{"id":222624,"date":"2025-10-29T06:44:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/?p=222624"},"modified":"2025-10-29T06:44:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:44:51","slug":"storm-chasers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/storm-chasers\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm Chasers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>(Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Tornadoes, etc..)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GOOD Storm Chasers:<\/strong>\u00a0Those who follow bad weather and provide storm strength, direction, timing and safety actions to take.\u00a0 Their goal is accurate information and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BAD Storm Chasers:<\/strong>\u00a0Those who follow bad weather and appear<strong>\u00a0after<\/strong>\u00a0the storm. These Storm Chasers prey on people affected by damage and financial loss using fraudulent practices.\u00a0 Their goal is to fill their bank account- not yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hawaii<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tourism is over 90% of Hawaii\u2019s industry and of course, it brings many foreign visitors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The island population is a mix from Asia, the Philippines, Polynesian Islands, and Canada, to name a few.\u00a0 This can make the task of distinguishing international fraud and \u2018normal\u2019 traffic a challenge.\u00a0 Add a disaster event anywhere in the world and international calling rises considerably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First \u2013 I must\u00a0<strong><em>Know My Customer<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Residents\u2019 calling traffic may be from the same numbers. But if calls are now to\/from an unusual number, they may be falling for a scam and it\u2019s time to educate on good and bad storm\/disaster chasers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/storm-1024x580.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-222627 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/storm-1024x580.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-222627 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/storm-980x555.png 980w, https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/storm-480x272.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Company\u2019s call Philippine phone numbers- but probably not in the middle of the night when the company is closed.&nbsp; If I\u2019m not sure of the business, then I\u2019ll look them up on the Internet.&nbsp; Sometimes I CALL the company while the activity is happening. If I get many busy signals, then someone or some THING (knock-knock) is using all the lines (Adams Family detour!).&nbsp; If the lines are all busy it\u2019s time to don my fraud inspector\u2019s hat and get to work.&nbsp; If a human answers, then they usually appreciate my inquiry.&nbsp; I have never had an upset customer for the call or thinking \u201cBig Brother\u201d is watching.&nbsp; However, I have had to prove I wasn\u2019t a scammer impersonating a fraudster!&nbsp; I\u2019ve had to provide another phone number at the company to confirm my identity or describe something in the area or islands to prove I\u2019m legit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hawaii has many cell phones from other countries.\u00a0 A taxi company calling a Japanese number or a tow company receiving calls from a number in Germany may be a tourist or a resident.\u00a0 Hospitals will suddenly have a rise in calls to Guam because of a health-related issue and hotels will have guests who call home nonstop to make sure everyone is okay when an event happens around the world.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0I have to know my customer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Laura Weaver, CFCA Board Member, Toll Fraud and SOX Auditor at Hawaiian Telcom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Laura-Weaver-Grey.png\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a person with short hair, glasses, and a smile. They are wearing a blazer over a collared shirt. The background is dimly lit with indistinct shapes.\" class=\"wp-image-40919 lazyload\" style=\"width:254px;height:auto\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Laura-Weaver-Grey.png\" alt=\"A black and white photo of a person with short hair, glasses, and a smile. They are wearing a blazer over a collared shirt. The background is dimly lit with indistinct shapes.\" class=\"wp-image-40919 lazyload\" style=\"width:254px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Laura-Weaver-Grey.png 500w, https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Laura-Weaver-Grey-480x480.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 500px, 100vw\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Hurricanes, Tropical Storms, Tornadoes, etc..) GOOD Storm Chasers:\u00a0Those who follow bad weather and provide storm strength, direction, timing and safety actions to take.\u00a0 Their goal is accurate information and safety. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","pmpro_default_level":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}