Another man falls victim to alleged landscaping scam 

When a stranger knocks on your door, their goal is to separate you from your money.

Um.. no contract. Don't pay.

If its a known scam, police should NOT say its a civil matter

"They wouldn't give me an estimate before hand" That's all you needed to hear, to tell them goodbye, and have a nice day

Never ever ever EVER do business with ANYONE who walks up to your house! No No No No!

This won’t pass in the ghetto, these guys know exactly who and where to prey on.

He should have not paid them $2,500 and allowed them to sue him in court.

They probably stole that mulch from another property

This is the script every time: "we were just in the area on another job, and our loss is your gain".

A bunch of mean hanging outside your home, police say "this is a civil matter"... bullsh*t, the amount they say you owe is a civil matter, the fact that they're threatening you with force is a criminal matter.

People need to remember you can always refuse to pay and challenge the scammer to bring their activities to court.

As a former Asian, I am disappointed in this man 🤦🏼‍♂️

A wise person taught me a long time ago that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The homeowner still forked over $2500 after calling the police? There is such a thing as "take me to court".

Get it on paper! Never proceed with a verbal agreement.

Fuck ‘em.. you didn’t sign a contract, you’re not obliged to pay!

A bag of mulch is under $4 at home depot.

If I don’t recognize you on the ring cam, I’m not answering the door. Plain and simple.

NEVER agree to solicited work...it's usually a scam...

Alex should have said, "I never told you to put that mulch down. Do you have my signature telling you to do it?"

I don't trust anybody who just "happens to be in the area" or just "happens to have extra product". I want to deal with a business that has an address.

Became a homeowner two years ago in san diego, learned very quickly never admit you own the home always say you're renting for randoms coming to your door.

STPD should have told them to leave his property. Alarm your house and have a way to protect your family. Don’t let bullies scare you into submission.

There’s no way I would’ve paid those guys.

That mulch is free from the city to anyone who comes and picks it up.

This is a criminal act, they need to be held accountable

10$ a bag? Ha ha ha. I buy mulch for 3$. In the age of information, people still get scammed.

Unlicensed work over $500 , in California you owe NOTHING! Video tape them all, truck licenses, etc. Post no trespassing signs and use that $2500 to install security cameras. I just went through this is with a handyman, he got nothing of second half payment

I wanted some interior painting done and a neighbor referred someone. He came by an gave me a verbal estimate that was pretty low. I document everything and asked him to email or text a detailed invoice of what he was painting (walls, floorboards, doors, etc) with price. I contacted him several times and received nothing. He texted two weeks later and said if I Zelled the payment he could begin the job. I didn’t reply. He could’ve been legit but I’ve heard too many horror stories about people taking your money and not doing the work or doing the work and claiming you owe them additional fees. Get everything in writing folks!

Pay nothing if there's no contract. They can come get their mulch that they laid down.

I would have paid it with a credit card and then had my credit card company remove the charge for fraud

Anytime that someone shows up at your door unannounced and says they have extra of 'x' that they want to offload to you for a discount is a scam. Unfortunately, these people learned the hard way.

Always insist on an estimate beforehand and make sure to get it in writing. If they won’t that’s a red flag

Let’s thank our useless lawmakers and judges for allowing these scammers to be free!

People, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Thank you for bringing it to light, its unfortunately how vulnerable we all are to scammers, and all they do is go and get a new name. Lets not answer the door instead

Nice of him to go public with this, when he is probably embarrassed. If he lived alone he likely would have told them stay as long as you like, you're not getting any money, but he has a family.

Unlicensed "contractors" have NO recourse, but I understand his caution for his family and himself.

Never agree to any work without a written and signed contract

There’s no recourse because San Diego is in a lawless state. In fact if it went to court the landscapers would probably be asked what they are owed and the homeowners would be told to pay.

A podcast on crime explains that all scams start when strangers approach you.

The same scam happened to me in Lakewood, CA several years ago. A guy came to my door with the same story. I assumed my lawn would not take more than 3-4 bags, but they came back and told me they used 30 bags and charged me close to $500. I was so upset. I will never buy from these people offering this service. Even my Mexican gardener told me that these scammers are looked down upon in the landscaping business.

Homeowner: This is on you. When they said no hard copy of the dollar amount could be furnished,.......That is your RED FLAG. Bid them Audios, turn around and close the door!

Begs the question of the laws in the U.S. it's fraud which is illegal, police open a case file and when there are more complainants build on the case. How is this a civil matter...

Don't call the police, call ICE. LOL

The san diego police were wrong here.

We got this exact scam last month. My wife was home and agreed to let them do a small area in our front yard, and only told me about this 10 minutes after they started. It sounded wrong to me and we realized it’s a scam right away, so I rushed home to stop them. The instance they learned that I’m on my way back, they started dumping all the “mulch” on to our front yard, and says “they’re done with the job”, all within 30 seconds and asked for $325. I got home and things escalated right away, I was shouting and they were shouting. Police were called. When police arrived, he said it’s civil matter so we’ll have to settle or bring to court. Considering they know where we live and who we are, I paid $100 hoping they’ll just leave us alone. Please be aware of these door knocking scammers. Nothing is so urgent that you have to agree to a job on the spot to some random dude knocking on your door. Also, lesson learned for my wife, she’s not gonna fall for any solicitation / scam in the future. Again.

