Afternoon update.
The NSW Government’s department of Fair Trading is warning Orange residents to beware of three con men offering their business services through random door knocking.
The travelling con men are understood to be targeting elderly and vulnerable Orange residents, offering to undertake household jobs even though they are not qualified or licensed to do so.
According to NSW Fair Trading's director of investigations David Byrne, con man Matthew Devine has already been seen in Orange and is thought to be travelling with associates Christopher Mark Conner and Lauren Kes Gavin.
Fair trading has warned that the men, who have a mix of Irish and English accents, operate under a variety of names.
Mr Byrne said the three men work individually and as a group and make suggestions about jobs that need to be done, in the hope that their victims will okay the work on the spot.
He said the elderly who are home during the day are more vulnerable, because they don’t always have their support networks around.
"Sometime the elderly are happy to part with their money if they think they're getting a good job done."
"The issue is a lot of the time the work doesn't need to be done in the first place," he said.
"In other cases payments are made and then the work is not done."
Mr Byrne warned people to "steer clear" of anyone operating without a license number and reminded potential clients to check all of their workers' qualifications before employing them.
Read the full story in tomorrow’s Central Western Daily.