He is stealing our calls somehow

[Pintickler]

I work for a very well known locksmith outfit that has been operating in our area for at least 15 years. There is a guy that shows up to our calls before we get there and claims to be us. His vehicle is unmarked and has out of state tags. We don't know how he's intercepting the calls. The customer in every case claims to be 100% sure they only called us. And it's always the same guy that shows up.
We have heard many interesting things about this knucklehead from our customers. Not only is he stealing from us somehow, he's also giving us a bad name by claiming to be us, and ripping off our customers. Any ideas on what can be done to stop this guy ?

[Squelchtone]

Are you radio dispatching your trucks around the city or using an old cordless phone around the shop? He could be using a police scanner to listen to your radio traffic.

Call your business number yourselves and go through the paces of whatever it is you normally do to get a locksmith to the customer address and see if the guy shows up.

Interesting stuff..

Squelchtone

[Steelbacks]

Personally I'd get some friends who are close by your shop to ring in needing a locksmith from time to time. They don't need to need a locksmith, just place a call and be at home for an hour or so. Handle the call like any other and just see if the guy turns up. Get your friend(s) to contact you if he shows up and have a way to stall him while you get round there and politely ask him what the fv<k he's doing.

I'd get your friend to take his vehicle details too. Surely he's committing an offence of some kind? Giving his vehicle licence plate number to police would help them ID the guy and maybe put a stop to his antics?! If the police can't do anything, isn't he misrepresenting himself (claiming to be you) and therefore breaking some trading law? Do you have anything like Trading Standards? In the UK they can do all sorts to people/businesses who try to rip people off, misrepresent their business or products, sell fake goods, etc. have you spoken to any other locksmiths? Maybe this has happened to other businesses too?

Hope this gets sorted soon!

[billdeserthills]

I would get the license plate from his vehicle. Hire a private detective to trace his plate and get all his information, where he lives etc. Explain your problem to the detective and set him loose
As soon as the detective discovers how the guy is doing this you'll be ready to do some suing, in court

[Pintickler]

Those are all good ideas. We do have some theories on how he's getting the calls but the owner of our company is convinced that the guy can't be stopped unless we literally photograph him wearing one of our uniforms or catch him driving around with our sign on his van.
Our company's name ( I'm not sure if I should say what it is ) is kind of synonymous with the word "locksmith". Therefore this guy can plausibly claim he only said he was us because he thought the customer was asking if he was a locksmith.
As far as stopping him from getting our calls in the first place, people in other states that work for the corporation in a dispatch office can, at least some of the time, see all the info about one of our calls as soon as it gets sent to the locksmith. In other words people we do not even know could be just sending this guy all the info he needs as fast as we get it.
Our owner,computer geek that he is, hired a guy to come in and shore up our system and make us more hack resistant. That seems not to have been the problem though because the guy is still at it.

[billdeserthills]

I know many folks are unacustomed to using a detective, prolly mainly due to a poor showing in the movies, but a good private eye can be a real help, especially when your business gets bad checks and you need more info than you have now. I think a good private eye will have ideas you have not yet even considered, most will be happy to do a free consulting just like most lawyers will. The private detective is usually the first place an attorney goes to find the info needed to solve cases.

[Squelchtone]

So it no longer sounds like you guys are just a brick and mortar locksmith shop with a couple vans and a half dozen guys. Are you like Pop-a-Lock where there's 200 guys driving around the entire state doing lockouts all day? It could very well be he has a friend in that office out of state like you said who texts him leads on the sly.

Could you explain more about your company (PM me if you dont want to give anything away) I think its a bit of movie fantasy if your boss thinks some locksmith cowboy has hacked your computer systems and watches your work orders remotely. Do you radio dispatch your cars/vans, per my question in an earlier reply?

Squelchtone

[bioggy]

There are many ways to intercept, for instance there is surveillance equipment out there that can be placed just in the room. Best thing to do would be place fake call in to one of the employees homes or dispatch to different team members first to see if they are reporting it.

Always worth sweeping your office for bugs, or as squelch said perhaps they are scanning radio waves.

That is my 2 cents not very knowledgable in this sort of area, hope you sort it out though.

[cledry]

Back in the day before cell phones we used 2 way radios and had the same problem. One visit from Big Bob Lucas and that problem was stopped instantly.

[ckc123]

if your going to setup a sting, then ensure it's recorded (use a cell phone with audio recording) and ensure they ask quesitons which can identify if the person heard the actual conversation. eg mention / question some specfic words. if they respond with the right answer then you know its more along the lines of a recorded/intercepted call. (vs one passed on by a 3rd party). a recording of his visit will also help the cops.. try to get they guy to identify himself as being from your company (via audio) also ask for a receipt which may be forged to appear from your company etc.

[ckc123]

also check out your company online, see if he's setup a fake website which his contact info..

[Legion303]

if your going to setup a sting, then ensure it's recorded (use a cell phone with audio recording)

Depending on your state (and sometimes city or county), recording audio without the consent of the person being recorded is illegal.

[blue60]

I would recommend hiring a PI to look into it, they know the law's and you can take the findings to court.

[deralian]

I'm interested in your business set up to. Almost all of the shops in our city are smaller, maybe a half dozen vehicles at best. Most are owner operator. We have pop-a-lock here and they are the only ones I can think of that might have their phones ring to some sort of call center. (Well other than the scammer numbers that have been popping up the last few years. )

[sentientsentinel]

I would document a couple stolen calls and send him a cease and desist letter on lawyer letterhead if he continues sue him for defamation and stealing remember that your entitled to trebble damages.I would also get down to the bottom of how he intercepts your customers just so it doesn't happen again.