The federal contractor-fraud hotline closed. We built the replacement.
Groundcheck verifies any contractor in about 90 seconds — free. Federal court, OSHA and sanctions records in all 51 jurisdictions, first-party license checks in 38 of 51, and phoenix-entity detection that catches operators hiding across state lines.
What happened to the NCDF?
The National Center for Disaster Fraud was the Department of Justice’s primary intake for contractor-fraud victims after natural disasters. It closed permanently on March 31, 2026.
Its successor covers federal-program fraud — not the consumer contractor fraud homeowners face after a storm. The old hotline number is disconnected, yet government and insurance pages still list it.
Hurricane season opened June 1, 2026. The gap between “a storm hit your roof” and “there is somewhere to check before you sign” is exactly what Groundcheck fills.
- Mar 31, 2026NCDF closes permanently. Consumer contractor-fraud intake ends.
- Jun 1, 2026Atlantic hurricane season opens. Storm-chasers mobilize.
- NowGroundcheck is the private-sector replacement — free, open in every state, instant.
The scale of the problem
Loss figure is a widely-cited industry estimate of fraud, waste, and abuse in post-disaster reconstruction; storm count is the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s 2026 Atlantic outlook.
Verify before you sign
One name in. A sourced verdict out. No account required to start.
Enter the details
Company name, contractor name, phone, or email — whatever you have from the door knock or estimate.
We check the record
Federal court filings, OSHA safety history and federal debarment in all 51 jurisdictions; live license status and business registration wherever the state makes them checkable — first-party in 38 of 51.
Phoenix detection
We compare official business-registry filings across the 10 jurisdictions whose registries we hold, looking for the same operator behind a freshly registered shell. We report a match only when two independent signals corroborate it.
Verdict in about 90 seconds
A plain-English result — Verified, Mixed, or High Risk — with the sources behind our signals.
Who this protects
Storm hit your roof. A contractor showed up. Verify them before you sign.
Most post-disaster fraud starts with an unsolicited knock and a demand for money up front. Run the company name through Groundcheck first — license status, business standing, federal court filings, and whether the same operator has dissolved and re-registered in another state. Free, and the contractor is never notified.
Verify a contractor — freeCoverage & active risk windows
No open disaster windows at this moment. Hurricane-exposed coastal markets carry the highest combined storm-and-fraud risk this season — verify early.
- FL: active risk window
- TX: active risk window
- NC: active risk window
- LA: active risk window
- SC: active risk window
- GA: active risk window
- MS: active risk window
- AL: active risk window
- VA: active risk window
- NY: active risk window
Report a contractor scam
This replaces the reporting function the NCDF used to provide. Reports are reviewed by hand. If the contractor is already in our system, your report triggers a re-check.
Verification inside your claims workflow
- • REST API with ~90-second response when a claim is assigned
- • Webhook alerts when a contractor’s status changes mid-claim
- • White-label option for carrier portals
- • FCRA-clean entity checks (the company, not the individual)
Entity-level verification keeps carrier reviews out of FCRA consumer-report territory while still flagging the serial operators that drive post-disaster claims fraud. See compliance for the legal distinction.
State-by-state contractor-fraud resources
The licensing board and Secretary of State office for every state, plus a direct Groundcheck check. Start with the licensing board to confirm a license number; use Groundcheck to see the full record at once.