The tarmac scam is a confidence trick in which criminals sell fake or shoddy tarmac (asphalt) and drivewayresurfacing. It is particularly common in Europe but practiced worldwide.[1][2] Other names include the paving scam, 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]
Method
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]
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]
