Few scams reported in Indiana flood aftermath

In the aftermath of natural disasters, victims are often further terrorized by scammers who promise to aid with cleaning up, then make off with the victims’ money. Luckily, Indiana has come out of recent flooding disasters with few reports of such incidents. \nOrganizations such as the Better Business Bureau of Indianapolis, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Martinsville Police Department said they have received few reports of flood-victim scams. They said the reason for the low number of scam reports could be that they acted quickly after the flooding to get warnings out about scammers and made sure every claim filed by a “victim” was legitimate. \nMartinsville Police Department Officer Brian Chambers said the MPD had received a few reports of scam artists trying to take advantage of victims, but most of them tried to rip off the Red Cross, who he said had an easier system to get around than FEMA’s. \n“It’s not hard in the flash to pick up electric bills,” Chambers said. “We had a few (cases) where people were claiming they lived at a particular address, and they got $700 or $800.” \nBut, he said, FEMA’s verification of victims and the presence of the MPD at the FEMA location in Martinsville had appeared to contribute to the low occurrence of scams in the city. \n“I honestly think with the presence with law enforcement walking the halls, it may have actually deterred some people ... because if they get caught, there’s police on the scene,” Chambers said. \nAccording to a press release from the Better Business Bureau in Indianapolis, the most common post-disaster scams come from con artists who offer to assist in yard repairs or clean-up. Linda Carmody, president and CEO of the Indianapolis division of the BBB, called such people “storm chasers,” because they often collect money from disaster victims and then move on to disasters in other locations across the country without repairing what they were hired to do. \nCarmody said “storm chasers” are people, usually from out-of-state, who offer to help with disaster relief for a price, but are either unconcerned about doing a good job for the work they are hired to do or intend not to do it at all and run off as soon as a natural disaster hits somewhere else. \n“Many times they don’t care about the quality of work they do, ’cause they’re just in it for the bucks,” Carmody said. “People say they’ve gotten a ‘lifetime warranty’ out of them, but they can’t get them to come back and do the work. ... We would recommend just not doing business with a storm chaser. It’s that bad.” \nAfter the flooding that occurred the first week of June, the attorney general’s office sent out a news release June 9 to warn victims against “unscrupulous contractors” who would try to take advantage of victims who were more eager to have their property fixed than to find someone who would do the best job. The Better Business Bureau in Indianapolis followed that release with a June 18 news release about how to avoid such scam artists. \nIn addition, FEMA follows up on every application for assistance that is filed to make sure it is from a legitimate victim, said FEMA public service representative Richard Gifford. He said FEMA verifies that applicants are who they say they are and that the address they provide is correct. \n“We’re always on watch; we verify everything,” Gifford said. “We make sure we know who we’re talking about.” \nHe said that if information provided does not fit its applicant, the case goes to FEMA’s investigative area, but only rarely does a con artist apply. \n“Most of the claims are legitimate – 99.9 percent,” he said. \nAlthough he did not have definitive numbers of how many claims filed with FEMA were found to be scams, he said the number of scams related to the Indiana flooding seemed to be lower than in other natural disasters FEMA has dealt with. \nTo find out more information about how to avoid being scammed in the aftermath of natural disasters, visit the Office of the Indiana Attorney General’s Web site at www.in.gov/attorneygeneral or call the Indianapolis Better Business Bureau at 866-INDY-BBB.