MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The state Attorney General’s Office has offered an advisory for Mountain State residents wishing to help with flood relief efforts in the southern part of the state.

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey said residents across the state must be vigilant of scammers. This includes scammers who have worked to gain funds from donations or who have directly impacted victims of flooding through fake repair estimates.

“We know that we live in a place here in West Virginia where our citizens are more likely to help their neighbors than probably any other place in the entire world and because of that, fraudsters know that they can take advantage of the good-heartedness of the people in West Virginia,” he said.

According to McCuskey, reports from outside of the flood impact zones in southern West Virginia have stated that residents around the north central part of the state have received calls from scammers claiming to be from a charitable organization in an attempt to receive donations. This includes several scammers attempting to receive funds by claiming to be a part of newly established organizations, many of which also claimed to be associated with reputable groups such as the United Way and the American Red Cross. If that happens to any North Central West Virginia residents, McCuskey advises not directly giving them any information over the phone and cross-checking to see their credentials with the help of the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.

“Make sure that the charity that you’re donating to is also reputable,” said McCuskey on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “You can also find them on the Secretary of State’s website, but you can also just make sure that the people you’re giving to have a long and reputable history of helping.”

For victims of flooding in the southern part of the state, McCuskey stated the majority of his reports heard from the State Attorney General’s Office have stemmed from fake contractors who offer to do remodeling services at incredibly high rates. Based on reports made to the State Attorney General’s Office, victims have been approached by non-licensed contractors in an attempt to bypass any long waits for home repairs, which for some victims was almost a total loss. For residents still working to recover, McCuskey warns to be wary of any non-certified contractor estimates, which could have financial impacts that would be hard to recover from.

“We are urging all people who have been affected by this flood to make sure the people that you are contracting are registered,” said McCuskey. “Go on the Secretary of State’s website, find their business license, and make sure that these folks are real, because we know that scammers and fraudsters always come out of the woodwork after these kinds of things.”

In order to avoid such scamming attempts, McCuskey advises Mountain State residents to do a combination of due diligence and common sense before giving away their hard-earned dollars. Not only does this include a full list of reputable charitable organizations listed on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website, but also a list of licensed contractors that is available through the West Virginia Department of Labor. With several avenues to gain more information, but supported and not supported by the state, McCuskey warns Mountain State residents to use caution before sending money if you want to help flood victims.

“Commonsense is one of those phrases that is very easy to define when you’re not in a hyper-stressful situation,” said McCuskey. “And so, what we really need is for people to take a deep breath and make sure the people you’re working with are reputable,” he said.

West Virginia will have six remaining practices after the break including the Gold-Blue Showcase with a magnifying glass during that time on evaluation of the current roster.

That is always a critical component, especially in the midst of a coaching change, but considering there are so many new players in the program on top of the upcoming changes to the allowable size of the roster it’s perhaps even more important than usual.

The House Settlement is expected to lower the roster size to 105 players in total which means that the coaching staff is going to have to make some difficult decisions on a number of players.

“I already talked to our coaches and some of our personnel folks that we’ve got to really get a good plan for that because I know it’s a long time until the first week, but that 105, we’ve got to have the best 105 that we could possibly have here,” head coach Rich Rodriguez said.

That means whittling down the roster totals to 105 by the time that fall camp rolls around and it means looking at the roster in totality now in order to see where the program needs the most help.

The end of spring practice was deliberately set April 5 as opposed to the original date a week later in order to allow the coaching staff a week to meet with players before the second portal window is set to open April 16.

That gives players an opportunity to get into the transfer portal yet again, while mapping out the positions that the Mountaineers still need to create the most competitive roster possible.

“We got to be honest with all of them. And I can’t keep all of them even if I wanted to because of the roster size. That’s going to be the hardest part,” Rodriguez said.

That’s especially difficult because there are going to be several players that are right on the edge and could potentially help West Virginia, but there might be other spots with greater needs.

“So, this spring is going to be really hard to do that because there’s going to be some guys that we don’t want to let go that probably are going to have to get let go,” Rodriguez said.

Those decisions will be critical because the Mountaineers won’t have the ability to mine a free agent pool or sign somebody up from the practice squad if there are any injuries once fall camp begins. That means once those choices are made, the coaching staff has to hope that the roster remains healthy.

So, while the spring has certainly helped the coaches accomplish some of that, there is still work to do.

“We’ve got to look at the roster in totality now and like what we got to do in the portal coming up and what moves we’ve got to make to get it to the best 105,” Rodriguez said.