Phony Locksmiths caught in the Act
News Channel 3 aired a story March 5th 2009 about public fraud committed by unlicensed and phony locksmiths in Memphis, TN. There are literally hundreds of phone numbers in both the yellow pages and on the internet from out of town entities that send local unlicensed individuals posing as locksmiths. They usually send out an unqualified individual in an unmarked van who damages or destroys the lock to gain entry and upcharge 5 to 10 times the quoted price. This activity is not limited to West Tennessee as this kind of news has been seen on 60 Minutes about the same problem in many major cities across the US.
In fact, our locksmith lobbyist Tommy Burnett made a passionate plea to the Tennessee Legislature about this problem in order to get the locksmith license law enacted a few years ago. His statements about foreign connections to the phony locksmith effort and potential terrorist acts prompted a quick passage of the law. Many of the established lockshops doubted this in the beginning but after seeing how big this problem is, it does seem realistic.
This problem is compounded by the fact that most of our States in the US do not require Locksmiths to be Licensed. It seems these unsavory characters go to other areas when the heat is turned up on them.
The time for action is now. We as an industry need to be diligent in our fight against this fraud on legitimate locksmiths and on the public. Public awareness is crucial and we can do our part by educating and warning our customers in our everyday communications. A strong effort will be made by our Association within the legislative process in the next session. We need to tighten the noose on advertisers by stiffening penalties on those who do not verify legitimate and licensed locksmiths before printing or posting the ads. This will require a consistent effort to get phony locksmiths out and keep them out of our State.
To get an idea of how widespread this is, take a look at the Goggle map below on the locations of locksmiths in Memphis, Tennessee.
Be sure to check out the links below. There is an alert posted by the Federal Trade Commission, The News Channel 3 Story and a link to the Tennessee Consumer Affairs Dept.(Consumer Complaints).
Federal Trade Commission Alert
News Channel 3 Story on Phony Locksmiths
Fox News Story on Phony Locksmiths
TN Consumer Affairs & Complaints
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