{"id":624406,"date":"2026-04-22T22:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624406\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:08:12","slug":"warning-over-alleged-roofing-repair-scammer-in-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624406\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning over alleged roofing repair scammer in Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Older members of the community are urged to be on their guard after an alleged roofing scam was exposed in Sydney’s<\/a> inner west.<\/p>\n

Police were told a 73-year-old woman was at home on March 3 when she was approached by a man who claimed to be a roofer.<\/p>\n

He told her that the apartment complex needed urgent repairs.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/A man is sought over an alleged roofing scam that targeted a 73-year-old woman in Sydenham, Sydney. (NSW Police)<\/p>\n

The man persuaded the woman to let him inside, where it’s believed he accessed her personal financial details.<\/p>\n

The next day, the man returned and drove the woman to her local bank, where she gave him a cheque for tens of thousands of dollars after he pressured her to pay in advance for the “repairs”.<\/p>\n

The woman later cancelled the cheque and contacted police.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Police have warned older members of the community to be on the lookout. (NSW Police)<\/p>\n

Investigators have now released CCTV footage of a man they believe can help with their inquiries.<\/p>\n

He is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 180cm tall, aged in his 40s or 50s\ufeff, and with a distinctive, possibly Irish, accent.<\/p>\n

When last seen, he was wearing a black t-shirt, a black hat, and blue jeans.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The man told the woman her apartment complex needed urgent repairs. (NSW Police)<\/p>\n

Police also believe he drives a white van and is accompanied by a second man described only as being of Caucasian appearance.<\/p>\n

Inner West Police Area Command crime manager, Detective Inspector Benjamin Kennis, warned older people to be aware they could be targets of scammers.<\/p>\n

“These scammers are targeting older people and claim that urgent home repairs are necessary, demanding large sums of money for work that is not needed,” Kennis said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/She gave him a cheque for tens of thousands of dollars that she later cancelled. (NSW Police)<\/p>\n

“We would always recommend anyone approached like this should take the time and check these people are correctly licensed; these details can be checked with authorities such as NSW Fair Trading, Service NSW.”<\/p>\n

He urged older people who felt unsure to not let strangers inside their home, nor to accompany them to financial institutions.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“Be on your guard, check credentials, get trusted family members involved, and \u2013 if you feel you have been a victim of a scam like this \u2013 please call police: we will investigate,” Kennis said.<\/p>\n

Anybody with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers online<\/a> or on 1800 333 000.\ufeff<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Older members of the community are urged to be on their guard after an alleged roofing scam was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-624406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}