Consumer alert: Scammers targeting relatives of COVID-19 victims

Houston – Scammers are targeting the relatives of people who died from COVID-19.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the con artists are claiming to offer help with funeral expenses and reaching out to people by phone, email and text message.

While it is true that there is a FEMA relief program that will pay up to $9,000 to cover funeral costs for people who have died of covid in 2020, no one from FEMA will contact you about it. If you want to apply for the money, you can call 844-684-6333. The number is toll-free and multi-lingual services are available. The FTC says you should hang up on anyone who calls you offering to register you for assistance.

Also, keep these things in mind:

• The government will not ask you to pay anything to get this help.
• They will not call, text or email you and ask for your social security number, bank account or credit card number. Anyone who does is a scammer.

If you get one of these calls you can report it to FEMA by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362, the National Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.