(Harrisburg) -- Residents and businesses working to clean up from recent flooding are being warned to watch out for potential scam artists trying to take advantage of them. The state Attorney General's Office says scam from home repairs to government loans to disaster-related fundraising could pop up in areas hit hard by heavy rains, flooding and high winds. Spokesman Nils Frederiksen says a legitimate contractor will provide potential customers with a state registration number up front and a written contract for any job costing more than $500. "That contract should include specific information about the work that's going to be done and the materials that will be used," he says. "They should point out your three-day right to cancel that home improvement contract, along with instructions on how to do that. There should be a specific start date and end date to the project." By law in Pennsylvania, a contractor working on a project that costs more than $5,000 cannot accept more than a third of the money up front. Anyone who thinks they are being scammed should contact their police department or the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection.