Yup its bogus. How can we learn from this to better protect ourselves from these criminals?.
(A) Dont answer the door. If they kick it in or setup a perimeter and demand you come out thats a whole new set of problems but in this case staying silent in the house may have made them go away.
(B) Dont get on their radar by using their worthless services if at all avoidable.
(C) Identify possible corrupt neighbors who call the thugs for the slightest thing.
(D) Dont do anything that may appear illegal such as growing tomatoes indoors like you would marijuana. Thats just their excuse to fuck with you.