Wyndham council has warned residents to be on the lookout for people pretending to conduct questionnaires and surveys on its behalf.
The incidents, which are believed to have begun in the second half of 2023 and have increased in regularity since the new year, involve door knockers approaching random homes and claiming to representing Wyndham council.
Residents are then asked to complete a series of questions about their level of satisfaction with council services and performance.
In recent weeks the door knockers appear to have targeted homes in Tarneit and after being contacted by a number of residents from the suburb, Wyndham council was forced to distance itself from the practice.
“Wyndham City has advised residents that council is currently not conducting any surveys or questionnaires and residents should not allow anyone they do not know into their homes,” said a council spokesperson.
“Residents are advised to contact police if they have any concerns.”
Wyndham police say they have not yet received any complaints about the fake surveys, but comments below Wyndham council’s statement posted on its Facebook page show plenty of locals have encountered them.
Among them is Werribee resident Lisa Heinrichs.
“It was late on a Sunday afternoon” said Ms Heinrichs of when one of the door knockers arrived at her home in October.
“The guy came walking up to my front door, knocked on the door. He was just dressed like a regular guy with a backpack and he said that he worked for council and wanted to ask questions for a survey.”
He didn’t get the chance.
Thinking it an odd time for a council survey and noticing he had no uniform, name tag, lanyard or anything official, Ms Heinrichs asked the door knocker for ID .
“He looked at me like I’d asked some stupid question and fidgeted around. He didn’t have any so I told him to leave,” she said.
“He sort of mumbled a little bit and then just left.”
Ms Heinrichs reported the incident to both council and police, though didn’t receive a response from the latter.
She said the incident didn’t bother her, but did leave her concerned for others.
“I was worried about other people in the street that he might get inside their house or they would give him personal information. There’s an elderly lady who lives on her own and doesn’t speak a lot of English so she could’ve been vulnerable.”
