Madison County Community Development warns of potential fraud
Madison County Community Development received notification from a resident of potential fraud against property owners.
Community Development Administrator Trudy Bodenbach said an East Alton resident brought a postcard to the county office informing residents their home warranty was set to expire and they needed to contact a 1-855 number for more information.
“Madison County doesn’t do warranties so there are none to expire,” Bodenbach said.
The postcard states, “without a home warranty in place, you are at risk of being financially liable for any and all repairs. However, you still have time to activate a service contract on your home before it’s too late.”
“We believe this it related to the information our department put out last week,” Bodenbach said.
Community Development was notified by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Community Services to be aware of fraudulent activity by individuals claiming to represent the Community Service Block Grant program The letter stated individuals unrelated to CSBG are contacting people via telephone, mail, email, social media and text message offering CSBG funding or services in exchange for a fee.
“We ask the public to please contact Community Development if you receive one of these postcards or disregard it altogether,” Bodenbach said.
The information appears to be geared toward individuals who took part in several of the programs offered by Community Development. Contact (618) 296-4299 to report that you received a postcard.