BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Scammers and fraudulent relief efforts are directly targeting Louisiana’s flood victims, U.S. Attorney Walt Green announced during a National Center for Disaster Fraud press conference.
More than 1,200 scams have been targeted at flood victims in the region, according to the Associated Press (AP). More than 68,000 fraud complaints have been filed in the region in the region from at least 40 disasters since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
Green said that over 50,000 of those complaints have been referred to local authorities and law enforcement agencies.
Scammers following disasters usually come in the form of federal emergency aid and phony contractors who are looking to scam homeowners.
Green told the media that fraudsters are already defrauding residents who have seen disaster during Hurricane Matthew. He said they have already received one call coming in about a scam.
This is not the first case where Louisiana flood victims have seen more than just flood disaster, but also a blackout of media coverage, obliviousness from politicians and a lack of monetary help from donors.
As Breitbart Texas reported, donations for Louisiana’s 2016 flood victims have been far less compared to the donations that came in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.
Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been largely criticized for their slow response and lack of help to Louisiana flood victims, as Breitbart Texas reported.
Almost a month after the storm touched down in the region, FEMA had only set up one “manufactured housing unit” in the area, despite more than 100,000 damaged homes and 60,000 homes fully destroyed.
Two weeks after the storm, more than 1,400 residents remained in shelters, as a large number of homeowners did not carry flood insurance because the region had never flooded in the past.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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