In the wake of a natural disaster, the federal government contracts with private companies to provide the affected community with shelter, food, water, clothes, etc.  Naturally, these disaster relief efforts are highly prone to fraud abuses because of a lack of government oversight, and the need to act extremely quickly for safety reasons.  Any private company receiving funds to provide relief efforts that submits a fraudulent payment claim to the federal government may be liable under the FCA.

Example

Many of the most infamous examples of disaster relief fraud occurred after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued many reconstruction contracts to companies the federal government knew little about.  Some of these companies took advantage of the rushed efforts of the U.S. government by inflating contract costs and defrauding the government out of millions of dollars.
For instance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered into a contract with Lighthouse Disaster Relief. Lighthouse was supposed to build and operate a base camp for first responders assisting with the relief efforts in Louisiana.  However, Lighthouse made false statements to FEMA that the work had been completed in order to be paid prematurely.  As a result, the base camp could not sufficiently house the number of first responders specified in the contract.  Lighthouse settled an FCA case with the government for $4 million.