dug trenches and poured some concrete to make it appear work was done, and each day they pressured the victim to write more checks. They even demanded an extra $20,000 for “taxes.” Ultimately, they demanded the victim wire $200,000 to a third party for building supplies — again far in excess of any work they claimed to have done.

The feelings of embarrassment and frustration expressed by the victim in this case are not uncommon. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the investor education foundation, notes that many victims of fraud report feeling profound shame and self-blame.

A retired business consultant in Arizona who was a victim of another scam and was featured in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) educational video described his feelings this way: “When this happened to me, I was a little bit embarrassed. I mean, I consider myself fairly alert. But I was targeted. And I was scammed. I didn’t really want to talk about this. But I realized that if I didn’t talk about it, that if I didn’t file the complaint with the attorney general, that if I didn’t file a complaint with the FTC, that I would have shrunk into myself… It’s not an embarrassment. It’s just something that happens when you’re a senior. You have to talk about it to other seniors.”

Dr. Alan D. Castel, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles wrote in Psychology Today that in addition to feelings of shame, elderly victims may also worry “that their adult children may feel the need to take power of attorney over their finances.” He noted that “there is no shame in trusting people” and proposes that “connecting with people we can trust, and maintaining a strong sense of community, may be our best protection.”

Various federal agencies remind the public of red flags for contractor fraud:

• The contractor knocks on your door looking for business because they are “in the area” and uses aggressive sales tactics.

• The contractor pressures you for an immediate hiring decision.

• The contractor accepts only cash as payment and demands full payment before starting any work.

• In the sales pitch, the contractor claims to have materials left over from a previous job.

Tips to avoid contractor fraud:

• Always get multiple estimates for any work you want done.

• Require the contractor you choose to provide you with a contract that contains clearly written payment terms.

• Don’t pay in advance. Never pay in cash.

• Don’t provide personal financial information, such as your checking account, credit card or debit card numbers

• To make sure contractors are licensed and insured, look them up at Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries website at https://secure.lni.wa.gov/verify/

• Check with consumer protection agencies such as the Better Business Bureau to search for complaints against a contractor.

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Ruby E. Carlino is a published writer with over a decade of blogging experience and a background as a technology analyst. She has lived in Sequim since 2018, after spending years in Asia, Central America, Europe, and the Washington, D.C. area during her husband’s diplomatic assignments. She can be reached at nextchaptercolumn@proton.me.