Scammers may go around impacted neighborhoods posing as government officials or private contractors requesting upfront payments for home repairs that never come to fruition.
“They go and prey on the most vulnerable people,” said Curtis Hill, the supervising advocate for outreach and disaster response for Disability Rights North Carolina, who has seen three hurricanes hit eastern North Carolina in the past eight years.
Trejo, from Los Angeles County, expects scams to continue after the fires.
“In previous situations, we have seen that especially older adults and adults with disabilities could be targeted,” Trejo said. “We’re already working to start doing community education and outreach. We’ve been on that already for over a week, because there was so much loss of home.”
Experts say the neglect of people with disabilities during natural disasters is in large part due to their exclusion from the planning process.
