While disaster relief comes from all over, so-called "bad actors" are looking to take advantage of people trying to recover after severe weather strikes.
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00:00 tornado survivors are prime targets for repair scams. They're just trying to take advantage of this opportunity, unfortunately, to either get money out of people or sometimes steal their information to. There are several common scams you should be aware of. The scam contractor will come to someone's door and they ask for money right then and there and the person pays them and then that contractor never returns to do the work whatsoever. And then we also see scenarios where the contractor is more of a fly by night contractor.
00:29 And they do some of the work, but it's very poor and shoddy work. Then they leave it unfinished. Even if you aren't dealing with storm damage, you could still be scammed. There are also the charity scammers too that come out during this time. So you want to watch out for like someone that just claims that they can help with a disaster and they ask for money. There are many ways to avoid being scammed. I would not pay anybody with cash. I would not pay anybody the full price of the of the car.
00:58 I would not pay anybody the full price of the contract up front and I would not turn over insurance money directly to the contractor. Still, scammers are always changing their methods. It's important to stay on high alert. A good contractor is not going to pressure you is not going to require full payment up front is not going to tell you that you're never going to get this project done if you don't sign up today. If you do get scammed, report it. We have a free dispute resolution process where we try to get the contractor to sign up for the project.
01:26 We have a free dispute resolution process where we try and mediate a solution with the contractor to make sure that they get back to the job site, that they follow through on their promises. We don't have any authority. We can't go make a company, you know, resolve a complaint. But we do tell the world if they don't do it.
01:44 For AccuWeather, I'm Emmy Victor.
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