Homeowners in Connecticut and elsewhere who found themselves in the sights of Hurricane Irene may soon be targeted by scammers looking to profit from their pain, The Associated Press reports.
As attention turns to repair and rebuilding, residents in affected areas should be aware that disasters often attract unscrupulous contractors who will prey on those trying to put their lives back together.
The National Consumer Law Center reported in late 2008 that complaints about contractor fraud to the Louisiana Attorney General’s office leaped to 6,000 in the two years after Hurricane Katrina, from about 150 a year prior to the storm. The counterpart in Mississippi received more than 800 reports of fraud.
One common scheme is for scam artists to ask for an up-front payment and never show up to do the work. A survey by Louisiana State University found that was the case for 61 percent of respondents who had been victims of contractor fraud in the three years after Katrina.
Another big concern is contractors who use poor-quality materials and cut corners, pocketing the price difference from what it would cost to make proper repairs.
And the scams don’t come cheap: 15 percent of respondents to the LSU survey said they lost between $10,000 and $30,000.
The most common problems come when homeowners hire unlicensed contractors who hang signs advertising low-cost work or head to an affected area after a disaster.
