Fraudsters have been applying for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the recent California wildfires, filling in addresses within the burn zone before the actual residents can claim their relief.
Many residents of the Pacific Palisades, several of whom have been in contact with Breitbart News, report that when they applied for aid through the FEMA website, they reached a screen that said “Duplicate Application.”
The result is that potentially thousands of people who desperately need cash — to pay for alternative accommodation, or simply to buy food and clothes — are unable to receive what FEMA has offered them.
The scam is relatively simple. Fraudsters study maps of the fire zone, or use publicly available maps of affected properties. Then they apply for funds through FEMA, which apparently does not have sufficient security screens to prevent identity theft.
L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman warned earlier this month: “We’re about to have billions of dollars of federal money descend on Los Angeles County; there are people who look at that as the opportunity of a lifetime to rip it off.” He added: “We will go after you if you want to, in any way, rip off the money that is destined for true wildfire victims.”
Hochman has joined a Joint Regional Fire Crimes Task Force with state and federal law enforcement agencies.
In a statement, the DA’s office said: “Members of the public are encouraged to report wrongdoing to authorities at any law enforcement agency. For example, tips may be directed to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or https://tips.fbi.gov/home. The public may also report examples of financial fraud to the National Center for Disaster Fraud at (866) 720-5721 or www.justice.gov/DisasterComplaintForm.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
