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First I asked her if we could advertise using our online business name, A-Florida-Locksmith.com instead of/ or in addition to our legal name which is Martin Security Group, Inc. She said we could as long as we showed her a business license with that name. When I said I didn’t have one for A-Florida-Locksmith.com, she then said that all I would need would be to print out a fictitious name filing from the State website.

Next I began asking her about all the bogus locksmith listings in the phone book.

“Oh, those were a lot of unscrupulous people. They didn’t pay us so we took them out. You’ll see a big difference in the phone book this year,” she said. “I had other locksmiths ask me the same question.”

Okay, I thought. So it was the sales people’s fault – they just sold advertising to anyone who said they would pay.

 “Now with anyone who does more than $300 a month in advertising with us, we have to do a fraud check on them,” she continued.

“So what about all the bogus online listings?” I asked

“If they don’t pay, then we pull them right away,” she said. “We can do that much easier with the internet whereas the book doesn’t change for a year.”

Those policies sounded much better but were they accurate?  I checked their website for a locksmith in Altamonte Springs. After the first ½ page of advertisers (none in Altamonte), came the bogus listings. At least two of the advertisers, by the way, were not  registered with the State of Florida – guess they forgot to check that.

Apparently we were talking about two different things. She was talking about how if the advertisers don’t pay, then they pull them. I was asking about bogus unpaid listings not advertisers. I don’t think customers can tell the difference. They just look for a locksmith with the name of their city in its name and call that one. None of the advertisers had the word “Altamonte” in their name, so one would keep scrolling. There were 12 unpaid listings with the word “Altamonte” in their name and not one of them is a registered locksmith in the city or on the State website. It was the same old list of bogus listings with bogus addresses which I had checked out previously.

Well, either the phone company is still working on this and way, way behind or it looks like not much has changed.

What I am investigating are the phony “locksmiths” or “locksmith” companies. I hate to even use the word “locksmith” with these scam artists. These are those who are out there preying on the public — like the company who posted the following ad on Craig’s List. (Craig’s List has since removed the ad).

Locksmith (No Experience – OK) (Minneapolis+St Poul)

March 15, 2009  
Filed under Skilled Trades

We are looking for high motivated individuals who would like to establish a business relation with a nationwide company who can provide up to 30-40 service call a week on a 24/7 basis. our business model includes : subcontracting the Jobs to you, and you will receive a percentage of every invoice. Expected income, based on our subcontractors all over the Major US cities, will be 1000-1500 a week. we will cover 50 % of the travel expenses for the training. Locksmiths with experience are well-come to answer this add as well.

So let me see if I read this right. This national company wants to sub-contract locksmithing jobs out to inexperienced locksmiths?

An inexperienced sub-contractor is NOT a locksmith!!!

He’s just a guy with a drill who drills out perfectly good locks because he has no skills or tools with which to pick them open. He then replaces them with junk which he calls a high-security product so he can overcharge the consumer.

Okay, so how do I investigate phony locksmiths? Since the call centers change sub-contractors frequently, tracking down the sub-contractors won’t help.  Listing call centers and the various names they use would help, but the best course of action, I believe, would be to list all the genuine locksmiths out there.

 If people had the truth, it’s not likely they will choose a fake.  But first, I had to find the genuine locksmiths — and I did. I knew the tax collector was the best keeper of that information. Now all I needed was to speak to the right person in his office.

After two days of phone tag with three very helpful Orange County staff members, I finally did speak to the right person and he sent me a file with the information I needed. Thank you, Joe Giovanelli!  Of course, I still have to sort through 1114 pages to find the answers I need, but I’ll work on that over the next few days.

Hope to have time to get updated information from Seminole County this week. Last year there were 21 registered locksmiths.  I had to actually go to the county services building at the opposite end of the county from where I live to get the information, so I know it’s not easy for consumers to find the answers. Hope to have some answers soon on how many actually locksmiths are in these two counties. We know there are 1791 phone listings, so this should be interesting.

UH-OH!

SCAM #1 So which do you think is harder to do? Drill out a lock or pick it open? Anyone with a drill can drill out a lock. Picking locks takes skill, knowledge, time and specialized tools. Picking locks is not like it is shown on television. Since the locksmith told her the price would be $89 ($45 + $39) for the call, why would it cost another $96 to drill out a lock?

SCAM#2 Well, okay, so there is no way this woman would have known this, but Arrow Lock Company does NOT make high-security locks for residential purposes. It’s something any legitimate locksmith would know. So if that was the locksmith’s excuse for the high drill fee, he was being dishonest about his exorbitant fee.

