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According to the National Weather Service, the peak severe weather season is during the spring months of March, April, and May. Already this season, we’ve seen heavy rains, flooding, and tornados in southern areas like Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and East Texas. And we know that scammers follow not just the headlines, but also the storm fronts.

Handling post-disaster scammers is never easy. And getting ready for the severe weather that’s sure to come can be a challenge. But both are even harder due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit the FTC’s site, Dealing with Weather Emergencies, to start planning your response. You’ll find ideas about how to:

Share these tips with friends, family, and community organizations by getting a free one-page customizable handout at Picking Up the Pieces after a Disaster. Add your local consumer protection and emergency service contacts and post copies for people to download.

If you or anyone you know needs to report a disaster-related scam, visit Reportfraud.ftc.gov.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.