EUCLID, Ohio — It takes just one moment of vulnerability for our personal or financial information to fall into the wrong hands and lose our hard-earned cash.
During this National Consumer Protection Week, Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank is working to keep you and your family one step ahead of the bad actors trying their best to outsmart their targets.
And as we transition from winter to spring, a new season of nefarious schemes is emerging.
Mike sat down with one Euclid woman who lost thousands of dollars to a man who seemed legit, but ended up taking her money and running.
She has an important warning for anyone in Northeast Ohio thinking of knocking out home improvement projects.
Shortly after moving into their Euclid home, Monica Rus and her husband got an idea for their kitchen.
"So, we were hoping to have a door put in, like a patio-type door and then have a little room that goes outside into the backyard," said Rus.
Like many people, Monica turned to the internet to find a contractor to make their sunroom dreams come true.
"I like to give our local people work. He gave us a great estimate and we're like, 'Oh my goodness, we're on our way,'" said Rus.
That was in August of 2022.
Monica wanted the work done by Christmas, and the man said for that to happen, she needed to give him a deposit.
She wrote a check for $4,000.
No materials were ever purchased, and no work was done.
Instead of connecting with a legit contractor, Rus found herself the victim.
Looking back at it now, Rus said she knows that he was just out to get their money from the get-go, and he never had any intention to do the work.
There were a few warning signs that Rus said she missed from the start.
The first was the man was eager to secure the job.
“He was constantly calling us," said Rus.
Another was how he pushed the couple to bust their budget with extras.
"He tried to go a little bit over, like oh, make a big elaborate plan," said Rus.
It was a plan that never panned out, and prompted Rus to contact the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
"If you think you've been ripped off, we'd love to help you. We can't always, but sometimes we can," said Attorney General Dave Yost.
Yost is encouraging property owners to pause when dealing with contractors this spring.
"First of all, if they're in a rush, if they're pushing you, red flag," he said.
Also, be leery of someone who's asking you to pay upfront, pay in cash, or tells you they have extra materials from a job down the street.
"If you get two or three of those red flags, I would run the other way," said Yost.
The bottom line, Yost told News 5, is to do your homework.
Look for complaints with the Better Business Bureau or AG's office, check references, and if you get a sinking feeling in your stomach after you sign a contract, you may have some recourse.
"Under certain circumstances, you're entitled to a 72-hour, what we call, recession period, where you can walk away from a deal even if you signed the contract. So, it's important to know your rights," said Yost.
The empty wall in Rus’s kitchen is a painful reminder of what could have been.
While she said she is embarrassed by all of this, she is sharing her story with the hope that other people don't find themselves in the same position out hard-earned money.
"You know, you think things like that, oh that's never going to happen to me. Well, here we're just trying to add a room and it happened to us so it can happen to anybody," said Rus.
News 5 is teaming up with the Better Business Bureau and other agencies to answer your consumer-related questions.
We're hosting a phone bank on Thursday during Good Morning Cleveland.
Experts will discuss ways to protect your identity, how to file complaints about businesses and more.