The original blog was located at: http://asmor.livejournal.com/552384.html  but when I rechecked it recently, it was not available.

Anyway, it should be noted that many times it is necessary to drill out a lock – especially if it has been damaged, corroded, is bump or pick-proof or is just not pickable. Since residential locks are made of cheaper material, corrosion is a common event in humid climates such as Florida especially in coastal areas where moisture, salt and sand all combine. About 35% of the locks we attempt to pick open have to be drilled out.

You borrowed a neighbor’s phone book, picked out a locksmith and called him.

What are the chances you’ve just called a sex offender working as a locksmith?

How safe would you feel after he left?

Think it can’t happen? Think again.

Anyone can unintentionally call someone of disreputable character in states that do not require licensing for locksmiths.

In June 2008, WHAS 11 NEWS in Kentucky had an investigative report about just such a locksmith. The story is no longer available on their website, so I’ve summarized it here:

Registered child sex offender Charles Raisor opened up Charlie’s Locksmith and Maintenance Company in Shelbyville, Kentucky. If that was not bad enough, Raisor hired another registered child sex offender who had also been convicted of drug possession and carrying a gun by a convicted felon.

Raisor was operating as any locksmith would – unlocking doors, and rekeying or installing new locks -  securing people’s homes and businesses. The fact that he had a secret any parent would need to know didn’t seem to bother him. Two months prior to the television station’s report, Raisor had been charged with failing to comply with the sex offender registry and violating sex offender residence restrictions. But he wasn’t in jail when the news channel found him. He was out working.

Apparently there are no occupational restrictions against convicted sex offenders owning locksmith businesses since there are no locksmith licensing laws in Kentucky or in Florida for that matter. Such laws would require State and Federal fingerprint and criminal background checks.

Since city and county business registration personnel do NOT cross-check business registrations with the sex offender database, consumers must do all they can to investigate before inviting someone into their home or business.

Using your phone directory or a city internet search, what’s the chances of you unintentionally calling a scam artist, an out-of-state company posing as a local locksmith or a pedophile in business for him-or-herself rather than finding a registered locksmith?

Don’t know? Well, let’s try my city – Altamonte Springs, FL – a city of approximately 40,000 people.

Monica McConaghy, the Business Tax Administrator of Altamonte Springs, printed off a list of just 4 registered locksmiths – that’s F-O-U-R. She said occupational licenses are now called business tax registrations. Of the four locksmiths, one has a storefront and the other three are mobile – one of which is our company, Martin Security Group, Inc. AKA www.a-florida-locksmith.com

Three different LOCAL phone books, however, say something else. According to them, there are 57 individually-named locksmiths in Altamonte. You have to search among 1791 listings to find them all. (Yes, I did count every single one of them.)

As far as internet search results for Altamonte locksmiths go – well, I quit counting at 377 (out of thousands). With all the map spam, blog spam and fake ads (with none-existence addresses) by out-of-state companies posing as locals as well as Florida locksmiths using multiple names, it was time-consuming trying to find those four Altamonte locksmiths in a city search.  The search term I used was – Locksmith Altamonte Springs, Fl.

The fact that I knew exactly who I was looking for should have made it easy, but I only found two. Our family’s website (www.a-florida-locksmith.com) and free classified ads were listed on the first two Google search pages as was a link for one other registered-in-Altamonte-locksmith,  Liberty Locksmiths.

But Google’s first 2 pages also included listings or ads for 47 other locksmiths all claiming to be Altamonte locksmiths. No wonder people are confused. 

Many of the listings/ads are either directories or bogus call-center listings with local or 800 numbers. Clicking on the directories gets you nowhere since, again, mostly what is listed are all the bogus call-center listings.

All four Altamonte businesses are registered with the state and when they registered with the City of Altamonte Springs, they were automatically registered with Seminole County. Locksmiths who take the time to legally register are usually people who have invested time in training as well as  money in equipment, supplies and vehicles. They work hard to provide good service and want repeat business. They are not going to scam you.

Legitimate locksmiths, whether they have a storefront or are just mobile, generally work within a 50-mile radius of their base. This usually encompasses 2 or more counties and listing every city or community they work in on their website is normal and expected. However, if you see a website that lists every city in the state, you should be suspicious.

So what are your chances of getting scammed or someone disreputable having the keys to your home, business or vehicle?  Pretty high, I believe.