In an unusual scam, a man went door-to-door in Northern Virginia offering paving services and then hired a legitimate company to do the work — as he collected and kept the money himself, the company and police say.
Collegiate Sealers & Paving owner Richard Cornicello said that man hired his company to seal four driveways at homes he claimed to own in Fairfax County. They agreed on a price for the work, and the man paid Cornicello a deposit and said he would return to pay the rest when the jobs were complete.
But that customer didn’t actually own any of those homes. He posed as a driveway sealer himself and convinced the real homeowners to have their driveways repaved. When the job was done, he showed up to collect the money before Cornicello’s company could send the bill – and charged them “an exorbitant amount of money,” Cornicello said.
After 35 years in business, with more than 100,000 driveways paved, Cornicello said he’s never seen anything like it.
Cornicello figured out the scam when one of the actual homeowners tried to pay his crew as it was finishing the driveway. The amount of cash they offered was almost double the cost of the job.
Cornicello’s crew asked why the homeowner was handing over so much, and the unsuspecting homeowner explained that was the price they were quoted from the guy who knocked on their door and offered paving services on behalf of Collegiate Sealers & Paving.
“You spend years building up your reputation and someone basically steals that from you, you know, to make money,” Cornicello said.
The man was caught on surveillance video. News4 is not showing his face because he hasn't been charged yet.
“We're still seeking to identify the person who's perpetrated these crimes,” Fairfax County police Sgt. Jacob Pierce said.
While this case involved a legitimate business getting wrapped into the con, in most paving scams, homeowners are the victims of a fraudster requiring payment upfront for a deal too good to be true, Pierce said.
“So, they're giving them quotes for work on repaving a new driveway and then they're asking for money up front, and a lot of times those clients are not getting that money back, or they're not even seeing the fruits of any kind of labor whatsoever,” he said.
“It's frustrating for me,” Cornicello said. “I feel bad for the customers when, you know, anyone gets ripped off.”
He said he hopes the paving impostor gets caught soon, before doing any more damage.
How to avoid becoming a victim of home contractor scams
Police advise homeowners not to be so quick to agree to a deal at the door.
“Just slowing down, gathering their contact information, maybe, and then just doing a little bit of basic homework that anybody could do with a computer and a search engine,” Pierce said.
When someone comes to the door offering to sell a service or business, ask to see their solicitor’s license; most cities and counties in the D.C. area require one. If they don’t have one, shut the door.
To keep solicitors from knocking, put a sign in the doorway prohibiting them.
If the deal sounds too good to be true, it’s probably a sales pitch or a con.
If someone leaves a flyer at the door, before calling the number, vet the company.
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