Greg's Corner

Disaster relief jobs may be a scam

A few days ago, we told you about some scams to avoid in the wake of Hurricane Harvey which has devastated the city of Houston. It’s come to our attention we missed one scam that could also have calamitous effects on people. On certain websites, there have been postings for disaster relief job that may not be legitimate jobs.

This is reminiscent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from 2010 where fake jobs were being offered to help clean up the coastal Gulf region. It’s just a different twist on the usual job scam where the ad poster will ask you for money for either training or a background check for a job that doesn’t exist. No legitimate employer will ask you for money in advance.

In order to protect yourself, make sure that any disaster relief work has either a contracted company behind. You should be able to check through the Better Business Bureau or the state government to see who has legitimate job offers for hurricane clean up.