As all of us know by now, much of southern California was consumed by several wildfires ravaging the region. The Eaton fire, one of the larger fires that blew through Altadena in early January, caused many households to have to evacuate. Unfortunately, scammers saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of those who’ve already suffered a great deal.

What happened was this: those evacuating would be approached by what they thought were tow truck drivers. The drivers would offer the evacuees a deal to move their cars to avoid them being burned, and the cars would be retrieved after the evacuation order was lifted.

It happened to David Gueringer after he lost his home and his garage to the blaze. All he had left was his Toyota Prius and Chevy Tahoe, which a, “tow company” offered to move for him.

“I went to sleep thinking we had really dodged the worst of the fire and been fortunate in that way,” he told KTLA. “They gave what sounded like a plausible story, saying, ‘We’ve been contracted by Los Angeles to remove vehicles from people’s driveways so they don’t burn, to remove objects that might contribute to the fire.'”

The headache got worse when he tried to pick up his towed cars

Gueringer involved his auto insurance company to pay for the tow, and he was alerted of the scam shortly afterward. The company told him the tow company was trying to charge excessive fees for the tow.

“They said they had charged them about $3,000 to get one of the cars out,” he recalled. “This raised red flags, so they looked up their license or credential, and they didn’t have one.”

His insurance company’s warning helped him from paying thousands for his cars—even after the company put a lien on his Prius—but city officials are concerned others are certainly in the same boat.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger wants to put an end to it and asked residents to report the scam if they encounter it.

“I find it disgusting that these fraudulent tow operators exploited fire survivors during their time of distress,” she said. “Those 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.”