The Pennsylvania State Police is currently investigating numerous incidents that have occurred across the Commonwealth regarding power equipment thefts. In almost all of the reported incidents unknown actors from the Baltimore or Philadelphia area have contacted local business that commonly deal in power equipment such as generators, leaf blowers, lawn mowers, chains saws, concrete saws etc.
The suspects will pretend to be a representative from a known construction or contracting company. They will sometimes use a real person’s name or identity and even provide legitimate work order numbers. They will often send a courier or have the victim business deliver the equipment to the Baltimore/Philadelphia area. The subjects will then offload the equipment and will often try the scam again to obtain more equipment from the victim business. The subjects are very bold and demanding thus duping the power equipment dealer into believing that the subjects are legitimate contactors and in immediate need of the requested equipment. The actors often use fraudulent checks as part of this ongoing scam.
Any dealer that receives a call similar in nature is urged to take as much information as possible and relay this information to the police.
It is advised that equipment dealers should verify the legitimacy of any buyer and or company prior to selling on credit or allowing any equipment to leave their possession.