The one constant that has remained throughout the battle with the wildfire known as “the beast” has been the kindness of Albertans.
But like all good things, there exists an opposite.
In this case, it comes in the form of people attempting to scam kind-hearted Albertans out of donations, evacuees out funds to rebuild their home and the government out of disaster funds.
Ron Mycholuk, with the central and northern Alberta Better Business Bureau, said at this point the most prevalent scams are either done online or door to door.
“If people are really pressuring you to give money right there on the spot… take a step back.” – Ron Mycholuk
The door to door scammers are people pretending to be with charities. Mycholuk said to be wary if someone comes to your door and becomes pushy about donations.
“If people are really pressuring you to give money right there on the spot and not give you a chance to think or do some research, take a step back,” said Mycholuk.
Donors should also watch for fraudulent Go Fund Me pages or fake websites made to mimic disaster relief programs.
“It’s really easy to take advantage of web hosting software and put up a website that looks really legitimate,” said Mycholuk.
“It only has to scam people for a really short period of time to get a lot of money, especially right now when people are so eager to give.”
Mycholuk said that you should be wary of any website that doesn’t have a direct link to donate. He says the best thing you can do is donate directly to the Red Cross and avoid any intermediary website.
Ron Mycholuk says that you should be wary of any site that isn’t asking you to donate directly to Red Cross or a similar disaster relief fund. (CBC)
When evacuees finally get to return home, Mycholuk said they should be on the lookout for people he calls “storm chasers” — fake contractors who will show up when the rebuilding process starts.
These people will go door to door and offer repairs at a cheaper and quicker pace than what is actually possible and ask for the money up front.
Once paid, they will either disappear immediately or do quick and shoddy work.
“Then when you want them to redo it properly, you’ll never find them again,” said Mycholuk. “They’ve scammed ten, fifteen, twenty families and then disappeared.”
“These people have been through so much and then to have them scammed… is shameful and it is disgusting.” – Ron Mycholuk
The best way to deal with these scammers is to only work with well-known businesses or people with good, public track records.
Mycholuk notes that rebuilding is a long and arduous process and if something sounds too good to be true, it often is.
“These people have been through so much and then to have them scammed when they are just trying to start rebuilding their lives is shameful and it is disgusting,” said Mycholuk.
Scamming the government
It’s not just the evacuees who need to look out for people looking to profit from the wildfire’s path of destruction.
On Monday, a woman was charged after she tried to use photocopied documents to access money set aside for evacuees. On Thursday a 29-year-old man was charged in Calgary for a similar offence.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee said there have been more attempts by people to access the province’s debit cards but they are few and far between.
Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said police have laid charges in ten incidents of people fraudulently trying to get evacuee funding. (CBC)
“Police have laid charges related to ten incidents and the human services investigation unit is looking into eight suspected cases,” Larivee said.
Larivee adds that this represents .05 per cent of the more than 38,000 cards that have already been issued.
In order to get the cards, evacuees need to prove that they were evacuated and haven’t been able to return home for seven days.
“It’s difficult with some people having left key documents behind, so ideally we ask them to present identification documents, proof of residence, those kinds of things,” said Larivee.
If an evacuee cannot provide any proof, they are asked to sign a statutory declaration.
Alberta sheriffs are posted at the distribution centres to handle any attempts at fraud.