Alert: Security System Scammers Come Knocking

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - Home and business owners with alarm systems already installed are being targeted by scammers.

It's a perennial problem as the weather warms up.

So-called "summer door knockers" are security system reps who began coming around this time of year hinting that they're with your alarm company and telling you your alarm system needs an upgrade.

You're then asked to sign some papers.

Said Guardian Alarm Company General Manager Karen Majesky, "Then, it happens immediately. They call them on the phone and within an hour an installer is there and changes out their system."

Majeksy said homeowners don't realize that they've signed up with an entirely new company that will monitor their alarm system.

Majesky said this has happened to customers throughout metro Detroit.

She recommends asking for identification, and then calling your alarm company before you agree to anything.

"That's how we usually find out that they're back in town... our customers start calling us. And they say, I have this person in my living room, or this person at my door, telling me that they need to upgrade my system."

Majesky said, in the case of Guardian, representatives never show up unannounced and they always carry identification.