At least two homeowners have reported salesmen stopping by their homes unannounced claiming they are there to conduct an upgrade to their alarm system.

According to reports filed with the Picayune Police Department, the complainants said that the representatives stopped by two homes on March 8 and 20 claiming they had an upgrade to the customer’s alarm system. 

However, when the upgrade was completed they later found the representative was not authorized by the company to conduct the upgrade, the report states.

Instead, it appears that the representative was actually there for a competing alarm monitoring company, and instead of “upgrading” the system, the representative switched or attempted to switch the service to the competing company.

Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri advises homeowners to call their alarm company should a representative show up unannounced to be sure an upgrade, or any type of work, was authorized.

According to www.consumer.ftc.gov door-to-door alarm salesmen should be dealt with using caution. 

Some red flags include if they make a limited time offer that must be acted upon immediately. Additionally, the salesman could state that the equipment is free, but looking deeper will discover that an expensive long-term contract must be signed for monitoring services. Another version of the scam includes the salesman claiming that the customer’s current company has gone out of business and their company has taken over the contracts. 

No matter the pitch, the website states the best course of action is to call the alarm company to double check the validity of the salesman’s claims. 

Additionally, avoid letting the sales person inside the home until the claims have been verified to avoid pushy sales pitches.

For more information on the types of scams and how to protect against them, visit http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0195-some-home-security-systems-may-be-scams.