Greg's Corner

A different type of disaster scam

By Greg Collier

This summer, the country has experienced a number of major storms. While no hurricanes have made landfall yet, these storms have done untold damage. From the floods of Kentucky and the Midwest, to Mississippi, and parts of the Northeast, many Americans have had to deal with tremendous loss after these floods.

When these floods have struck, we have posted warnings about scams that could not only affect flood victims, but our other readers as well. You never know when a natural disaster may hit your area. The typical scams we warn about are scammers posing as FEMA agent, home insurance scams, and contractor scams. On top of those, there’s another scam that we haven’t even heard of until now. But obviously the scammers have.

One of the Better Business Bureau branches in Louisiana is warning about what they’re calling a post-disaster document replacement scam. And if anybody should know about flood scams, it’s the Pelican State. While many of us might think the most important thing to do after a natural disaster is contact FEMA or your home insurance company. But what if you lost your everyday documents such as your driver’s license to the flood?

The BBB is stating that in past floods this year, scammers started texting people in the flooded areas. The texts claimed to offer flood victims assistance in getting new copies of their driver’s license, Medicare or Medicaid cards, and Social Security cards. Victims would then be asked to click on a link to a phony website designed to take your personal and possibly financial information.

As great as it would be, no government service is going to reach out to you first to offer assistance in getting new documents. In each case, you would need to notify the different departments in charge of each document, whether it’s the state or federal government.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is if you’ve been the victim of a natural disaster, and people start calling you offering assistance out of the blue, be very suspicious of their offer.