Attorney General, regional LEOs band together to fight fraud
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson speaks to reporters at the Historic Haywood County Courthouse on April 15.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Nearly two dozen law enforcement professionals from across Western North Carolina stood behind Attorney General Jeff Jackson — literally and figuratively — at the Historic Haywood Courthouse April 14 to warn grifters who might be looking to take advantage of Hurricane Helene’s victims.
“What we want to do is send a warning to criminals and a promise to citizens. The warning for criminals is, you are looking at a united front by law enforcement to keep people safe. If you are thinking about using this moment where people are struggling to rebuild to take advantage of them, you should think again. You will face consequences,” Jackson said, after an hourlong meeting with various chiefs and sheriffs. “And for our citizens, many of whom are wondering whether to stay here in Western North Carolina, to keep their families here — you are safe.”
Jackson has made a number of visits to the region, like his predecessor-turned-governor Josh Stein, warning about the variety of scams that can pop up in the aftermath of disasters. In Biltmore Village March 13, Jackson said his office was “paying very close attention” to the rebuilding process.
Flanked by sheriffs, police chiefs and SBI personnel, Jackson related the story of a restauranteur who told him a few weeks ago that he was about to take delivery of some copper pipe and was worried about it disappearing.
“We are going to do everything in our power to make sure that you and your family are safe to rebuild,” Jackson said.
Although some traditional post-disaster offenses end up being property crimes, other scams are slightly more sophisticated and rely on desperate consumers ignoring potential red flags such as contractors not putting deals in writing, or contractors demanding to be paid in full up front, or in cryptocurrency.
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“If you're a contractor, your work is needed here, and we're glad that you're interested, but here's the thing, you better treat people fairly,” said Jackson. “You better be honest. You better do what you say you're going to do. We are not going to tolerate contracting fraud.”
Jackson said his office would prioritize complaints coming out of Western North Carolina, while Haywood Sheriff Bill Wilke, in his characteristically straightforward manner, admonished those who would prey on the county’s residents.
“If you have poor intentions, if you think you're going to come to Western North Carolina and take advantage of folks who have been impacted so heavily, think twice — we are standing in that gap, and we will find, investigate, charge and assist in the prosecution of anyone who's going to take advantage of our good citizens,” Wilke said.
With that, Jackson announced a new initiative called Safe to Rebuild, designed as a resource for Western North Carolina residents who want to file complaints. The North Carolina Department of Justice website also has resources on how to avoid becoming a victim or how to report shady propositions.
In a somewhat related scam, residents of Haywood County have been reporting a series of phone calls where callers purport to be specific members of law enforcement agencies, asking for charitable donations to the department or demanding “fees” for missed jury duty. Sometimes, these callers can even “spoof” the phone number of the sheriff’s office to make the calls look legitimate. Sheriff’s office employees will never call you asking for money.
A similar, text-based scam informs potential victims that they’ll face serious consequences because they failed to pay a ticket or a toll — unless they quickly transfer funds to the caller.
“There are specific investigations for phone call fraud and then text based fraud. We have both of them going right now,” said Jackson. “A lot of folks, by the way, have been getting recent text messages claiming that they owe a toll, so we have a specific investigation going with respect to that. And then there is a discussion about how we can become increasingly aggressive with law enforcement spoofing.”
Wilke also answered a question about charitable fraud in regards to dozens of nonprofits that have sprung up in the wake of Helene, purporting to help victims. Some of these, such as Haven on the Hill in Haywood County, have sucked up law enforcement resources and generated scads of allegations — thus far unsubstantiated — about all manner of wrongdoing.
“Be very careful about what you're giving your money to. Be very careful about your GoFundMe accounts. These are very easy to gather money for a cause, but you really don't know what that money is going to. Law enforcement's ability to act on that is hampered simply because there are elements to a crime that relate to fraud and theft that are difficult to prove through GoFundMe accounts,” said Wilke. “So the messaging that I want to get out across to this is — if you're going to give money, there are several well established, long established, nongovernmental organizations and 501(c)3s that are reliable and will use the resources to go where you intend them to go, which is to help those who are suffering from flood related issues.”
To learn more about the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Safe to Rebuild initiative, visit ncdoj.gov/helene/safe-to-rebuild.
