Scam beware

I have recently been made aware of a scam which affected a friend of mine and I thought I'd share it here. 

So my friend wanted her house painted and found a few numbers on various sites.

She contacted a few and eventually settled on a couple of likely lads called Kevin and Chris. Apparently they are well known in the area.

Their quote was middle of the road and they assured her of quality. Indeed she was aware of some of the places they'd worked on. All good so far.

Start dates were given. Then nothing happened for a while. Getting closer to the start date Kevin calls up and says there will be a need for scaffolding. He can arrange it if you want.

Scaffolders come round and then disappear... Time is running out. Eventually a quote comes through... And it's expensive. However, time has nearly run out... The boys are due next week. If you delay then they'll have to come back in 6 months or maybe next year... You can look for someone yourself if you like but do you know anyone??

Anyway, she decided not to risk missing getting the job done and agreed to the quote.

Later on, through another trade she found out that the boys are getting a kick back from the scaffolders hence the eye watering price for the scaffolding. 

The work itself was ok but she was obviously not happy to find out the difference between the scaffolding costs she paid and an estimate from a company in Bounds Green. 

Seems likely this scam occurs more often than one would imagine...