Police in Quincy, Massachusetts, have issued a new warning about an increasingly common transnational construction fraud scheme after this weekend pulling over a driver suspected to be involved and who had thousands of dollars and a large amount of jewelry suspected to have been stolen.
The driver, who wasn't identified beyond being Irish, is only facing car-related charges — driving without a license and a driving violation — but Quincy police said they have notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. NBC10 Boston has investigated the scheme the driver is believed to have been a part of.
Among the jewelry found in the driver's SUV after the traffic stop Saturday morning were four class rings from different graduations: Piedmont and Woonsocket high schools (from the 1960s), West Point (from the 1970s) and Texas A&M (from the 1990s), Quincy police said. The SUV also had more than $70,000 in U.S. dollars and foreign currency inside.
The SUV was pulled over when an officer saw the Land Rover Defender leave a North Quincy Holiday Inn Express just after 11 a.m. and make an illegal turn the wrong way onto Stratton Way. The vehicle was towed.
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The vehicle's driver "is believed to be a part of ongoing Irish Traveler construction frauds/scams," police said in a news release.
The scheme, the NBC10 Investigators have reported, involves fake websites, fake reviews and fake companies, with dozens of victims around the Boston area, some of whom have lost tens of thousands of dollars.
Quincy police noted that agencies around Massachusetts have issued advisories about the schemes, in which a contractor arrives at a home unsolicited to say they have "leftover materials," then find more and more things to fix on the property.
Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy said in the news release, "it is important for victims of these type of sophisticated scams to report these crimes as it allows our detectives to investigate and coordinate with other law enforcement agencies in the area."
More on the transnational contracting scam
The NBC10 investigators have covered law enforcement's warnings for homeowners about a transnational criminal organization, known as Irish Travelers, that's operating a sophisticated contracting scam around Massachusetts
