Fraudulent activity typically increases after disasters. Con artists may try to get money from people who are dealing with property damage from natural disasters or ask for personal information in order to commit identity theft.
Survivors of the July 13-16 severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding in Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago counties should be aware that fraud and scams can occur anytime. If your home or personal property was damaged in the recent storms, be careful when giving out your personal information.
FEMA, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and other federal and state disaster workers will never ask for money and never require payment in any form.
If a FEMA inspector comes to a home and the home owner did not apply for assistance, information may have been used without the owner’s knowledge to create a FEMA application. FEMA officials recommend contacting the agency if that happens so they can request to stop further processing of the application.
If you did not apply for assistance but receive a letter from FEMA, call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. If you use video relay service, captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA your number for that service. The Helpline will submit a request to stop any further processing of that application.
FEMA teams, housing inspectors and other officials will be working in areas affected by the summer storms and flooding. Always ask to see identification. FEMA personnel always have an official identification badge.
Be careful of unexpected phone calls or visits to your home from people claiming to be FEMA housing inspectors or people claiming they work for FEMA. FEMA inspectors will already have your FEMA application number, but they may ask you to verify personally identifiable information by phone. If you’re unsure whether a FEMA call or visit is legitimate, contact the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 to verify.
Don’t give your banking information to a person claiming to be a FEMA housing inspector. FEMA inspectors do not collect or ask to confirm your personal financial information.
If you believe you are the victim of a scam, report it immediately to your local police or sheriff’s department.
If you have knowledge of fraud or scams involving FEMA’s disaster relief operations, you can report this to FEMA:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 866-223-0814
- Mail: 400 C Street SW Mail Stop 3005, Washington, DC 20472-3005.
To report and get help recovering from identity theft, visit IdentityTheft.gov.
For even more information about the disaster recovery operation in Illinois, visit www.fema.gov/disaster/4819.