Tarmac scam

The tarmac scam is a confidence trick in which criminals sell fake or shoddy tarmac (asphalt) and driveway resurfacing. It is particularly common in Europe but practiced worldwide.^[1][2] Other names include the paving scam, tarmacking, the asphalt scam, driveway fraud or similar variants. Non-English names include "Truffa dell'asfalto" (Italian), "Teerkolonne" (German) and "faux bitumeurs" (French).^[3][4][5]

A conman typically goes door-to-door, claiming to be a builder working on a contract who has some leftover tarmac, and offering to pave a driveway at a low cost.^[2][6]

The paving is in fact often simply gravel chippings covered with engine oil,^[2] or not the right depth and type of materials to form a lasting road surface.^[3] Milk has been used to make a fake sealant.^[7][8]

The conmen may target elderly, vulnerable residents,^[9][10][11] and claim to be official contractors working on roadworks to add credibility.^[12] Reported escalation has included increasing the cost, claiming that the job has required more material than expected, and making threats.^[13][14][15]

Tarmac fraud is particularly associated with the Rathkeale Rovers and other gangs from the Irish traveller community.^{[16][17][1][18]} The organiser of the scheme may lead a gang of low-paid workers,^[3] or human trafficking victims.^[19][20][8] Cases have been reported since the 1980s.^{[9][21][22][23]}

Irish crime reporter Eamon Dillon, an expert on the gangs involved, interviewed a builder who worked with a gang who said that they had custom-built lorries which could never do a proper job: "a proper tarring lorry will have sixty jets, our tar lorries have eight".^[3] In another case, the equipment was rented in Romania and then never returned.^[1] Another gang used a lorry with Highways Agency branding.^[13]

The relative mundanity of tarmacking may have made it a low priority for law enforcement.^[2][8] Dillon has estimated that the scheme may earn up to $140 million a year^[2] and that in 2010 there were 20 gangs active in Italy alone, earning €2 million a week.^[24]