Good morning,
It’s Mike Holfeld with another edition of the Make Ends Meet newsletter.
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But first — FEMA and you 🏠
In continuing support to Floridians, FEMA is undertaking an extensive housing effort that includes funds for rent, home repairs, hotel stays, apartment leases, travel trailers and manufactured housing units.
FEMA reports more than 70,000 Florida households have been approved for $647 million in financial assistance for rent or basic home repairs, and more than 4,500 households have stayed in hotels temporarily under FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program. Additionally, FEMA is placing eligible applicants in 313 apartment homes, under its Direct Lease program and is also working to lease apartments, repair them and place hurricane survivors in them under its Multi-Family Lease and Repair program.
In Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Lee, Sarasota and Volusia counties, 366 families have moved into travel trailers, manufactured housing units and apartments. More temporary housing is being prepared for occupancy.
For the latest information on Florida’s recovery from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, visit floridadisaster.org/info and fema.gov.
Don’t use public Wi-Fi 🌐‼️
This story serves a warning for anyone with a cell phone.
An admissions manager with Full Sail University lost $65,000 in seconds thanks to a hacker who infiltrated his phone, forwarded calls to another number and wired his entire business savings to a woman in another state.
The victim asked that we only use his first name.
Well, Julius was contacted by his bank, and he quickly told them he had nothing to do with that large transaction. Unfortunately, it appeared as if he approved it because, according to the bank’s fraud investigators, “the transactions were authorized using agreed upon security procedures.”
“I know somebody hacked my phone, I just don’t know how,” he told News 6. “They took advantage of my passwords, they accessed my emails.”
Make Ends Meet was able to investigate and with the records provided by Julius, Regions Bank’s corporate fraud team reversed the decision and refunded more than $64,000 into his account (he did pay bank fees).
The Secret Service has been tracking variations of these phone schemes and warns everyone not to use public Wi-Fi for any sort of bank review or transaction.
“Open Wi-Fis are a no brainer for the bad guy,” said Caroline O’Brien-Buster, special agent in charge. “Your phone is a computer, it has so many different ways to access.”
Windshield games? 🕹️
State Rep. Linda Stewart has filed a bill on automotive windshield replacement practices.
SB-1002 would prohibit a replacement service provider from offering an inducement to a customer for using their business. It would also prohibit consumers from entering an assignment of benefits contract for the replacement and calibration of the windshield.
“We have all seen the signs offering us cash or gift cards to have our windshields replaced. These incentives sound great, but the reality is some of these services are using you to sue your insurance for more money than the replacement actually costs,” Stewart said. “This behavior ultimately contributes to the ever-increasing auto insurance rates as insurers raise rates to compensate their losses from this practice.”
If you have a financial or unemployment benefits issue email makeendsmeet@wkmg.com or text the words Make Ends Meet along with any documents you have to 407-676-7428.
