Compliance Corner - Disaster Related Scams

At the time I am writing this Milton is a Category 5 hurricane and is moving towards Florida’s Tampa Bay area. Most of Kansas would say our period for disaster would be in the spring with tornadoes, but how many of you remember the ice storm in December of 2007? There were power outages across the state that affected 260,000 people and many of them were without power for up to 2 weeks. In Reno County alone there was $37.5 million in damages. Scammers realize people are vulnerable in these times and strike fast.

Florida is still in the clean-up process from Helene, a Category 4 hurricane. In response to Helene the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of hurricane-related scams. With Milton quickly approaching CISA has issued a new warning to avoid scams. Scammers can use multiple ways to contact people affected by a disaster such as e-mails, social media posts or even going door-to-door. In the case of e-mail or social media, they could have bad links or attachments that once clicked or opened, could give the scammers access to the customer’s computer. Door-to-door scammers will pretend to be a roofer or a charity organization
to trick customers into giving the scammers money.

While we are not in the eye of the storm now, it is better to be prepared so that when our storm comes, we have the tools to help our customers. There are many websites that give tips to customers to protect themselves from being scammed. CISA recommended a couple that could be helpful for you and your customers.

Recommended websites:


1. https://www.weather.gov/ict/ks_worse_ice_storms

2. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/09/25/cisa-warns-hurricane-related-scams?utm_campaign=NewsWatch%
20Today&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–
bkZ_UCrmBOIysZaIiApAHiXKPvSKk9Mxp3kvrdaHrq32VhN_xL1lyh7LXR2wsvZym48rwz9JzYi4c9KuHexVAdIfBBw&_hsmi=326355830&utm_content=326356103&utm_sou
rce=hs_email

3. https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/10/08/avoid-scams-after-disaster-strikes?utm_campaign=NewsWatch%
20Today&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–0KlojO1H2GTyW9TkHStsV-TxWOZWqX8a2ZsbSc8vQuQnnOUxR3qRiEWizIWNYtFL2GFgn7156r94VrzyTu1HbvQ3xw&_
hsmi=328281172&utm_content=328281334&utm_source=hs_email