Authorities Get Over 1,200 Fraud Complaints Since La. Floods

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Authorities have received more than 1,200 disaster fraud complaints related to August's historic flooding in south Louisiana.

U.S. Attorney Walt Green announced that tally Friday during a press briefing at the National Center for Disaster Fraud.

Green said the Justice Department-created center on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge has received more than 68,000 fraud complaints related to more than 40 disasters since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and referred more than 50,000 of those complaints to law enforcement agencies.

Complaints typically involve allegations of residents fraudulently obtaining federal emergency aid, contractors defrauding homeowners and other scams targeting disaster victims, he said. The call center already has received one call related to Hurricane Matthew, and expects to receive thousands more in the coming weeks, he added.

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