Engineering:Tarmac scam

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Short description: Confidence trick
Genuine road resurfacing, Australia

The tarmac scam is a confidence trick in which criminals sell fake or shoddy tarmac (asphalt) and driveway resurfacing. It is particularly common in Europe but practiced worldwide.[1][2] Other names include tarmacking, the asphalt scam, driveway fraud or similar variants. Non-English names include "Truffa dell'asfalto" (Italian), "Teerkolonne" (German) and "faux bitumeurs" (French).[3][4][5]

Method

A conman typically goes door-to-door, claiming to be a builder working on a contract who has some leftover tarmac, and offering to pave a driveway at a low cost.[2][6]

The paving is in fact often simply gravel chippings covered with engine oil,[2] or not the right depth and type of materials to form a lasting road surface.[3] Milk has been used to make a fake sealant.[7][8]

The conmen may target elderly, vulnerable residents,[9][10][11] and claim to be official contractors working on roadworks to add credibility.[12] Reported escalation has included increasing the cost, claiming that the job has required more material than expected, and making threats.[13][14][15]

Criminals

Rathkeale, County Limerick, Ireland, the base of many tarmac scam gangs

Tarmac fraud is particularly associated with the Rathkeale Rovers and other gangs from the Irish traveller community.[16][17][1][18] The organiser of the scheme may lead a gang of low-paid workers,[3] or human trafficking victims.[19][20][8] Cases have been reported since the 1980s.[9][21][22][23]

Irish crime reporter Eamon Dillon, an expert on the gangs involved, interviewed a builder who worked with a gang who said that they had custom-built lorries which could never do a proper job: "a proper tarring lorry will have sixty jets, our tar lorries have eight".[3] In another case, the equipment was rented in Romania and then never returned.[1] Another gang used a lorry with Highways Agency branding.[13]

The relative mundanity of tarmacking may have made it a low priority for law enforcement.[2][8] Dillon has estimated that the scheme may earn up to $140 million a year[2] and that in 2010 there were 20 gangs active in Italy alone, earning €2 million a week.[24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dillon, Eamon. "'From Africa to Iceland, Norway to New Zealand, Rathkeale Rovers' Travellers have dealt in everything from tarmac to rhino horn'". https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/world-crime/from-africa-to-iceland-norway-to-new-zealand-rathkeale-rovers-travellers-have-dealt-in-everything-from-tarmac-to-rhino-horn-40059841.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Homans, Charles (17 March 2014). "The Dead Zoo Gang: On the trail of international horn thieves". https://magazine.atavist.com/dead-zoo-gang/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dillon, Eamon (2013). Gypsy empire: uncovering the hidden world of Ireland's Travellers. London. pp. 204–213. ISBN 9781848271692. https://books.google.com/books?id=mcqRAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA204. Retrieved 11 September 2021. 
  4. ↑ Willsher, Kim; Carroll, Rory (8 September 2021). "Eight men convicted in French court for trafficking rhino horn and ivory". https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/08/eight-men-convicted-in-french-court-for-trafficking-rhino-horn-and-ivory. 
  5. ↑ "Les faux "bitumeurs irlandais" enrobent de nouvelles victimes". https://www.lindependant.fr/2012/05/28/les-bitumeurs-irlandais-de-retour,141418.php. 
  6. ↑ Mead, Matthew. "Tarmac Scam Operating in North Shropshire". Bomere Heath & District Parish Council. https://www.hugofox.com/community/bomere-heath-district-parish-council-10134/news/tarmac-scam-operating-in-north-shropshire-11920. 
  7. ↑ "Tomney family from Cleveleys jailed for driveway fraud". BBC News. 7 November 2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15622785. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Day, Tim. ""What's going on 'ere, then?" An empirical exploration of the anatomy of rogue trading incidents". University of Portsmouth. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/whats-going-on-ere-then. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mandelstam, Michael (2013). Safeguarding adults and the law (2nd ed.). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 9780857006264. https://books.google.com/books?id=gInmd8VDlIsC&pg=PA616. Retrieved 11 September 2021. 
  10. ↑ "Stanleys convicted in paving scams". https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/local-news/2010/12/27/9-stanleys-convicted-in-paving-scams/. 
  11. ↑ Alt, Betty Sowers (2004). Fleecing grandma and grandpa : protecting against scams, cons, and frauds. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 9780275981792. https://books.google.com/books?id=-wQlCXZllv8C&pg=PA26. Retrieved 11 September 2021. 
  12. ↑ "Tarmac scam". 4 May 2006. https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/archive/tarmac-scam-04-05-2006/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Penman, Andrew (5 September 2018). "Meet the conman who took the old driveway resurfacing scam to new lows". https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/meet-conman-who-took-old-13196911. 
  14. ↑ "Tarmac Scam Warning". http://news.wales/news/14572-tarmac-scam-warning.html. 
  15. ↑ "Tarmac scam artists continue". https://www.farmersjournal.ie/tarmac-scam-artists-continue-155913. 
  16. ↑ Higginbotham, Adam (2 January 2014). "The Irish Clan Behind Europe's Rhino-Horn Theft Epidemic". Bloomberg.com. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-02/the-irish-clan-behind-europes-rhino-horn-theft-epidemic#p3. Retrieved 5 March 2014. 
  17. ↑ Foy, Ken. "From rhino horn theft to tarmac scams and now forged Covid test results – the Rathkeale Rovers gang's criminal reach extends worldwide". Independent. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/from-rhino-horn-theft-to-tarmac-scams-and-now-forged-covid-test-results-the-rathkeale-rovers-gangs-criminal-reach-extends-worldwide-40041966.html. 
  18. ↑ Dillon, Eamon. "Arrest warrants issued for Irish trio in France after being convicted over tarmacking scam". https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/arrest-warrants-issued-for-irish-trio-in-france-after-being-convicted-over-tarmacking-scam-40690344.html. 
  19. ↑ Simpson, John; Schlesinger, Fay. "British men trafficked abroad by slave gangs". https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-men-trafficked-abroad-by-slave-gangs-xr70v3wmmwv. 
  20. ↑ Holt, Alison (February 2012). "British men forced into 'modern slavery' abroad". BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16836065. 
  21. ↑ "Gypsy Paver Season Here". Michigan Roads & Construction. 5 June 1980. https://archive.org/details/sim_michigan-roads-and-construction_1980-06-05_77_23/page/3/mode/1up?q=fullilove. 
  22. ↑ "Gang in pounds 2m tarmac fraud jailed". 5 October 1994. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/gang-in-pounds-2m-tarmac-fraud-jailed-1441296.html. 
  23. ↑ "Honours for work of police officers". 9 May 2002. https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7350784.honours-for-work-of-police-officers/. 
  24. ↑ Dillon, Eamon. "Irish travellers from Rathkeale hit Italian and French householders in tarmac scam". https://www.dilloninvestigates.com/2010/02/irish-travellers-rathkeale-hit-italian-french-householders-tarmac-scam/. 



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