“I need to warn other people of his unprofessional practices,” D’Andrea said.
D’Andrea wants to warn others so they don’t fall victim to a scam and won’t lose money like he did.
D’Andrea, who moved to Aiken from Miami in 2020, didn’t think this would happen to him.
D’Andrea said on Jan. 26, he met a man named William Seamon who said he would do the needed air conditioning work through his company, Buddy’s HVAC Co. Seamon met with D’Andrea wearing a uniform and presented credentials; D’Andrea signed a contract for the work.
D’Andrea was told the cost to get a new air conditioning unit would be $10,000, and he wrote Seamon a check for $5,000; he was told the unit would be installed no later than Feb. 2.
Seamon never came back to do the work.
Federal Trade Commission data shows that consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, according to the FTC website.
Consumers reported losing more than $3.8 billion to investment scams and $2.6 billion to imposter scams, the report said.
D’Andrea filed a complaint with the Aiken Department of Public Safety and was told to file a civil case as well, according to an incident report from Aiken County Department of Public Safety.
D’Andrea filed a lawsuit Feb. 27 with New Ellenton Summary Court, and Magistrate Judge Patrick Dorn Sullivan made a judgment of $5,580 on the case April 28, according to court records obtained from the Aiken Standard.
Seamon was named as the defendant in the lawsuit, and the lawsuit stated that Seamon failed to provide HVAC services as agreed and was in breach of contract, the records show.
D’Andrea said Seamon cashed the check within 10 minutes of receiving it. D’Andrea said Seamon told him he was going to purchase the equipment to do the work and never did.
Five months later, D’Andrea still hasn’t received any of the equipment or had the money returned.
“He has never purchased the equipment and he has made excuse after excuse for over 30 days,” D’Andrea said.
Court documents show Seamon is listed as the owner of Buddy’s HVAC Co. , but the business is not accredited according to the Better Business Bureau website.
“We hired him based on the referral,” D’Andrea said. “We are just really disappointed that we trusted both of these individuals and obviously, we didn’t get the air conditioning unit or money back. It’s a lot of money.”
Lt. Jennifer Hayes with Aiken Department of Public Safety said the department has seen businesses be scammed by outside fraudsters pretending to work for an agency that claims to be completing an audit or looking into alleged fraud inside the business. She also said there was a report of an employee at a business assisting in a fraud.
Hayes said people who fall for these type of scams are often those who can’t physically complete the work themselves.
She said people fall for business scams because the business doing the scamming often portrays their work in a positive light or offers the a service at a reasonable price.
Sometimes the victims fall for the scam because they have a very busy lifestyle and don’t have time to complete the work and having someone else complete the task will save money and time.
Not the first time
New Ellenton Police Chief Shawn Middleton said Seamon, 32 of Jackson, was arrested and charged Dec. 19, 2022 with breach of trust with fraudulent intent, value of more than $2,000 but less than $10,000.
Middleton said Seamon scammed another victim out of $3,100 for similar repairs while posing as the owner of Buddy’s HVAC; he quoted the cost of the work to be $6,731.
Middleton said the victim wrote a check for $3,100 and the work was to supposed to start work in August 2022.
He said on the day the work was scheduled to start, Seamon rescheduled the work to start on Aug. 31, but Seamon never showed up to complete any of the services.
He said the victim asked for the money back, but Seamon didn’t answer phone calls or emails.
Middleton said Seamon was arrested on the breach of trust charge, and was released on bond until he was rearrested by ADPS for domestic violence charge in March.
Middleton said Seamon’s only prior charges are minor traffic violations in 2022.
An increase in scams
Middleton said he has seen an increase of scams in the area in the last four to five months.
“It’s getting to the point in which $3,000 is like chump change, they are taking $64,000,” he said. “I have had some that are over $100,000, these scams.
“You just have to know who you are hiring and who is coming to your house to do work,” he said.
He said that a majority of the time, older people are getting scammed because they tend to trust more.
How to prevent similar scams
After the ordeal, D’Andrea still had to hire another company to install the new air conditioning unit.
“I hope my story prevents it from happening again,” he said.
Capt. Eric Abdullah with Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said if people have doubts about something then they shouldn’t do it.
He recommend that people hang up the phone and call back in order to ask for more information.
“If you are not making the purchase yourself then don’t do it,” he said.
Middleton said people should do a background check on the business or person they’re doing businesses with to make sure it is credible. He said in the city of New Ellenton people have to apply for a business license.
He said no one should ever give someone a large sum of money and should not pay people upfront. Also, don’t let people come to your property unsolicited and ask to do a service.
Middleton said if anyone sees Seamon, they should contact local law enforcement.
“We have been looking for him,” Middleton said.
D’Andrea said next time if he gets a referral he will look for the business online to make sure it’s credible and accredited by the Better Business Bureau. He also said he would ask to see if the person has an EPA card.
“I am positive that if the community takes the steps before hiring an air conditioning company or a technician, they would get this (tips) vital information,” he said. “It will prevent them from having and falling into the same mistakes as us.”
More information
To report a scam to the FTC, visit reportfraud.ftc.gov.
If anyone comes in contact with Seamon, they are asked to call 911 or the New Ellenton Police Department at 803-652-7770.
This content was originally published here.
