Preventing Disaster Aid Fraud
Release Date: February 6, 2003
Release Number: 1446-37
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Dededo, GUAM -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and GovGuam are working to identify the small percentage of disaster assistance applicants who try to cash in on the misfortune of others.
"Managing a multi-million dollar disaster program always means walking a fine line between bringing speedy service to those who need it and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not misused," said Bill Carwile, federal coordinating officer.
A number of methods are used to detect fraud, including cross-checks with other agencies and insurance companies to weed out duplicate applications and field inspections to verify losses and damages.
Making false statements to a FEMA representative is a federal criminal offense. Potential cases of fraud or misuse are referred to the U.S. Justice Department for prosecution. Penalties for felony offenses can be severe.
People who made a mistake when reporting damage or may have misrepresented their losses have the opportunity to cancel their claim. Individuals may call FEMA's Helpline at 1-800-621-3362 or 1-800-462-7585 for the speech- or hearing- impaired, to withdraw or correct an application and prevent prosecution.
Anyone who knows of someone who has filed false damage claims or committing any other disaster-related fraud may report the incident to the Fraud Hotline at 1-800-323-8603.
Last Modified: Monday, 14-Apr-2003 12:09:09