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My heart is full of joy and admiration for everyone – including those locally – who answered the call to send needed items to our North State brothers and sisters in western ‘Carolina.

My wife and I donated several items that were on a list of things needed to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Facebook was jammed with stories and videos from those locally who made the trip westward to transport items or offer manpower. Others, like the local food truck Y’all Eat Yet (based out of Windsor), used donations to feed storm survivors in Black Mountain, NC this past weekend and then donated what they had leftover to a church located near Erwin, NC that was feeding in excess of over 1,000 meals per day.

We need to continue to pray and offer support for those who face the daunting task of picking up the pieces following this natural disaster. As we know all too well here in our part of the state, life doesn’t immediately return to normal following a major storm. The scars of past weather-related events are still present across our area.

Those scars hurt in a different way when scam artists arrive following these storms. They’re like vultures, circling overhead to feed on innocent victims who don’t know where to turn or who to trust after seeing all the damage inflicted upon their property.

The best advice I can offer to those who have found themselves in this type of scenario is to hire someone you know and trust – or someone suggested by family or friends – to perform needed repairs.

State Attorney General Josh Stein also offers some great advice. He warns of contractors who try to rush you or come to your home offering assistance. If possible, get three written estimates for the work and compare bids. Make sure your contract is in writing and it includes a payment schedule where you pay as the work is completed. Do not pay for work up front because you may not see the contractor again.

While on the subject of scammers (not just the ones associated with the aftermath of a storm), I wish they all could be locked up and the key to the cell tied to a cinderblock and thrown in the ocean.

Personally, I receive phone calls from scammers nearly every day. The majority of those calls are related to Medicare, of which I receive.

The most common of those scam attempts have to do with my personal Medicare Card issued by the government. I’ve had it for over six years. Over that period of time I’ve received at least 100 calls to my personal cell phone from someone, who speaks broken English, asking me if I’ve received my new Medicare Card.

Thinking back to the first of those calls, I played along with the caller in an effort to see just how far he would go and what type of information he was attempting to extract from me. After a couple of general questions (like verifying my name and address), he seemed troubled by the fact that I had yet to receive my new card and offered to help speed up the process.

Then came the “hook.” In order for him to continue to help me, he needed the ID number on my card. When I responded that he should already have that information since he made the call, he said he needed me to give him those numbers in order to verify that I was the actual cardholder. When I replied that the verification process should have came earlier in the call via my name and address, he became agitated and demanded that I needed to cooperate since he was a government representative. When I asked for verification of what branch of government he worked for, the spelling of his name, and the name of his supervisor, the call abruptly ended.

Now, when I get those same types of calls, I ask the caller why over the span of six years they can’t come up with a different scam. Those calls end in less than 10 seconds.

Contact by scammers isn’t just limited to my cell phone.

This past weekend, I was contacted via my work email from a person who claimed to be with the Student Loan Department. The message in the email cited a case number and that they had attempted to contact me at my home (giving an address that was correct) and they had not heard back from me.

Well, for starters, no one knocked on my door identifying themselves as someone from the Student Loan Department nor did they leave a note or business card.

The email message read: “Your Student Loans have been flagged as possibly eligible for forgiveness under the new 2024 guidelines. Your file will remain open in my system for only one more day. Please give me a call on Monday at (888) XXX-XXXX.

The person sending that email used a personal Hotmail address. Not that I’m knocking Hotmail, but I would assume that those legitimately representing a government agency – either federal or state – who are in charge of forgiving student loans wouldn’t use a personal Hotmail address for contact/reply purposes.

While there have been several attempts by the current administration to forgive a portion of student loans, there aren’t any such programs offered, to my knowledge, by a government entity to the general pubic. I did find, online, a Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which is available to government employees and qualifying nonprofit employees with federal student loans. Eligible borrowers can have their remaining loan balance forgiven tax-free after making 120 qualifying loan payments. The web site for that program is www.studentaid.gov

Even if student loan forgiveness was the law of the land, I wouldn’t qualify for the simple reason that I don’t owe anyone for the higher education I received from Chowan College (nee University) and NC State University. Those loans were applied for and paid decades ago by my now late parents….you know, those people who worked hard for what little they received and didn’t throw themselves at the mercy of the government and ask for a single dime.

So, for you scammers out there, there’s a special place for you later on. Hint: don’t bring an overcoat or longjohns.

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.