Only 5% of locksmiths listed in 3 Central Florida phone directories are legitimate, 15% for a 1-page Internet search

Dell Sterling, a Colorado locksmith, was interviewed for a story on locksmith fraud by Denver Post reporter Anthony Bowe. According to Sterling, up to three-fourths of the locksmith listings in phone and internet directories are from a handful of shady firms operating under dozens of names and phone numbers.

That means he believes 25 percent of locksmiths listed are legitimate. I think his number is high especially when he’s including Internet listings. But not having seen any of Denver’s phone directories, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I have, however, seen the three phone directories in Central Florida published by Embarq, AT&T and Verizon. With a total 1791 locksmith listings and only 88 legitimately registered locksmiths, that’s a rate of 5 percent. However, since all the legitimate locksmiths are listed at least once in each directory that would bring the total rate to about 15 percent, if you look in all 3 books and who’s going to do that?

As for the Internet, I checked every link on the first page of a Google search for a locksmith in my own city of Altamonte Springs. There are 31 ads and listings – only 5 locksmith listings are legitimately registered in Seminole or Orange County. So that breaks down to about a rate of 16 percent for the Internet.

My survey broke down as follows for the 31 ads/listings:

Legit - Position of ads/listing on 1st page of Google search
0 --- Top 3 Featured Google ads were all bogus or call centers
1 --- Only 1 of the 10 map ads (A-J) lead to a legitimate locksmith
2 --- Only 2 of the 8 side ads were legit, plus there was 1 school, 1 directory
2 --- 10 listings: 2 legitimate locksmiths, 4 directories, 4 bogus locksmiths

The 4 directory ads led to the same process over again - bogus and legitimate locksmith ads and listings together. Will discuss the directories in another blog.

Two of the questionable locksmith ads actually had local Altamonte addresses, so my husband and I went on a field trip. The first locksmith had the name 24 Hour 1 Day Altamonte Springs Emergency Locksmith. (Geez, don’t think you could squeeze in any more keywords into that name.) Their address on Miller Drive was actually a restaurant supply company that had never heard of them.

The second locksmith, Mack’s Locksmith Service, was legit until December when his state and county registrations ran out. We called the owner Bob Jacko when we couldn't find his street location. He told us it was the address for his storage unit. Jacko is legally registered in Orange County as Bob Jacko Locksmith in Apopka. Since Seminole County is a reciprocal county, Jacko's Orange County registration is perfectly legal.