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Protect your home from scammers this winter.

Scammers don’t hibernate in the winter. Just like you, they’re watching the weather reports and preparing for storms — and they’re counting on catching you unawares.

As you get ready for winter, unlicensed contractors and scammers may call, email, or knock on your door promising to inspect your furnace, repair your leaky roof, or clean your heating ducts. Once winter arrives, they’ll add snow and ice removal to their list. But sometimes they don’t deliver — and they might just take your money and run without doing some or all the work.

To stay ahead of winter weather-related scammers, and certainly before you hire a contractor who found you:

  • Get recommendations from people you know and trust.
  • Ask contractors for IDs, licenses, proof of insurance, and references before paying for services. 
  • Search online for the company’s name with words like “scam” or “complaint.”
  • Pay by credit card or check, which offers you protections — never with cash, gift cards, or through wire transfer companies like Western Union or MoneyGram. And only pay in full after the work is done and you’re satisfied with it.
  • Get a contract — never rely on handshake deals. Make sure all promises are in writing and that you understand what you’re signing.

To learn more about ways to prepare for, deal with, and recover from a weather emergency, visit ftc.gov/WeatherEmergencies. 

If you suspect a scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

ye min htwe
October 20, 2022

thank you team

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