Internet locksmith scams present major threat to security - who knew?

Dune Lawrence at Bloomberg News has written an article which I saw via Cory Doctrow's article at BoingBoing and it turns out that the widespread, spamming-fake-locksmith scams could be an even more serious security issue because the techniques used to hijack entire markets of legitimate locksmiths can also be used to hijack, say, the local Secret Service office.

We all know that these pervasive scams have been a serious security issue for almost a decade now and it's pretty sad that the same old story is still news to some - but at least it's not going unnoticed and it is being reframed and escalated via fresh channels.

That said, there's no better time to redouble our efforts to bring this issue to the forefront of the national consciousness.

REPORT scammers!  This problem is not going away unless we make it go away and there's nothing like a history of willful disregard to make future charges stick.  Make sure we've got that history.

EDUCATE the public.  Talk to your customers and your friends and your mailman and your Grandma. Bring it up at the game and at the backyard BBQ.  Think about all those folks who always want your Professional Advice for Free - have you got a deal for them!

COMMISERATE with your peers.  No matter how futile it feels, if we combine our voices we will make a cacophonous racket!  There are literally more of us than there are of them by a factor of hundreds-if-not-thousands; we need only stand together to be heard.

And what better place to commiserate and stand together with your fellow locksmith than the monthly meeting of your local association?  The MN Chapter of ALOA meets the first Wednesday of every month, September through June at Grumpy's Bar in Roseville.  Details here.

You do not have to be a member of the chapter to attend up to 2 meetings a year.

You do not have to be sponsored or RSVP to attend a meeting.

ALOA Advisory re: Scammers and the Internet

Below the page break is the complete text of the latest Locksmith Fraud alert sent by ALOA to all members - a link to the USDOJ website has been added to the "Fraud News & Resources" menu on the right.

Marketing and Locksmith Scams

Part of the inspiration for the Marketing Arm of the local chapter is the growing prevalence of Phony Locksmiths and Copycats throughout the country and in our region.

In the case of the Phonies - these are businesses (often national) who advertise services that they do not have the expertise to deliver; nor do they have the intention to deliver.

Minnesota has no specific locksmith licensing laws and the victims of the scams do not report the violations to the proper authorities so it is actually nigh impossible to mete out any sort of justice against the Phonies.

The Copycats are out-of-town concerns who deliberately register their business under a name that is very similar to that of an established lock company. Sometimes they even co-opt the address of a fast-food restaurant or gas station nearby to make it appear that they really are that company, or that they are located very nearby.

This is a very difficult situation because as long as the business name is not identical, what they are doing may not actually be illegal. Especially if their 'local address' is a PO box or UPS store.

Copycats may also hijack any internet listing, rerouting the search engine results to their own websites. This is not as difficult to address as the former situation - it may be resolved by password protecting your listing with the major search engines.

The important thing to remember is that there are more properly trained, Professional Locksmiths in this country than there are Phonies and Copycats by a factor of at least 100.

We have the advantage of numbers and integrity; this should not be that hard. Right now an handful of scam artists are damaging the reputation of every professional locksmith in the country and we've only got a handful of professionals giving 110% to try to pull our entire industry out of the mud.

Get involved: Join ALOA, participate in your local chapter, particpate in grassroots campaigns like Legal Locksmith, write an article, tell a friend, link your websites.