SHONKY rip-off tradesmen known as the ‘bitumen bandits’ were on the prowl in Millicent last week, fleecing thousands of dollars from local businesses for dodgy driveway jobs.
The con-men approached Sandpipers Motel and Millicent Veterinary Clinic and offered to lay bitumen and fill potholes for a payment, which seemed too good to be true.
Hotel owner Pat Barton said she was approached by a man with an accent known as ‘Tommy’ on Wednesday afternoon who told her he was working on a job up the road and would have around 150 square metres of asphalt left over.
“He said ‘I see you have a few potholes and if you would like I can do them for $20 per square metre’,” Ms Barton said.
“I just thought oh wow, that sounds alright.
“Next thing he has finished around 700 square metres and was demanding payment.
“He was so aggressive and abusive and when we said that’s not what we agreed to, he became really scary.”
Ms Barton’s son Will said they wanted to pay ‘Tommy’ and his two accomplices known as ‘Liam and Nate’ some money for their services despite their demeanour and the fact it was not what had been agreed too.
“We wanted to do the right thing because they had done some work,” she said.
“But, the way they did the job was they pretty much backed the truck up, drove forward, sprayed and let the gravel fall down at the same time so they could actually do quite a lot in a short amount of time.
“We started to get the feeling something was not right when they were finishing up the job and were filling up a watering can with tar and pouring it over.”
Upon finishing the work ‘Tommy’ asked the Barton’s to fill out the invoice for him because he “had dust in his eyes” and “was not wearing his glasses” so he could not see.
They agreed.
The next day the ‘bitumen bandits’ were brave enough to pick their next target in the veterinary clinic.
Owner Sarah McGrath shared a story similar to the Barton’s, adding that Tommy was “very persuasive, loud and pushy”.
She also said it was not until the payment was made that she started feeling something was not right.
“Our employer phoned the number they left and it was linked to a person’s phone number who said it happened all the time and was fraud,” she said.
“It’s all a pretty big scam.”
One of the accused’s real name was discovered upon searching the Australian Business Number (ABN) provided.
He can be found boasting on personal social media accounts about ‘ripping off’ individuals and business owners.
One of his friends commented “wash away with good rain” on a photograph of bitumen work the accused had completed three months ago, to which he replied “it will wash away without rain 1100 litres tar 600 litres water”.
On another photograph a friend commented “do you guarantee this work?” he replied “two week warranty” before another friend commented “you mean full warranty until you leave the driveway, expires when you cannot see your tail light anymore.”
The accused then commented a number of emojis including that of a running man and a laughing crying face.
South Australian Police are aware of the incidents and are investigating reports.
