{"id":2444831,"date":"2019-05-31T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/scam-in-steamboat-tries-to-charge-business-2500-after-children-clean-up-parking-lot\/"},"modified":"2019-05-31T12:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T18:40:00","slug":"scam-in-steamboat-tries-to-charge-business-2500-after-children-clean-up-parking-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/scam-in-steamboat-tries-to-charge-business-2500-after-children-clean-up-parking-lot\/","title":{"rendered":"Scam in Steamboat tries to charge business $2,500 after children clean up parking lot"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"944\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/AT-crime-944x556-AT.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/AT-crime-944x556-AT.jpg 944w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/AT-crime-944x556-AT-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/AT-crime-944x556-AT-768x452.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A local business fell prey to an attempted scam this week involving a group of young children and a man who claims to be the father of one of the children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Steamboat Springs Police Department officers received a civil complaint Wednesday from a business in the 1500 block of 13th Street that was charged more than $2,500 after the children picked up trash in the parking lot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The children appeared to be around 10 years old and not associated with any particular club or organization, according to police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Employees at the business refused to pay what the man demanded, so no criminal charges have been filed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to a Facebook post from the Routt County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the man involved in the scam contacted other businesses offering similar cleaning services but did not disclose the exorbitant costs upfront.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commander Annette Dopplick said the Police Department has received one complaint so far. She added that such incidents, which she called \u201chome improvement scams,\u201d are common this time of year when residents and business owners are tidying up and renovating after the winter season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In Steamboat, the most common of these scams involve people offering to repair people\u2019s driveways or replace the windows in their homes, according to Dopplick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">People can take a few simple steps to recognize these kind of scams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIf you\u2019re going to have work done for any kind of monetary compensation, that\u2019s something you want to have in writing,\u201d Dopplick said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Making arrangements in advance about the costs of any work will help to avoid disagreements or surprises after the project is done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">People can also pick out some telltale signs that they are dealing with scammers. These individuals often pressure potential customers into accepting the service immediately and ask for money upfront.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cDon\u2019t be so eager for a good deal because these are often scams,\u201d Dopplick said. \u201cIf it feels like it\u2019s wrong, it usually is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">To reach Derek Maiolo, call 970-871-4247, email <a href=\"mailto:dmaiolo@SteamboatPilot.com\">dmaiolo@SteamboatPilot.com<\/a> or follow him on Twitter @derek_maiolo.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/scam-in-steamboat-tries-to-charge-business-2500-after-children-clean-up-parking-lot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A local business fell prey to an attempted scam this week involving a group of young children and a man who claims to be the father of one of the children. Steamboat Springs Police Department officers received a civil complaint Wednesday from a business in the 1500 block of 13th Street that was charged more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 02:20:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}