Two British men are set to be charged with fraud by police investigating a series of alleged roofing scams in Auckland.
The men, aged 30 and 27, were arrested last night.
One man was arrested near Marton, in the Rangitikei district, and the other was later arrested in Whanganui.
They are due to appear in the Whanganui District Court later today, facing fraud charges.
Police said they are still making enquiries into the alleged scams and cannot rule out further arrests.
Detective Senior Sergeant Bridget Doell says the arrests were a reminder to members of the public to be cautious about suspicious approaches by people offering to do maintenance work on their homes.
"We encourage everyone to immediately report any suspicious behaviour to Police by calling 111," she said.
Numerous people have contacted the Herald in recent weeks claiming they have been victims of roofing scams.
Eighty-two-year-old Greenlane resident Heidrun Leonard believes a trio of the unruly tourists scammed her out of almost $9000, claiming they would fix her roof but instead leaving a hole in her ceiling.
Leonard said the tradesmen knocked on her door on January 4, saying they had noticed from the street there was a leak in her roof that needed repairs.
The man - who was with two other men - told Leonard they would not only fix the tiles on her roof but also install two dehumidifiers inside her home.
However, they needed upfront money to do so.
"You have to give us $8800, and once we have done the job, you will get the $8800 back," Leonard said the men told her.
She wrote the cheque they then cashed at the bank.
The next morning they came back to her house and cut a rectangular hole in her ceiling, before fleeing when Leonard's neighbour arrived and began asking questions.
Leonard told Newshub that she recognised one of the three from the rowdy British tourist group when she saw photos.
West Auckland resident Tania Matthews also claimed she was "duped" out of $1700 by two men who agreed to waterblast and paint her roof.
They left it a patchy mess, with splatters on the chimney, side of the house and even their car.
The men first approached her on January 7.
They had been working on a property across the road, had a ute full of equipment, and looked and sounded "like they knew what they were doing", Matthews said.
After inspecting the roof, one of the men, who called himself Patrick and had an Irish accent, according to Matthews, came back with a quote of $1700 for a waterblast, coat of primer and two top coats.
Matthews agreed and they got to work.
But not long after, the men told Matthews they had finished the job, saying it took less time than expected, because it was a hot day.
Matthews soon discovered the men had done a poor job and the next day found out a neighbour had also paid the men $750 for waterblasting and weeding.
"But it looked like they had not done anything," she said.
The following day Matthews saw the men's ute parked outside another house. Her husband then confronted them and grabbed their car keys, before calling police.
The men fled on foot.
Matthews said the elderly man living in the house told her he had paid them $2500 for a roofing job.
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