Video: Beware of Contractor Scams

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AMORY, Miss. (WCBI)- It’s been five days since flood waters damaged homes across north Mississippi, including Monroe County.

Now, experts are warning homeowners to watch out for contractors that could scam you.

The flood waters are gone but dozens of damaged homes remain.

Brad Bennett is an insurance agent for Farm Bureau Insurance, and said with the large amount of damage, it’s common to see contractor scams.

“You’ve got regular contractors that are overloaded, so there’s an excessive number of houses that need to be fixed and repaired, but there’s only so many contractors in the area that can do the work,” Bennett said.

Bennett said now is the ideal time when bogus contractors begin to move into hard hit areas.

“You’ll start to see a lot of pick up trucks, and trucks coming through with a lot of out of state license plates from all over different parts of the country,” he said.

Jack Campbell is an insurance agent for Galloway-Chandler-McKinney Insurance , and said these scam artists typically go through neighborhoods, promising to make repairs.

“I’ve had experience where the contractor will come out and the insured sign the back of the check and give it to the contractor and the contractor never comes back, so they cash the check and they never come back to do the repairs,” Campbell said.
The two agents said, a few of the things that homeowners should look out for are contractors who ask for cash up front, and contractors who have out of state license plates.

“Once they get the money, they’ll say, hey, I’ve got to go get some lumber supply, or I’ve got to go to Lowes or some place, and they just run up and down the road doing that and take off,” Campbell said.

Campbell offers a few tips to make sure you are working with a licensed contractor, in hopes you don’t fall victim for a second time.

“Check to see where they’re from, check some references for people they’ve worked on before, and again, contact your local insurance agent or the state board to make sure they’re a licensed contractor,” Campbell said.

To find out if you’re working with a licensed contractor, looking you’re contractor up by calling 1-800-880-6161

Or visit www.msboc.state.ms.us