Four sentences a storm chaser will not say
The FTC's post-disaster contractor guidance lists four things scammers say — that they do not need a licence, that the discount expires today, that you should sign over your insurance cheque, and that they need paying up front. Each is a claim a legitimate contractor has no reason to make, and each is checkable without knowing anything about building work.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Contractor and storm chaser scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- The FTC lists four contractor warning signs: claiming they do not need to be licensed, offering a discount only if you sign immediately, telling you to sign over your insurance cheque, and asking you to pay for everything up front.
- The FTC's payment rule is to pay by credit card or cheque, and never by wire transfer, gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency or in cash.
- It advises negotiating a reasonable down payment, and notes that some states limit the amount a contractor may ask for as a down payment.
- It advises never making the final payment until the work is done and you are satisfied, and getting invoices and receipts.
- A written contract should contain the contractor's name, address, phone number and licence number, start and completion dates, a payment schedule, every promise made about scope and cost, a statement of cancellation rights, and no blank spaces.
- Licences should be verified through state or county government, and proof of insurance requested.
- FEMA does not charge application fees; anyone asking for money to help you qualify for FEMA funds is running a scam.
- The FTC's hurricane preparedness alert of 3 June 2025 advises researching contractors before a disaster and searching the company name with words like "scam" or "complaint".
Why this case matters
Most contractor advice asks the homeowner to evaluate building work, which they cannot do. This guidance does something more useful: it lists four sentences, and none of them requires any knowledge of roofing to assess.
Scammers claim they don’t need to be licensed to do the work.
Scammers say you’ll get a discount, but only if you sign a contract right away.
Scammers tell you to sign over your insurance check.
Scammers ask you to pay for everything up front.
Each is a claim a legitimate contractor has no reason to make, and each can be checked by a person standing in their own driveway.
The insurance cheque is the one to remember
Three of those four appear in every scam on this site. The third is specific to this one, and it is the most damaging.
Signing over an insurance cheque — or signing an “assignment of benefits” that does the same thing — transfers the claim payment to the contractor before any work exists to justify it. The homeowner is then in a position where the money has left their control, the insurer considers the claim settled, and their only remedy against a contractor who does nothing is to sue.
It converts a consumer dispute into litigation, which is exactly why it is asked for.
What a written contract is for
The FTC’s list of what a contract must contain is worth reading as a checklist rather than as advice:
- Name, address, phone number and licence number
- Start and completion dates
- A payment schedule
- Every promise made about scope and cost
- A statement of cancellation rights
- No blank spaces
The last item is the one people skip. A signed contract with blanks can be completed afterwards by whoever holds it, and a homeowner who signs one has agreed to terms that did not exist when they signed.
The advice that only works beforehand
The FTC’s preparedness alert of 3 June 2025 makes the point that this page keeps returning to: the useful actions all have to be taken before the storm.
Research contractors while nothing is wrong. Search the company name together with words like “scam” or “complaint”. Check the licence and the insurance. Photograph your possessions. Read your policy and find out what is covered.
A person standing in front of a damaged roof with water coming in has, realistically, no capacity to do any of that — which is precisely the condition the storm chaser is there to exploit.
Sources
- How To Avoid Scams After Weather Emergencies and Natural Disasters. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The four contractor warning signs, the payment rule, the down payment and final payment advice, the written contract contents, the licence verification advice and the FEMA fee statement.
- This hurricane season, prepare to avoid the scams. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The 3 June 2025 preparedness alert, the advice to research contractors in advance and to search the company name with "scam" or "complaint", and the insurance and inventory guidance.