An off-duty Clark County sheriff’s detective interrupted an alleged scam last week in the east Vancouver Home Depot parking lot.
Detective Kevin Harper was shopping for blueberry plants on Friday when his wife pointed out a man in the store’s parking lot who was applying green gunk over the dents and scratches in another man’s car. He appeared to be in the middle of a common scam, in which the scammer puts gunk on the victim’s car and tells them to leave it on for 24 hours, after which all of the dents and scratches will be fixed. The supposed repairs typically cost $125 cash, but don’t actually do anything to repair the car.
The suspect in the parking lot was about to get money from the car owner when Harper began questioning the suspect.
The man didn’t have a business license or identification on him, and said he worked at an auto body shop that doesn’t appear to exist.
Harper called 911 and told the suspect to wait in the parking lot. The suspect and a woman who was with him, both in their mid-30s, drove away in a white Dodge pickup that had a canopy and California license plates 8Z84049 before Vancouver police arrived. Harper looked up the license and found it associated with an address in Portland that doesn’t exist.
Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Harper at 360-397-2032.
Such scammers are practiced and convincing with their scheme, and they target elderly people, Harper said.
“I think if you keep your eyes open, you see stuff all the time,” Harper said, adding that it helps to be suspicious.
It also helps that his wife, a retired law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service, had him tag along during the shopping trip. Previously, she took him Christmas shopping at J.C. Penney and Harper stopped a man who was trying to pass a counterfeit bill.
