Fraud Warning
Citizens are advised to be cautious of the potential for fraud and other scams in this time after the recent fires and during the recovery process. City, County, and State government and law enforcement officials have issued advisories to increase public awareness, as well as warnings to those individuals who might perpetrate fraud, that such actions will not be tolerated. If you suspect that you have been a victim, or you want to report suspicious activity that might be fraud, you are urged to contact your local law enforcement agency using their non-emergency number (for San Diego Police Dept: 619-531-2000); unless it is an emergency, in which case you should call 9-1-1.
Following are several tips and guidelines to help protect you and your family from acts of fraud:
- In general, you should be the one initiating contact with your insurance company, mortgage company, and any contractors to help with clean-up or reconstruction, as well as making any donations to organizations who are helping those impacted by the fires.
- If someone approaches or contacts you in person, on the phone, or by email, you should take steps to ensure you know who they are and who they claim to be.
- You should only use Licensed Contractors, usually bonded, to ensure the work to be done will meet regulations and building codes. Check the links below for the California State Contractors License Board.
- You should not pay any money in advance for services. If a contractor or other person wants a deposit, consider contacting your financial institution to set up a temporary escrow account to hold the funds for the contractor.
- There are several new alerts and advisories that have been issued, warning people of potential new threats of fraud from various sources, see the information below.
Links for additional information:
Advisories from the US-CERT (U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team):
Advisory: California Wildfires Spawn Phishing Sites
Users are encouraged to take the following measures to protect themselves from this type of phishing attack:
- Do not follow unsolicited web links received in email messages.
Contact your financial institution immediately if you believe your account/and or financial information has been compromised.
For additional information regarding phishing, US-CERT recommends reading the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document.
Federal Trade Commission Spoofed Email
Advisory from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS):
Advisory: Wildfire Donation e mail Scam
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) received reports from all over the country of an e mail, which looks like it is from the IRS, asking recipients to donate to the victims of the California wildfires. The e mail asks them to click on a link and fill out a donation form, but that it is just an avenue for scammers to obtain bank account information. Those who receive the email are urged to forward it to phishing@irs.gov and delete it. Refer to the IRS Web Site (IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E mail Scams) for more information.
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