Maui residents with wildfire-damaged homes are being targeted by real estate scams, officials warn

As searchers look for the more than 1,000 people still unaccounted for in the aftermath of deadly wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui last week, killing at least 99, government officials warned that scammers have already begun to target survivors whose properties were damaged in the blazes.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green's office said in a news release Monday that concerns were rising over the threat of potential scams because "residents are being approached about selling fire-damaged home sites, by people posing as real estate agents who may have ill intent." At a briefing to discuss recovery efforts with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, Green told reporters that he had asked the attorney general to consider imposing a moratorium on the sale of damaged or destroyed property on Maui and noted that it will be "a very long time" before the island can be rebuilt.

"I would caution people that it's going to be a very long time before any growth or housing can be built, and so you will be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here," Green said in a statement.