Disaster Survivors – Beware of Scams!

Duluth, MN—Disasters typically bring out the very best in people and there are countless stories of neighbors helping neighbors.  Unfortunately, some scam artists try and take advantage of disaster survivors looking for help, by trying to gather your personal information or to collect payment for disaster assistance.

If there is any doubt, do not give out any information, and report people claiming to be government workers to local authorities.  To safeguard against disaster-related fraud, Federal Emergency Disaster Agency (FEMA) officials recommend the following precautions:

• Federal workers do not solicit or accept money.
• Ask for official laminated photo ID.  A FEMA shirt or jacket is not absolute proof

of identity.

• Safeguard personal information.  Do not give personal information such as Social Security and bank account numbers unless you initiate the call. 
• Beware of people going door-to-door.  People going door-to-door to damaged homes, or phoning homeowners claiming to be building contractors could be scam artists, especially if they solicit financial information.

Suspicious activity should be reported to local authorities or to the FEMA Fraud Hotline at

(866) 720-5721.

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Follow FEMA online at twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at twitter.com/craigatfema.  The social media links provided are for reference only. 

FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.