Locksmith technicians charged for overcharging scam

KSDK -- A Creve Coeur locksmith and two others from Florida face federal charges involving a scam to overcharge customers for locksmith services, Acting US Attorney Michael W. Reap said.

According to court documents, two Clearwater, Florida men, 31-year-old David Peer and 28-year-old Moshe Aharoni, were each charged with conspiracy to recruit and employ aliens not authorized to work in the United States, mail and wire fraud, and engaging in financial transactions to promote unlawful activity. The Creve Coeur man, 29-year-old Eliyahu Barhanun, was charged with a felony violation of structuring financial transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Consumer complaints filed by customers in Missouri indicated a pattern of fraudulent price quoting and overcharging by locksmith technicians. In more than half of all consumer complaints relating to the locksmith company with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, customers reported that they were quoted a certain price on the phone with a dispatcher but then later charged a significantly higher price by the responding locksmith.

Locksmith technicians would accuse customers who objected to their overcharging of "theft of services," threaten to call the police on the customer, withhold the customer's keys or driver's license, or follow the customer to an ATM machine to ensure payment.

The affidavit also accuses Barhanun, Peer and Aharoni of conspiring with the managers of the locksmith employer to implement a scheme for overcharging for their services.

Each of the aforementioned charges carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000.