Meryl Manthey was a victim of a senior home improvement scam. She was approached by a contractor who worked on small projects in her home. Then big ticket items started breaking, and Manthey says, before she knew it, she was out over $20,000.

“There were a lot of different projects that he would do and next thing you knew something else broke,” said Meryl Manthey.

A wide-spread home improvement scam has been happening in Nassau County. Police say the scammers are falsely reporting damage on people's property and then they damage it even further.

According to law enforcement, 31 home improvement scams have happened in communities throughout Nassau County in 2024, and police say that so far this year, nine arrests have been made.

Bernard Macias, with AARP, says there’s a reason why they are targeting older adults - and that is because they know that's where the money is.

“Reach out to your neighbors and your friends, let’s be preventive and make sure they are not scammed," says NCPD Commissioner Patrick Ryder.