WANGARATTA police are urging the community to remain on guard for dodgy 'bitumen bandits' that they believe are operating in the area.
Police say the scammers generally attend local businesses or residential addresses, and ask to bituminize their driveway or carparks.
Scammers will tell victims they have leftover bitumen or gravel from contract jobs and claim the job will be cheap.
"Some people get sucked in and it ends up being useless (bitumen), it starts to crumble and they get the clean-up bill rather than anything else," Sergeant Brian McCormick of Wangaratta police said.
He said the businesses are often impossible to trace and there will be no names attached to the company or owners.
"If someone approaches you and asks to do your driveway for ex-amount, there's supposed to be a 10 day cooling off period before they start, according to Consumer Affairs Victoria," he said.
"But that’s not how they operate, they'll do it and then they're gone."
