FTC, CISA warn of hurricane-related scams as Milton nears Florida

Several government agencies are warning of scams related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton aimed at stealing relief funds and sensitive data.

Hurricane Helene late last month caused untold damage across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia — leading to more than 200 deaths.

As those communities recover from the catastrophic consequences of Helene, Hurricane Milton is already bearing down on Florida’s coast. One mayor was frank about Hurricane Milton, telling newscasters this week that those who do not evacuate “are going to die.”

In light of the hurricanes, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released guidance this week warning residents across several states to be wary of scams targeting both people who need assistance and people trying to provide it — something the agencies have done for previous hurricanes. 

The FTC said on Wednesday that people should watch out for fraudulent charities soliciting donations for disaster victims “that often imitate the names of charities linked to the disaster.”

There will also be scammers impersonating government officials, offering disaster relief in exchange for money or personal data. Criminals will also promote investment opportunities related to rebuilding efforts. 

“To avoid scams and frauds while you’re recovering from a hurricane or another natural disaster, remember only scammers will insist you pay for services by wire transfer, gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency or in cash,” they said. 

“Avoid anyone who promises they can help you qualify for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ― for a fee. That’s a scam. FEMA will never require you to pay a fee to get disaster relief. Never sign your insurance check over to someone else. Be sure to research contractors and get estimates from more than one before signing a contract for work. Get a written contract for repairs and read it carefully before signing it.”

Several cybersecurity experts said they are already seeing scams related to both hurricanes. 

Stephen Kowski, field CTO at SlashNext Email Security, told Recorded Future News that he lives in the Tampa Bay area and his family has been receiving phone calls to their personal devices with attempted voice phishing scams. 

“Almost always we see an increase in attempts after these events as the bad actors are opportunists. Many attempts are advanced fee type scams or scams associated with insurance or FEMA recovery dollars,” he said. 

“It was bad after Helene, and I expect it to continue after Hurricane Milton.”

He echoed the FTC statement, saying there are already phony offers being made to purchase flood-damaged homes at too-good-to-be-true prices. 

Kowski noted that many of the scams and bad actors operate in person, either as looters or unlicensed contractors “looking to prey on people in a weak moment.”

Abu Qureshi, threat intelligence lead at BforeAI, also told Recorded Future News that his team has found activity that “appeared to be infrastructure preparation for potential future malicious use.” 

“The domains and infrastructure were primarily centered around claims for Hurricane Helene victims. We did not detect any active malicious activity originating from these domains. However, as a proactive measure, we actively disrupted them to protect potential victims from falling prey to scams,” Qureshi said. 

Qureshi was not able to attribute the activity to a single threat actor and found no patterns or anomalies that would indicate who is behind the websites. 

In addition to the FTC, CISA published guidance documents urging hurricane victims to remain alert for potential malicious cyber activity.

“Fraudulent emails and social media messages — often containing malicious links or attachments — are common after major natural disasters,” CISA said. “Exercise caution in handling emails with hurricane-related subject lines, attachments, or hyperlinks.” 

Always ensure guidance or inquiries are coming from trusted sources before opening or downloading anything, they said. 

Federal agencies have also had to invest significant amounts of time and effort addressing disinformation and misinformation that has spread on social media in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. CNN reported on Wednesday that the White House was forced to assemble a round-the-clock team “because of just the outright lying and spreading of lies,” one official said.