Consumer Alert
Hurricane season 2024: How to avoid scams before and after a weather emergency
Weather forecasters are predicting an active hurricane season, but if you live in large parts of the country — including those hit by tornadoes over Memorial Day Weekend — you’ve probably noticed more active storms of all types. To get started preparing for hurricane season or any storm, while avoiding scams, check ftc.gov/WeatherEmergencies for new information to help you spot, avoid, and report scams as you prepare for, deal with, and recover from extreme weather and natural disasters.
Like all the FTC’s free resources, the site is mobile-friendly — giving you ready access to information when and where you need it. When it comes to planning for a possible weather emergency, the more you know — and the earlier you know it — the better prepared you’ll be to avoid weather-related scams and frauds.
To stay ahead of weather-related scammers, here are steps you can take now.
- Update your insurance policy. To avoid surprises later, check to make sure your insurance policy is current and find out what is covered — and what isn’t.
- Check out contractors before you need one. Ask people you know and trust for recommendations. Then search online for the company’s name with words like “scam” or “complaint.”
- Research online sellers before you buy. Unusually low prices are a sign of a scam. If you see an ad for what seems like a familiar company but you’re not sure the ad is real, check it out. But go to the company’s website using a page you know is real — not the link in the ad.
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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.
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We received email from allegedly PayPal "unauthorized transaction" for $779.99USD". How can I send a copy of this to you, we do not have a paypal account & don't want to call their number
In reply to We received email from… by M. Doolittle
Report fraud, scams, and bad business practices to the FTC website www.ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can copy the email message you got and add it to your report.
In reply to We received email from… by M. Doolittle
Does PayPal have your credit or bank information on file where someone could charge on it? I get these fake invoices a lot, but since PayPal has no way to charge me for anything, I ignore them. but you were right to send this to the FTC. They need to know.