A family is warning people to be aware of a man claiming to work for the NC Department of Transportation, who they say scammed their elderly grandmother out of $200 after offering to do work on her driveway using leftover concrete from a job.
On Wednesday, WRAL spoke with the woman’s grandson, Bobby Jent. Jent said he was not with his grandmother at her home off of Highway 96 near Wake Forest at the time, but learned about it over the phone.
Other WRAL Top Stories
“She told me about it late that night,” says Jent. “A man came to the door Monday night and said he worked for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. He proceeded to say, like, ‘Hey, you know, we have a bunch of spare leftover concrete from jobs we're doing up the road.’”
Jent said the man quoted his grandmother a total of $500 for the work. He said his grandmother told the man she only had $200 in cash to give him, which the man took, promising he and his workers would be back in the morning to complete the job and retrieve the rest of the money.
“He went as far as roping off the driveway and putting up caution tape,” Jent describes.
WRAL also spoke with Jent’s uncle, Mike Perry, who lives across the street from Jent’s grandmother. Perry said she called him and asked him to come over to meet the man.
"Everything seemed legit,” said Perry.
Perry described the man as being white, in his mid-30s, clean cut, about 5-foot-7and roughly 200 pounds. He says the man was driving a black Dodge pickup truck with muddy tires and a light bar.
When asked if the man provided any contact information, Perry simply answered, “No.” He said he was unaware Jent’s grandmother had given the man any money.
Jent told WRAL his wife drove by the house the next morning before dropping their kids off to school. She told him the driveway looked the exact same as it did the day before, with no sign of a team preparing to pour concrete.
“I had my doubts about it when I first heard about it,” says Jent. “This is definitely a scam.”
In August, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office shared a post on Facebook alerting people of an “asphalt scam” in which a man was telling homeowners he had “leftover asphalt” from a paving job on U.S. 64 and offered to pave their driveways.
WRAL covered a story about a West Virginia man who was arrested earlier this month after he allegedly stole $70,000 from North Carolina seniors posing as a Duke Energy employee and driveway repairman.
Jent said he filed a report with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, who is looking into the situation.
“The poor woman worked hard her whole life, and now she relies on us to try to take care of her,” says Jent. “Then somebody comes up and takes advantage of her? It’s really sad.”
In a statement to WRAL, a spokesperson for the NC Department of Transportation said the department is aware of the situation.
“The N.C. Department of Transportation has confirmed that no work is currently taking place near Halifax Road and N.C. 96. All NCDOT engineers carry official identification badges and can provide contact information so residents can verify their identity. We strongly recommend anyone who is approached with such an offer to contact their local NCDOT Highway Division office to report or verify the legitimacy of such interactions.”