{"id":70968,"date":"2025-02-24T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=70968"},"modified":"2025-02-24T15:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T23:13:00","slug":"barger-calls-on-eaton-fire-survivors-to-help-identify-fraudulent-bandit-tow-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=70968","title":{"rendered":"Barger Calls on Eaton Fire Survivors to Help Identify Fraudulent Bandit Tow Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"m_-4571351401278096459govd_template_image CToWUd a6T aligncenter\" tabindex=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/ci3.googleusercontent.com\/meips\/ADKq_NZLKqVDdNIVKrWTGqT22EUXCi54bcmBSHXjseS0NNL7ve3nXif1nfux5glD8ZZ9kywk8Y0owTM9ORkfSRslt7RQpet6u2MD8HizH-4dVbj3YS5BzURYvZtQxcCZADPxbVVQ-PUQRU5TMGerzo57NbAXJsYMWY_XDoM22brk9BBSpZ-1TCadiTZ2wcKE82hMzlo=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/attachments\/fancy_images\/CALACOUNTY\/2025\/02\/11102356\/6021260\/gettyimages-466387691_crop.jpg\" alt=\"Click here to view image.\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" data-bit=\"iit\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger is urging Eaton Fire survivors to come forward if they were targeted by fraudulent tow companies during and immediately after the\u00a0 wildfire.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Reports indicate that, between January 7 through January 10, 2025, deceptive operators falsely claimed to be contracted by Altadena officials then proceeded to tow vehicles without informing owners of their storage location. Later, tow company representatives demanded excessive fees to release vehicles. Some of these vehicles were stored in Riverside or San Bernardino County.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Anyone who was contacted by a tow company under these suspicious circumstances\u2014which include being asked to send a photo of their driver\u2019s license or struggling to locate their vehicle\u2014are encouraged to report their experience to the Inland Empire Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">This task force is actively seeking victims of this scheme and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Anyone who suspects they were a victim should contact Inland Empire Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force\u2019s Sergeant Regina Garay at (909) 919-2242 for assistance.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger\u00a0<\/strong>condemned the predatory tactics used against vulnerable wildfire survivors. \u201cI find it disgusting that these fraudulent tow operators exploited fire survivors during their time of distress,\u201d Barger said. \u201cThose behind this abhorrent scheme must be held accountable and brought to justice. I urge anyone who was victimized to come forward so we can stop these bad actors from preying on our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/links-1.govdelivery.com\/CL0\/https:%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F1rRXhnlpYSasRU3sbP2wRE7zRY9JqrM1m%2Fview%3Fusp=sharing%26utm_content=%26utm_medium=email%26utm_name=%26utm_source=govdelivery%26utm_term=\/1\/0100019539e566bd-2be3ac52-4dab-4d2f-9231-3f0dde1a06ea-000000\/GF9IpAoOgZydCU77jEtOUdTHiLWsaJswQBSsHGUgfe0=393\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/links-1.govdelivery.com\/CL0\/https:%252F%252Fdrive.google.com%252Ffile%252Fd%252F1rRXhnlpYSasRU3sbP2wRE7zRY9JqrM1m%252Fview%253Fusp%3Dsharing%2526utm_content%3D%2526utm_medium%3Demail%2526utm_name%3D%2526utm_source%3Dgovdelivery%2526utm_term%3D\/1\/0100019539e566bd-2be3ac52-4dab-4d2f-9231-3f0dde1a06ea-000000\/GF9IpAoOgZydCU77jEtOUdTHiLWsaJswQBSsHGUgfe0%3D393&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740519538960000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3za1wX5HiNIdgPrDkFxUDt\">here<\/a>\u00a0to view an informational flyer distributed by the Inland Empire Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70969,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70968\/revisions\/70969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}