S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – The South Whitehall Township Police Department is warning residents about a possible door to door sales scam targeting neighborhoods in our area, according to a Facebook post from the department.<\/p>\n
Two men in a white van with an unknown logo have been knocking on doors, claiming to be from New Jersey, officials state.<\/p>\n
Police say they present themselves as part of a small, family-run electronics and home theater business.<\/p>\n
The main “salesperson” will show the victim a product list and boxes labeled with QR codes that link to websites which appear legitimate but are believed to either be fake and\/or intended to deceive victims.<\/p>\n
They claim very high retail values for items (for example: projector $9,499; soundbar $1,699; projector screen $799) then offer a \u201cbundle discount\u201d \u2014 e.g., total of $1,200 for all three items.<\/p>\n
Officers say victims have been asked to pay via Zelle.<\/p>\n
When opened later, the products are not as advertised. They are cheaply made and not meeting the specifications shown.<\/p>\n
According to officials, the suspect impersonating a salesperson is described as a white man, around 21 years old, about 6’1″\u20136’2″, wavy medium length brown hair and gives the name \u201cRobert\u201d.<\/p>\n
The suspect driver is described as a black man, in his 40s\u201350s, name unknown, usually remains in the van, police say.<\/p>\n
Both suspects wear blue polo shirts and khakis.<\/p>\n
If someone comes to your door, police advise the following:<\/p>\n
Do not let them inside. Speak through the door or a window.<\/p>\n
Do not scan QR codes or send money. QR codes can link to fraudulent sites and Zelle payments are often hard to reverse.<\/p>\n
Ask for business credentials (business card, license, local phone number) \u2014 and independently verify (don\u2019t use numbers they provide).<\/p>\n
Refuse high pressure offers. Legitimate businesses will accept time to think and provide verifiable contact information.<\/p>\n
Take photos of the van, license plate, logo, flyers, product labels, or receipts if safe to do so.<\/p>\n
If you paid: contact your bank immediately, report the transaction as fraud, and contact Zelle\/customer support. Save receipts\/screenshots.<\/p>\n
Do not confront suspects.<\/p>\n
If you feel threatened, call 911.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – The South Whitehall Township Police Department is warning residents about a possible door…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,669,665,670,666,667,663,664,668],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-consumer-protection","tag-door-to-door-sales","tag-fake-electronics","tag-fraudulent-sales","tag-police-warning","tag-scam","tag-south-whitehall-township","tag-zelle-payment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}