Scheme operators take cars of LA county residents and demand hefty fees for their return, county officials say. After surviving the deadly Eaton fire, some Los Angeles county residents were left vulnerable to a second danger: fraudulent towing companies that took their vehicles and were demanding hefty fees for their return, county officials say.
The Eaton fire, which started on 7 January near Pasadena, razed more than 9,400 homes and businesses and left 17 people dead. Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles county board of supervisors, said that during the first four days of the blaze, some tow truck operators were falsely claiming to be working for Altadena officials. They towed vehicles without telling owners where the cars were being stored.
These companies then demanded excessive fees to give back the vehicles, some of which were found in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, both about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles. “I find it disgusting that these fraudulent tow operators exploited fire survivors during their time of distress,” Barger said in a statement on Monday.
Barger’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the Guardian regarding how many residents had been affected. Officials have urged anyone who experienced suspicious interactions with tow companies, such as requests for photos of driver’s licenses or claims that a vehicle could not be located, to report them to the Inland Empire auto insurance fraud taskforce.
“Those behind this abhorrent scheme must be held accountable and brought to justice,” Barger said. “I urge anyone who was victimized to come forward so we can stop these bad actors from preying on our communities.”. Sign up to Headlines US. Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning.
after newsletter promotion. Barger’s announcement followed close on the heels of a warning by the California department of insurance about an uptick in scams where tow companies hold accident victims’ vehicles “hostage for cash”, an investigation that began before the Eaton fire.
Victims David Gueringer and Ursula Knudson in Los Angeles told ABC7 that a towing company falsely claimed it had been contracted by the city to remove vehicles as part of debris-clearing efforts. The company later placed a lien on their car. “I realized they wanted the cars. It’s complicated,” Knudson told ABC7. “It would be impressive if it wasn’t so awful.”.
Although recovery efforts after the fires in Los Angeles county are afoot, the process has been rocky. Last week, the mayor, Karen Bass, removed the fire chief, Kristin Crowley, following criticism of the city’s wildfire response. Crowley reportedly sent 1,000 firefighters home on the day the fires started, a move that drew sharp criticism from the firefighters’ union.
