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Denver guide

How to spot a locksmith scam

The scam is old and well documented: a tiny number on the phone, then a big bill once the door is open. The FTC and the Better Business Bureau have both written it up. It keeps working for a simple reason, which is that someone standing outside their own door in the cold doesn't comparison shop.

By John Voll · Last checked October 28, 2026

Call (720) 802-2054Get a locksmith

Single company per request, named on the call, priced up front. Search that name with the Secretary of State · Who pays us

A white front door with a lever lock and a wall light, in morning sun
Ordinary residential hardware. A locksmith can open it without harm and leave it on the door. Photo: Josh Lemmon / Unsplash
On this page
  1. Six signs
  2. Why the search results are crowded with them
  3. At the door
  4. Afterward

Six signs

  • Whoever answers says "locksmith" or "locksmith service" and never gives a company name.
  • The phone quote is $15 to $39, and it turns out to be the trip charge alone.
  • An unmarked vehicle, and no invoice with a company name.
  • An early push to drill a standard lock, followed by a pitch for a new one.
  • The price changes once they're at the door.
  • Cash only.

Why the search results are crowded with them

Map listings for locksmiths have been gamed for years with fake addresses that route calls to dispatchers somewhere far from Denver, and the trade press still covers Google's efforts to clear them out. A listing with a Denver street address doesn't prove there's a shop at that address.

At the door

  1. If the price is higher than the phone number, say no before any work. You owe, at most, the trip charge you agreed to.
  2. Get the legal company name and look it up with the Colorado Secretary of State.
  3. Pay with a card, and take an itemized invoice.

Afterward

File with the Colorado Attorney General (Stop Fraud Colorado, 1-800-222-4444), and dispute the card charge if the work isn't what you agreed to.

What Denver callers ask about this

How do I spot a locksmith scam?

No company name on the phone, a quote that's only the trip charge, an unmarked vehicle, an early push to drill, and a price that rises at the door. See one of those and stop before the work starts.

Related Denver pages

Requests taken from Downtown and LoDo, Capitol Hill, Highlands, Five Points and RiNo, Washington Park, Park Hill and Central Park, Southwest Denver, Green Valley Ranch and Montbello, Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, Arvada, and anywhere else in Denver.

Where these facts come from

  1. Finding a Locksmith, FTC Consumer Information (archived copy, February 2013)
  2. BBB Scam Alert, Locked out? Don't fall for a locksmith scam, Better Business Bureau (July 24, 2020)
  3. How to Spot a Scammer, Associated Locksmiths of America
  4. Is Google Finally Taking Some Action?, Locksmith Ledger (March 21, 2025)
  5. File a consumer complaint (Stop Fraud Colorado), Colorado Attorney General
  6. Business entity and trade name search, Colorado Secretary of State