Help NowStart Practice

Scam alert

Storm Repairs Offered at the Door? Check the Licence First

Published · Florida Panhandle · wjhg.com · Arrives by a knock at the door, or a call that looks official

The short answer

After a storm, the habit that protects the money is checking a contractor's licence and permit before any of it changes hands, however reasonable the offer sounds and however much needs doing. At a joint briefing on September 15, 2026, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, the FBI and the Bay County Sheriff's Office described crews arriving from out of state without licences, offering cleanup and repair work, presenting documents that do not hold up, and in one instance charging as much as thirty thousand dollars to clear yard debris. The same briefing covered calls that appear to come from a government number, where the caller claims to be law enforcement. The Chief Deputy's summary of that was short and worth keeping: the FBI is not calling you, and the Sheriff's Office is not calling to tell you that you have a warrant. In Florida a company can be checked on Sunbiz and its licence with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a permit with the county building department.

What is happening

WJHG reported the briefing on September 15, 2026. John P. Heekin, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, appeared with the FBI and with Captain Chris Coram and Chief Deputy David Baldwin of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. They described three things running together after storm damage in the Panhandle: unlicensed out-of-state crews offering cleanup and repair work with fake documents, callers spoofing government numbers and posing as law enforcement, and counterfeit websites imitating relief charities. The officials pointed to Census figures from 2024 indicating that 77% of disaster survivors meet a potential scam within a month of a storm. The Federal Trade Commission's own guidance for National Preparedness Month, published on September 9, 2026, describes the same three disguises in the same order: after emergencies, people pose as government officials, charities, or contractors.

How to recognize it

  • The crew arrived without being called, and is working a long way from where it is based.
  • Payment is asked for in full up front, or in cash, or the price moves once the work has started.
  • There is always a reason the licence or the permit cannot be shown right now.
  • The paperwork looks official, but the company is hard to find in any state register.
  • The quote covers something hard to compare, such as clearing debris, rather than a defined job.
  • A separate caller claims to be a federal agency or the sheriff's office, and the number on the screen looks genuine.

What to do instead

  1. Check the company on your state's own register before money moves. In Florida that means Sunbiz for the business and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for the licence.
  2. Confirm the permit with your county building department, which is the step the briefing named.
  3. Search the company name together with the word scam or complaint, which is the FTC's suggestion, and ask people you already trust who they have used.
  4. Get the scope and the price in writing, and avoid paying the whole amount before any work happens.
  5. End any call claiming to be the FBI or the sheriff about a warrant, then ring that agency on a number you look up yourself.
  6. Tell your insurer before committing if the work is part of a claim. They see these arrangements often.

If it already happened

Responding to one of these is common and understandable. These steps are what people usually take next.

  1. Call your bank or card issuer if you paid by card or transfer, and ask what can still be stopped or disputed.
  2. Report it to your local law enforcement and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov, both of which the briefing pointed to.
  3. Tell your insurer, particularly if the work was part of a claim.
  4. Keep the contract, the receipts, photographs of whatever was done, and any vehicle or company details you noted at the time.
Open Help Now

Common questions

They showed me a licence and a written contract. Wasn't that enough?
Documents are the easiest part of this to produce, which is why the officials at that briefing pointed at registers rather than paperwork. A licence number can be looked up in your state's own records in a couple of minutes, and that check is the one a fake cannot pass.
Does anyone legitimate knock on doors after a storm?
Yes, plenty of real firms do, and turning them all away is not the point. The doorstep is not what tells you either way — the licence and the permit are. A genuine contractor expects to be looked up and is not troubled by the wait.
The number that called me matched the sheriff's office. How can that not be them?
Caller ID displays whatever the calling system sends, so a real agency number can be made to appear on your screen. The officials at that briefing described exactly this, with the plain rule that the FBI is not calling you and the Sheriff's Office is not calling about a warrant.

Practice this safely

Practice looking up a contractor's licence on a state register before agreeing to any work.

Every story is fictional. There is no timer, no score, and no real message, payment, or account.

Start the four-story practice

Tell someone

Copy a short note you can paste into a text or email. It names the scam, the next step, and this page. Nothing is sent from this site.

Storm Repairs Offered at the Door? Check the Licence First

After a storm, the habit that protects the money is checking a contractor's licence and permit before any of it changes hands, however reasonable the offer sounds and however much needs doing. At a joint briefing on September 15, 2026, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, the FBI and the Bay County Sheriff's Office described crews arriving from out of state without licences, offering cleanup and repair work, presenting documents that do not hold up, and in one instance charging as much as thirty thousand dollars to clear yard debris. The same briefing covered calls that appear to come from a government number, where the caller claims to be law enforcement. The Chief Deputy's summary of that was short and worth keeping: the FBI is not calling you, and the Sheriff's Office is not calling to tell you that you have a warrant. In Florida a company can be checked on Sunbiz and its licence with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a permit with the county building department.

Read the full alert: https://endscamsproject.com/latest-scams/storm-repair-contractor-scams

Where this comes from

These links open the published sources in a new tab. The destination is shown before you open it.

The full guide on this

More recent alerts

This alert provides general educational information drawn from the sources above. It cannot determine whether a specific message you received is genuine, investigate an incident, or promise recovery or reimbursement.