Clearwater, FL – Deceptive sales practices by a national locksmith chain based in Tampa Bay, was busted by federal agents who stormed the headquarters of “Dependable Locks,” seizing computers and documents and arresting one of its owners for alleged money laundering.
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“This reaches throughout the United States,” said Doug Smith with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the agency to raid the office. “Clearwater…is where a lot of the employees were working, basically in a call center-type scenario.”
Despite hundreds of complaints to dozens of different state agencies, it took a collective effort from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Missouri Attorney General, and Clearwater Police to bring the company down because locksmiths are unregulated in 36 states, including Florida.
Investigators arrested one of the owners of “Dependable Locks,” Moshe Aharoni, charging him with federal mail fraud. An affidavit accuses Aharoni, 28, and fellow owner David Peer, 31, of laundering money from over a hundred locksmiths across the county through Postal Service money orders. A federal warrant is out for Peer’s arrest.
The affidavit also accuses the owners of instructing their more than 100 employees – many of whom were Israeli nationals in the U.S. without work visas – how to overcharge and deceive customers. Customers needing to have cars unlocked were quoted a price of $54 by telephone dispatchers, but the actual charge turned out to be $179. The Better Business Bureau gave the company an “F” rating because of hundreds of complaints received over the past two years.
The bust was months in the making, and more arrests are expected. A St. Louis man – Eliyahu Barhanun, 29 – was arrested in a simultaneous sting in Missouri.
“More complaints will come in,” Smith continued, “and you’ve got to remember, these are allegations, so there’s more investigating to do.”
To protect yourself in the future, look around for a reputable locksmith now. It will help prevent you from being taken advantage of in case of emergency.
The Associated Locksmiths of America provides a list of member locksmiths at www.findalocksmith.com.
Scary that these people also have keys to get into your homes.
The fox watching the henhouse
Use CHAVERIM or AAA.
This is really getting absurd my husband is a reputable locksmith and will never overcharge anyone if anything he undercharges. This messes up people’s reputation and the reputations of jewish locksmith’s. What ever happened to honest good work?
Israelis are replacing the Russians in terms of corrupt business practices. They want fast and easy money and they will go at any length to cheat you out of your money.
You can call the yellow cab as well.They charge $25r $35.
All I can say is that its about time they went after these cockroaches. It is only the tip of the iceburg but its a start. These people have probably ripped off 100,000 people or more across the country. Dont let your guard down the scam continues just as strong as before. Since looking deep into this situation I have noticed that there are many Israeli scams going on in other industrys also. They are: Carpet cleaning, Furnace duct cleaning, Flowers on line, Moving, tow truck, And even those little kiosks in the malls around christmas selling cheap products such as dead sea salts for out rageous prices. Some say it is the Mossad. Some people around the world say us americans are stupid. We must be if we allow this kind of stuff to go on and grow to such large proportions. By the way I am not an anti semite or anything like that, so dont shoot the messenger.
after living mostly with israelis and in israel and speaking hebrew i have learned one thing : 90 % of israelis are dishonest and liars….. i dont even want to talk about russian jews.