Officials Warn Victims of Recent Storms to Be Wary of Repair Scams : Consumer affairs: A task force will help teach homeowners to hire reputable workers and avoid experiences of those in the Oakland Hills fire.

Concerned that Southern Californians whose homes were damaged by this month’s fierce storms could fall prey to repair scams pulled on some Oakland fire victims, state officials gathered Thursday at the Sepulveda Basin to warn homeowners against unlicensed or unscrupulous contractors.

They said the state Department of Consumer Affairs has organized a task force, with representatives from five state licensing boards, to teach people how to spot crooks and hire reputable workers. In addition, department investigators will conduct sweeps and undercover investigations throughout the region to ferret out unlicensed contractors and others.

“This is a preemptive strike on our part, having learned from the Oakland situation,” department Director Jim Conran said during a news conference in the basin, where dozens of motorists were trapped by a flash flood two weeks ago. “There are a lot of crooks who will come into this area trying to take advantage of people.”

Rainstorms pelted much of Southern California between Feb. 9 and 16, leaving eight people dead and causing an estimated $125 million in damage. President Bush has declared a disaster area in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Kern counties.

The task force aims to prevent further victimization from con artists, who have often arrived on the heels of disasters. Included in the task force are members of state boards that license contractors, professional engineers, architects, landscape architects and geologists and geophysicists.

Board officials cautioned householders to beware of contractors soliciting work by telephone or asking for large deposits. By law, a contractor working on a remodeling or repair job is entitled to a down payment of only $1,000, or 10% of the job’s price excluding finance charges, whichever is less, Conran said.

In addition, they cautioned those hiring to make sure that workers have valid state licenses and sign a contract.

The boards will run license checks for consumers and have pamphlets with more information available, Conran said.

“We want property owners to do everything they can to be . . . intelligent in their planning and approach,” Steve Kolb, spokesman for the Contractors State License Board, said in an interview. “They should pay more attention to this than planning their next vacation.”

That has not always been the case.

During the Whittier earthquake in 1987, “a lot of scam operators swooped into Whittier, took money and disappeared,” Kolb said. Some similar problems surfaced after Northern California’s Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, Kolb said.

Days after the fire that ravaged the Oakland Hills in October, about 50 residents called the consumer affairs department to report that would-be workers had offered to clear the debris the next day--but only if they first obtained a deposit of at least $250, Conran said.

“A couple people complained they had given money to people posing as contractors and those people hadn’t been seen,” Conran said.

Earlier this month, a two-day sweep by state officials of lots under construction in the Oakland Hills turned up 11 people unable to prove they were licensed contractors, Kolb said.

There may be no problem if those people can show licenses in court. The penalty for contracting without a license can range from $200 to $4,500 and 10 days in county jail, depending on the extent of the damage, he said.

Twelve department investigators will run similar operations throughout Southern California in the coming months to uncover unlicensed workers, Conran said.

“Recognizing that damage was spread throughout the Southland, but with heavy emphasis--to our understanding--in Ventura and Orange counties, those are to be the first areas we’re targeting.”

The investigators may set up a sting operation by posing as homeowners or they may target a certain neighborhood and ask workers in the area to see licenses.

“We moved fast after we started getting complaints,” Conran said of the Oakland situation. “This time, we wanted to move before we got complaints.”