After storms brought damaging hail to the Oklahoma City metro, a group of veterans are using drone technology to vet contractors to prevent homeowners from being scammed.

“We’re doing the extensive research on these guys. We’re checking criminal and civil backgrounds, we’re checking with the Construction Industries Board, we’re making sure they’re licensed, they have to provide us with proof of their insurance. We just go out there and make sure that they’re the right people and that we’re protecting Oklahomans,” said Chris Guarnera, CEO of Blue Falcon Aerial.

Guarnera said that is the main mission of Blue Falcon Aerial, especially after a storm, when scammers look to prey on vulnerable people whose homes are damaged.

Guarnera, who is also a drone instructor at Francis Tuttle Institute of Technology, said they use drones to inspect damaged roofs. Once finished, they connect homeowners to vetted roofers, who Guarnera said are heavily evaluated.

“There’s an aggressive vetting process. We have dozens of roofers who have applied for our program, and right now, I think we only have eight. So essentially, when we ask for these different bits of information, they’re usually not able to provide it,” he said.

And if they can’t provide that information, Guarnera said there’s a good chance they could be fraudulent. Avery Smith, with the Oklahoma Roofing Contractors Association, said swindling contractors will also be aggressive.

“If they try to get up on your roof, or they won’t get up on your roof without a signed contract, or you know, high-pressure tactics,” he said.

Smith said one of the biggest ways to know if a contractor is fraudulent is if what they’re offering seems too good to be true, such as offering to take care of your deductible, which could lead to the contractor or homeowner being guilty of insurance fraud. Guarnera said they’ve already flagged a handful of contractors in the past week to the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board.

“I know personally, we’ve sent 10 different contractors to the CIB ourselves, and I’ve actually just gotten about three text messages in the last hour from people asking me to report them as well,” he said.