HOUSTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- BP officials said the company is investigating reports that its claims process following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been targeted by scam artists.
Officials said some people posed as fishermen to receive checks from BP while others act as BP employees to try to convince Gulf Coast residents to surrender personal financial information, The Christian Science Monitor reported Monday.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries first alerted BP of the possible fraud. The department reported commercial fishing license applications rose after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent spill. The agency's law enforcement division said 2,200 licenses were sold after the blast, a 60 percent increase compared to the same period last year, despite federal fishing waters in the gulf begin closed after the oil spill.
Allen Carpenter, corporate compliance manager for Worley Catastrophe Response, BP's subcontractor handling claims in the area, told the Monitor he suspected at least 10 percent of the claims filed since the beginning of the disaster likely were fraudulent.
BP officials also said some legitimate boat captains were offered up to $1,000 by people seeking signed paperwork to show they are members of a commercial fishing crew.
BP also is warning Gulf Coast residents of reports that people are door-knocking, posing as oil company employees who are collecting personal information, or attempting to charge money for training related to spill-response employment.
Carpenter said disasters like the oil spill "brings out the unscrupulous people who see it as an opportunity to take advantage of the goodwill of others."
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP exploded April 20, killing 11 workers, then sank two days later, dumping millions of barrels of oil into the gulf until a temporary cap contained the spill July 15.
