Concrete schemes ripping off thousands of dollars from metro Atlanta home and business owners

ATLANTA — Crooks are targeting concrete companies and homeowners and business owners are the ones sometimes left on the hook for the thefts.

“Someone is posting on the Internet or they’re calling around to contractors or homeowners and saying, ‘Hey, I can get you concrete cheaper than what the going rate is,’” Dale Henderson said. He’s the owner of Site Mix, a metro Atlanta-based ready-mix concrete company.

Henderson has learned the hard way that some of those would-be concrete brokers are really crooks using stolen credit cards.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

It’s more than a month after they complete the concrete jobs that Site Mix and other companies find they were paid with a stolen credit card.

And that’s when homeowners or business owners are left with a bill for concrete, they already paid for once.

“If the contractor doesn’t pay the supplier, then you’re on the hook for it, because that’s the only way the supplier can get paid,” Henderson said.

Site Mix flagged one of the crooks after he stole more than $4,000 in concrete.

They noticed that the same picture was on multiple driver’s licenses with different names tied to multiple stolen credit cards.

“He’s probably called back 30 times trying to place orders,” Henderson said.

So, we called him.

TRENDING STORIES:

• ‘A beautiful soul:’ Mother of 4 found shot to death in car on I-285
• Video shows man blocking traffic, yelling racist, homophobic slurs in road rage meltdown, police say
• APD: Brinks guard robbed at gunpoint in southwest Atlanta

“Where are you calling from?” he asked when Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray called. When Gray identified himself and asked, “Did you order from Site Mix and pay with a stolen credit card?” the man hung up.

The advice for homeowners or contractors is to be skeptical of a price that seems too good to be true and to try to pay the vendor directly yourself.

“The worst call for us to make is to a homeowner to say, hey, we’re going to have to lien your property. And then they respond, well, I’ve already paid for the material,” Henderson said.

It’s not just Georgia where this is happening.

Concrete companies have also been targeted in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida.

The state bureau of investigation in neighboring Alabama is now investigating. They suspect thieves have stolen more than $200,000 with this scheme there.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Clark Howard: When identity thieves don’t pay, companies may take you to court

©2022 Cox Media Group