FALLS COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — "There are people that are sitting and watching and listening and they may decide they would like to take advantage of your circumstances in order to benefit themselves,” said FEMA media relations specialist La-Tanga Hopes.
With many of our neighbors still making repairs from recent storms in our community, FEMA is offering assistance to more than 40,000 people in Central Texas.
But now, the warning is going out to our neighbors about potential fraud.
"There may be people in your community literally driving around saying 'hey i'm with FEMA’,” said Hopes.
Unfortunately, some people in our community have already fallen victim to the scams.
I attended a Marlin city council meeting on Tuesday, where city leaders confirmed several reports of people claiming to represent FEMA, collecting personal information and money.
"The first thing that you need to know is that FEMA will never ever ever ask you for money. We're here to provide you with grants and put resources and money in your pocket,” said Hopes.
I'm told these possible scammers wear FEMA t-shirts, hats and other fake items.
Here's what you need to know when deciding who's FEMA friendly and who's FEMA fraud.
"There may be people that look like they have on a FEMA uniform and that they have FEMA paraphernalia that can be identified but always ask for our ID. That information is very unique and we are not afraid to share it with people when we are knocking on their doors,” said Hopes.
FEMA tells me that if you have applied for assistance employees will always have access to your FEMA application number.
Inspectors are never authorized to collect your personal financial information.
If you have any knowledge of fraud or scams you can report it to FEMA’s disaster relief hotline at 866-720-5721.
You can also email here to report a tip.
