Homeowners are being warned to watch for overseas criminals posing as bogus emergency locksmiths who lure customers who have been locked out of homes with cheap call-out fees before slapping them with $1000-plus bills.

The Master Locksmiths Association says people are being caught out by a fresh scam targeting those who find themselves unable to get into their home and opt for a cheap callout quote. The scammers then add fake charges amounting to hundreds of dollars and refuse entry into the house until they are paid.

Association president Martin Coote said the fake workers were unqualified and would often smash the lock and surrounding doors, leaving victims intimidated, especially when they were alone.

The scams were mainly in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, though there have been cases in regional areas, said Coote.

“When you do an online search for a locksmith, you’ll see paid ads for so-called emergency or 24/7 locksmiths, but some of these are scammers,” Coote said.

“While legitimate locksmiths do emergency call-out work, they don’t sit in cars on the street waiting for the phone to ring, so be very careful when the ad focuses on 24/7 emergencies and quotes low prices.”

He said the scammers usually arrived in unmarked vehicles and wore no uniform.

“While the quoted fee is usually between $35 and $120, they add fake charges that make the final bill many hundreds, and often more than a thousand dollars,” Coote said.

Those seeking their services were often caught by legitimate-looking websites offering emergency, 24/7 locksmith services with low prices and quick services and featured fake reviews.

Coote said overseas-based criminals paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for their website to appear at the top of Google searches, which he claimed “gives an indication of how much they are making”.

People were advised to look out for websites that list only as 24/7 or emergency locksmiths and don’t look local, which could be indicated by a reliance on stock images, no “about” section or mention of who ran the company, and no address listed - or a fake one.

He said similar scams in Australia were being followed closely by police and consumer affairs investigators, but New Zealand authorities were “lagging behind”.

“The police and Government can do something about this, and we want to raise awareness so that they act and the public is protected.”

A police spokesperson said they were not aware of instances of this happening. However, they would encourage anyone engaging the services of a locksmith to do their due diligence to ensure the person they were contracting was reputable and a legitimate business.