The tarmac scam is a confidence trick in which criminals sell fake or shoddy tarmac (asphalt) and driveway resurfacing. It is particularly common in Europe but practiced worldwide. [1] [2] Other names include tarmacking, the asphalt scam, driveway fraud or similar variants. Non-English names include "Truffa dell'asfalto" (Italian), "Teerkolonne" (German) and "faux bitumeurs" (French). [3] [4] [5]
A conman typically goes door-to-door, claiming to be a builder working on a contract who has some leftover tarmac, and offering to pave a driveway at a low cost. [2] [6]
The paving is in fact often simply gravel chippings covered with engine oil, [2] or not the right depth and type of materials to form a lasting road surface. [3] Milk has been used to make a fake sealant. [7] [8]
The conmen may target elderly, vulnerable residents, [9] [10] [11] and claim to be official contractors working on roadworks to add credibility. [12] Reported escalation has included increasing the cost, claiming that the job has required more material than expected, and making threats. [13] [14] [15]
Tarmac fraud is particularly associated with the Rathkeale Rovers and other gangs from the Irish traveller community. [16] [17] [1] [18] The organiser of the scheme may lead a gang of low-paid workers, [3] or human trafficking victims. [19] [20] [8] Cases have been reported since the 1980s. [9] [21] [22] [23]
Irish crime reporter Eamon Dillon, an expert on the gangs involved, interviewed a builder who worked with a gang who said that they had custom-built lorries which could never do a proper job: "a proper tarring lorry will have sixty jets, our tar lorries have eight". [3] In another case, the equipment was rented in Romania and then never returned. [1] Another gang used a lorry with Highways Agency branding. [13]
The relative mundanity of tarmacking may have made it a low priority for law enforcement. [2] [8] Dillon has estimated that the scheme may earn up to $140 million a year [2] and that in 2010 there were 20 gangs active in Italy alone, earning €2 million a week. [24]
A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly impossible, and most members are unable to profit; as such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable and often illegal.
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators at the expense of their victims ".
Rathkeale is a town in west County Limerick, in Ireland. It is 30 km (18 mi) southwest of Limerick city on the N21 road to Tralee, County Kerry, and lies on the River Deel. Rathkeale has a significant Irish Traveller population, and since 1995, almost half the town residents were members of the traveling community. Rathkeale also has the largest concentration of descendants of the German Palatines who immigrated to Ireland in the early 18th century.
Events from the year 1939 in Ireland.
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The Rathkeale Rovers are a group of criminals based in Ireland but operating internationally. They are all members of Ireland's Travelling Community, and use traditional Traveller work such as laying tarmac or home renovation as cover for illegal activities. Their name comes from their links with the town of Rathkeale in Ireland, which has been described as their "base".
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