Scam Alert: Imposters Are Cloning Austin’s Affordable Garage Doors in Fremont

We are issuing this notice to protect our Fremont and East Bay neighbors. A copycat website appears to be impersonating Austin’s Affordable Garage Doors, the real, locally owned business run by Austin Little here in Fremont, California. If you searched for us online and landed on a site or phone number that does not match the details below, please read this carefully before you let anyone into your home or hand over a credit card.

This is general consumer-protection information, not legal advice. We are sharing the facts we can verify from public records and listings so you can make a safe, informed choice.

The one phone number that is really us

There is only one legitimate phone number for Austin’s Affordable Garage Doors:

• Real business: Austin’s Affordable Garage Doors
• Owner: Austin Little
• Real phone: (510) 694-9699
• Real Yelp listing: yelp.com/biz/austins-affordable-garage-door-fremont-3

We are not affiliated with a copycat phone number, or with anyone else using our name or address. If you reached someone at a copycat number believing it was us, you were not speaking with Austin or our team.

What the imposter site appears to have done

According to public domain and listing records, a website at austinsaffordablegaragedoors.com was registered on September 17, 2025 through the registrar WebNic and appears to be hosted on HosterPK using Pakistan-based nameservers, with the registrant’s identity hidden behind privacy redaction. That site copied our real business name and our real address (40735 Creston St, Fremont, CA 94538), but substituted a different phone number — a copycat number — which public carrier lookups identify as a VoIP line (carriers Bandwidth.com / Onvoy) rather than a local landline.

Tellingly, the clone reportedly still leaks Austin’s real number, (510) 694-9699, in one of its links. That stray detail strongly suggests the content was copied directly from our genuine site and only partially edited. The clone also appears to display fabricated testimonials under names like “Josh Keeton” (also written “Josh Keaton”), “David Martinez,” and “Michael Turner” — names that have no connection to our actual customers or staff.

How a hijacked listing tricks you

One of the most damaging parts of this pattern is when a real business’s online listing is made to display the wrong number. In this case, our Yelp listing was made to show the 916 number instead of our real line. Our Nextdoor presence, by contrast, still shows the correct number, (510) 694-9699. When a trusted directory points to a substituted VoIP number, callers reasonably believe they have reached the real, reviewed local company — when they have not.

This fits a known industry scam pattern

Garage door service has a documented history of imposter and "scam mill" operations. For example, “Neighborhood Garage Door Service, Inc.” in Texas (Carrollton, Houston, and El Paso) has drawn heavy Better Business Bureau complaints alleging overcharging and the targeting of seniors and women, along with refusal to honor warranties. A broader reported scheme described as “Garage Door Services of Texas / GDS” allegedly ran more than 1,000 domains and fake Google Maps listings that funneled callers to a central Texas call center, which then dispatched gig workers. The hallmark of this model is that the operation shuts down and reopens under new names whenever it draws scrutiny. We cannot prove the Fremont clone is part of any specific network, but the copied-identity, substituted-VoIP-number, overseas-hosting pattern is consistent with these documented schemes.

How to protect yourself

• Call only (510) 694-9699. Save it in your phone now. If a listing shows any other number for our name, do not call it.
• Verify before you book. Cross-check the number against our real Yelp listing and our Nextdoor page before scheduling any visit.
• Be wary of pressure and "emergency" upsells. Demands for large cash payments, refusal to give a written estimate, or sudden "you need a whole new opener" claims are red flags.
• Watch the area code and line type. A VoIP number with no consistent local presence is easy to set up and easy to abandon.
• Report it. If you believe you were misled by the imposter, you can file a complaint with the BBB and the California Department of Consumer Affairs, and report the listing on the platform where you found it.

A note from Austin

We have spent years earning the trust of Fremont homeowners by doing honest, affordable work under our own name. Seeing that name copied to point neighbors toward an unknown VoIP line is exactly why we are speaking up. If you are ever unsure whether you are dealing with the real Austin’s Affordable Garage Doors, stop and confirm: the only real number is (510) 694-9699, and the owner you are dealing with is Austin Little. When in doubt, call us directly — we are happy to confirm whether someone contacting you is actually us.