$5000 😂 I would of laughed all the way home

They wouldn't get a nickel from me. See you in court Bubba

I'm retired and am home to get all these scammers: Leftover mulch; Leftover rocks from a job down the street; Driveway resurface; They put too many steaks on the restaurant supply truck this morning. Same as always: _*If it's sounds too good to be true, it isn't true *_

They’re preying on the weak. They would have left voluntarily or involuntarily and walked way with nothing. Dude checked his ring camera and saw half bags and still gave them 2500. The cops weak as wells should have made them get off his property if he was refusing to pay and told the scammers to take it to court

“I’ll do it for a hundred” “I said it was four hundred!”

These are the wood chippers who are wood chipping on the next street over. They grind up the wood and then sell it to another neighbor as mulch. If you've ever laid mulch, you'd know it doesn't come in small bags like they used for big jobs. They deliver it by the yard in a big truck and dump it off in your driveway in a big pile.

$15,000 for mulching? People are so gullible.

My Dad would go out and take a picture of the truck, logo and license plates- then each worker- then say, “ok tell me what scam you are pushing?” They hightail it out . He used to then post it on Facebook

How smart can you be to let strangers who show up at your door work on your property??

Never agree to a work until you receive a written quote

I am so sick of people threatening others because they’re so so greedy money is killing this country. People are way too greedy way way way way way too greedy.

As a sub contractor for a city, unless it’s on paper you don’t have to pay. They never gave you an estimate, nor explained how much work was going to be done for a rough estimate. Technically after you agreed to the service and they start, then yeah it does become a civil matter, they still have to take you to court and explain to a judge why they didn’t have a contract, which would then be followed by a review of the amount of work done and materials used and you’d have to pay an altered price by the judge or it would be thrown out of court for bad business practices

Thank you for exposing the name of the scammers!

FYI: DONT TRUST ANYONE ON THISE VESTS. THEY COST $2😂

cops love to push this back to us as "civil matters"

This guy has no common sense

I’ve learned over the years, when it’s too good to be true. It is. I’m 34 and still learning this to this day. New scams come up daily.

Whoever knocks on my door trying to sell something is loosing his time

15k for mulch. That’s crazy

Yeah, this is on the homeowner for being a coward, not standing up for himself

Dude folded. I would’ve went inside and told them to get off my property before I came back out.

Who opens doors to strangers these days ?

They know who to try these types of scams on. The victim should know better, dude is too nice.

My guy said " he was afraid of them coming back and doing harm" but yet he put is face all over the news...

and kids, this is why you get an estimate before letting people work on anything, if someone isn't willing to give you an estimate it's a scam red flag

I am sorry this happened to you. Thank you for the heads up. Sad to say, but I assume everyone is trying to scam me these days.

I had a knock on the door from a crew who said they had some extra asphalt sealant and they would do my driveway at a discount. Suspecting a scam, I turned them away. Just like I do with EVERY unsolicited salesman at my door. EVERY TIME.

Last I checked, fraud and operating an illegal business isn't just a civil matter. The police should've required them to provide proof that they're authorized to do business so the homeowner has recourse. What exactly are the police good for if they can't even protect people being threatened by strangers in their own neighborhood?

I disabled the doorbell to my house years ago. Why? Name one time someone rang your doorbell and you were so thankful that you were alerted to it: Girl scout cookies, yardwork crew, snake oil salesmen, debt collector..... maybe your amazon delivery If its family or friends, they will call/text before coming and upon arrival. Ditch your doorbell.

Today, people are afraid to tell others to EFF-OFF and sue me if you want your money.

Wow great job, SD police. Nice work serving and protecting

No estimate, not hiring. Pretty impressive they managed to mess up the irrigation laying mulch.

A few months ago Lowe's and Home Depot had mulch at 5 for $10. A far cry from $2500.

Me: Bag it back up and get out of here.

i don't understand why you trust those kind of people?

Have some balls man. Tell them you have them on camera and to get lost. You can just as easily not pay them, as they can try and extort you. You signed no agreement.

I live in Fresno and I've had the same experience years ago! Guys stopped by, said $10 a bag, one guy just started pouring it on my lawn to show the product but I declined and they left. Their product was junk! Weeds started to grow where the guy left the stuff. I recently saw the same type of guys doing the same thing about a month ago but I don't answer my door to solicitors anymore.

People seriously need to learn to not answer their door for strangers. No wonder home burglary is so goddamn high in this city.

This is why I don't tolerate strangers coming to my door unless they are delivering mail or something I ordered. I don't need help spending my money.

agreeing to a job without an estimate is crazy

Ask for their contractor's license. If they don't have one, tell them to get lost.

I never give door knockers any time because my scam alarm instantly goes off I rather not risk it even if they’re not

This scam has been around since the 90s. They used to do it with grass and flowers.

That's why you always sign a contract first. Word of mouth can change very quickly and very drastically, and scammers have no morals so they will change their word on a whim.

Police: Everything is a civil matter, crime is no longer a thing. People: Seems to us, then, that everything just became a 2A matter.

For someone that has $2500 to just give away, he didn’t seem to use the most common sense.

I wouldn't have paid a penny. You think a scammer is actually going to file paperwork with their information on it? LMAO. No, it's free lawn work.

At that point, the police was in on the scam.

Terrible! No thank you is my response to the laborers that knock on my door. Same story, only it was “extra material from a driveway next door.” If I didn’t call you, and seek for these services I will not employ you!

Take them to court.

Not so smart after all. Never open the door for a stranger.

I don't understand .. if someone demanded money from me I would tell them to get off my property and I will call the police.

Grifters. Never ever ever hire anyone who comes to your door. They are not legit, just like the Travelers.