The aftermath of the wildfire blaze here in southern California is unimaginable if you do not have home insurance. But most people do. FEMA will actually step in and help out  with the finances of those who are uninsured or underinsured. The homeowner will have to exhaust all of his/her insurance coverage before FEMA aid kicks in. Of course, it would not hurt to apply early anyways even if you have enough coverage if you are one of the victims.

Just like the Katrina and any other disaster, people need to watch out for a lot of scams particularly an e-mail scam that will be circling around soliciting donations for the wildfire victims. According to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), bogus e-mails appear to be a “phishing scheme” that tries to trick recipients into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal a person’s assets.

People “should avoid opening any attachments or clicking on any links until they can verify the e-mail’s legitimacy,” IRS Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Richard Spires said in a statement.

The agency said the scam e-mail urges recipients to click on a link which opens on a fake IRS Web site. That site includes a link to a donation form which requests the recipient’s personal and financial information.

Source: Money.com