Restore LA Program Warns of Scams

Restore La. Program Warns of Scams Asking for Private Information

BATON ROUGE, La. – Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Office of Community Development warns residents of telephone scams in which callers ask flood-impacted families to provide private information like bank account numbers or make a financial deposit to complete their applications for assistance. These calls are fraudulent attempts to obtain personal information.

If program applicants have doubts about the authenticity of a phone call or email, they should immediately contact the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program at (866) 735-2001 or info@restore-la.org. Program staff will then help applicants verify whether the call came from a program representative and report the call if needed.

When calling applicants, Restore Louisiana staff will confirm who they are by referring to the applicant’s survey account number. Applicants are encouraged to compare this number to their own survey account number before giving out any personal information. It is important to note that the program does not ask for any banking information, including account numbers or a deposit, or a social security number by phone.

Likewise, the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program emails applicants only from official program accounts, such as info@restore-la.org. Before responding to any email claiming to be sent from the program, applicants are encouraged to carefully check the sender’s address in order to verify the email’s authenticity.

About the Restore Louisiana Task Force

The Restore Louisiana Task Force comprises 21 individuals from throughout the state who were appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to oversee the rebuilding process after historic flooding in March and August 2016 impacted 51 disaster-declared parishes. The Task Force’s mission is divided into six categories: community planning, economic, health and social services, housing, infrastructure and natural and cultural resources. All task force documents are available at http://restore.la.gov/resources/. For more information, visit restore.la.gov.