Fraudulent sales of home alarm systems are on the rise nationwide

News flash: Some salespeople are jerks and a surprisingly large amount are actual criminals. A new report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) finds that door-to-door alarm system sales are a major new source of concern for consumers. The firm’s 2017 Consumer Complaint Survey Report says that alarm system sales initiated by telemarketing, direct mail or salespeople going door to door are a new source of fraud.

“The complaints involve the use of scare tactics and misleading claims, lack of full disclosure about the costs and terms of the transactions, failure to provide notice of consumers’ cancellation rights, and locking consumers into long-term, automatically renewing contracts,” the report reads.

The report lists half a dozen real-world examples of rip-off artists goading or conniving homeowners, often the elderly or infirm, into signing fraudulent contracts. A man in Arkansas agreed to buy an alarm system but didn’t receive his copy of the contract, discovering the price doubled when it arrived. The Arkansas Attorney General’s office negotiated with the company to cancel the contract, remove the system, and refund the $4,927 the man paid.

The Georgia Department of Law’s Consumer Protection Unit obtained a $500,000 judgment against two companies with widespread misrepresentation including falsely claiming the level of criminal activity in local neighborhoods had increased and using handheld devices to make the contracts with consumers electronically.