Roofing Rip-Off Horror Stories, Vol. 3: Three Roofing Scams From Texas to Florida That Cost Homeowners Over $600,000

Photo: CH L / Unsplash

This is the third entry in our Roofing Rip-Off Horror Stories series — real, documented cases of homeowners who hired the wrong roofer. Every story here is pulled from court records, official press releases, or on-the-record news reporting and verified against the primary source.

Case 1: $500,000+ Taken, $1.5 Million in Penalties (Collin County, Texas)

Gilad Rubinsky ran Rubinsky Roofing LLC in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office found a pattern: Rubinsky collected payment — including insurance proceeds homeowners were counting on — then repeatedly postponed or abandoned the roofing jobs he'd been paid for. One customer paid more than $24,000 for a replacement roof that was never installed.

On October 5, 2026, the 429th District Court in Collin County signed a default judgment against Rubinsky: 27 violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, five of them against homeowners 65 and older. The judgment ordered $500,626.64 in restitution to victims and $1.52 million in civil penalties. A permanent injunction now bars Rubinsky from the practices and requires any future Texas roofing contracts he's part of to state a project start and completion date up front.

Source: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, official press release, October 8, 2026.

Case 2: 13 Victims, Two Fake Names (Miami-Dade County, Florida)

John Luis McQueen ran a company called Champion Roof Consultants, Inc. in Miami-Dade County — except he wasn't a licensed contractor, and in several of his dealings he wasn't even using his real name.

Between March 2018 and August 2019, McQueen took between $5,450 and $12,900 from each of his victims, using the aliases "Jeff Nash" and "Jeffrey McQueen" to obscure who homeowners were actually paying. Some victims said he never performed any work and never returned their calls after being paid. Others said he took their money, did unfinished or damaging work, then sent threatening messages when they followed up.

Miami-Dade police originally identified four victims. By the time McQueen was arrested on an outstanding warrant in March 2024, that number had grown to 13 victims, totaling roughly $103,000 — on charges of organized scheme to defraud, identification fraud, grand theft, and contracting without a license during a state of emergency.

Source: Amanda Batchelor, Local10.com, March 28, 2024 (via National Insurance Crime Bureau).

Case 3: $15,000 Down, No Crew, Then Silence (Kissimmee, Florida)

Sabah Benkabbou's roof was damaged by wind, and a company called Hurricane Roofer knocked on her door in 2024 offering to help. (It is a different, unrelated business from "Hurricane Roofing and Construction" of Orlando — a reminder that a similar-sounding name proves nothing.) She signed a work authorization letting the company deal with her insurance carrier, waited through her insurance and HOA approval, and handed over a $15,000 deposit.

"He got the check; there was no crew," Benkabbou said. Every time she asked, she got the same answer — "I don't have a crew" — until the company stopped answering her at all. Months later, the leak is still active and spreading water damage across her daughter's bedroom ceiling.

She isn't the only one. The Better Business Bureau gives Hurricane Roofer an F rating with 12 complaints in three years, 10 of them unanswered — several describing the same pattern of a large upfront payment and work that never began. Florida state records list the company as inactive, and at its last known address — a coworking space — a receptionist said Hurricane Roofer moved out in November 2025. Calls to the company now go to a full voicemail box.

Source: News 6 Investigators, ClickOrlando (WKMG), October 12, 2026.

Why This Is How Roofers Rip You Off

Three states, three different setups, same underlying pattern:

• Insurance money is the real target. Rubinsky collected insurance proceeds directly rather than letting the payout follow the work. A legitimate contractor gets paid as the job is completed and inspected — not before.
• A fake or borrowed identity hides the trail. McQueen operated under two aliases; "Jeff Nash" and his own name both appear on different victims' checks. If the name on your contract doesn't match the name on your check, stop.
• State action can take years. McQueen's victims were defrauded in 2018-2019; he wasn't arrested until 2024. Rubinsky's judgment landed in October 2026. A clean record today says nothing about complaints that haven't worked through the system yet.
• Elderly homeowners are targeted specifically. Five of Rubinsky's 27 violations were against victims 65 or older — not an accident, a pattern regulators call out by name.
• "No crew" is a stall, not an excuse. Benkabbou heard it for months before the company went dark entirely. A real roofer with a real crew doesn't need to say it more than once.

Photo: Scott Graham / Unsplash

This is exactly what makes roofing fraudsters so effective: nothing about the pitch — a knock on the door, a company name, a signature on a work authorization — looks any different from the real thing until the money's already gone.

How to Avoid Being the Next Case in This Series

• Never let an insurance payout route directly to the contractor before the work is finished and inspected.
• Confirm the name on your contract matches the name on your license — and the name you're writing the check to.
• Check your state attorney general's consumer-complaint records, not just online reviews — enforcement often lags years behind the actual fraud.
• Verify the company's state business registration is active and that its listed address is a real, current place of business, not a coworking space it's already moved out of.
• If a company tells you "no crew" more than once, that's your answer — stop paying and start documenting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do roofers rip you off most often?

Beyond simply vanishing with a deposit, two patterns show up again and again in enforcement cases: a contractor routing your insurance payout directly to themselves before any work is verified, and a contractor operating under a fake name or alias so the business you're paying isn't the business doing (or not doing) the work.

How do I know if roofing fraudsters are targeting my area?

Check your state attorney general's consumer-protection page and your local Better Business Bureau listing for complaint clusters — not just star ratings. A company with a double-digit unanswered complaint count, or one state enforcement has already acted against in a neighboring county, is a pattern you can check before you sign anything.

Danger Signs to Watch For

Every red flag below is pulled directly from the three cases above — not a generic list:

• Asked for insurance proceeds to be paid directly to them before work was inspected
• Took payment under a name that didn't match the one on their license or contract
• Specifically targeted homeowners 65 and older
• Had state enforcement action pending or already decided against them
• Said "no crew available" more than once after taking a deposit
• Operated from an address — like a coworking space — it had already moved out of
• Had a Better Business Bureau F rating with a double-digit unanswered complaint count
• Showed as "inactive" in state business records while still actively taking deposits

If a roofer matches two or more of these, stop before you sign anything.

This is not the right roofer. If you want a contractor who's actually licensed, actually local, and actually vetted, start with Find The Right Roofer instead of whoever knocks on your door after a storm.