Brothers Matty and James Rossiter and Dean Smith filmed themselves bragging about their scam, which involved preying mainly on elderly people. The fraudsters would target people that they perceived to be vulnerable, telling them that their roof needed fixing and massively overcharging for substandard work.
The trio would target people online through Facebook and their own websites as well as by knocking on doors to falsely claim that work needed to be completed on their homes. They operated under multiple business names, including Enterprise Roofing. The rogue traders were listed on Checkatrade under that name, even after legal proceedings had been brought against them. A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, was targeted after finding Enterprise Roofing listed in a Checkatrade leaflet.
She said that Matty Rossiter had initially quoted her £24,500 for a small repair to her roof. She was able to negotiate it down to £17,500 but, after the work was started, Enterprise Roofing kept identifying more work that they claimed needed to be completed. The woman said that the work was substandard and that she had to fork out an additional £11,500 for repairs and £500 for a surveyor. She managed to get her £17,500 refunded from Enterprise Roofing after threatening them with legal action, but she felt that the additional £11,500 she paid was probably a needless expense.
Another victim, Darren Collins, said that he was charged £4,200 for three hours of roofing work after seeing an advert on Facebook. He said that Enterprise Roofing had the Checkatrade logo on their leaflets. Mr Collins said that the rogue traders had been “intimidating” and demanded upfront payments.
The three men admitted to multiple offences, with Matty and James Rossiter pleading guilty to fraud by false representation and participating in a fraudulent business. They were sentenced to two years and three months and three years and four months respectively. Dean Smith was handed a sentence of three years after admitting to participating in a fraudulent business.
Following their conviction, they were also ordered to pay compensation of £35,265.83 to seventeen victims under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
This value was calculated based on the amount originally defrauded from the victims as well as costs for repairs.
Trading standards advises that everyone takes steps to avoid rogue traders, including avoiding engaging with cold callers and researching traders’ websites to ensure that they are legitimate before employing them.
If you have any doubts about whether your property needs work done to it, ask a Chartered Surveyor to assess the problem. An independent Chartered Surveyor will survey the defective area and give you a professional opinion on the work needed to properly address the problem and discuss with you the likely cause of the issue.