Utahns lost $32M to contractor fraud since 2022. New state task force aims to stop it

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Utahns lost $32 million to contractor fraud since 2022, prompting state action.
A new task force aims to combat contractor scams and protect consumers.
Efforts include assigning a prosecutor and providing tools to prevent future fraud.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns are losing millions of dollars to fraudulent contractors who are taking the money but then walking off the job. Now, the state has formed a task force to protect consumers from contractor scams.

The KSL Investigators have reported on contractors leaving their clients high and dry several times in our continuing "Cited but not Shut Down" series of reports – including a fencing contractor who abandoned several jobs, a deck builder who abandoned several jobs and a landscaper who was paid and then abandoned several jobs.

These are just three of the scores of complaints regularly sent to Get Gephardt by frustrated viewers dealing with contractor issues. State regulators hear complaints, too.

The Utah Division of Professional Licensing received over 2,100 construction complaints in 2024. It says more than 1,000 complaints have been processed in 2025 – and counting.

Newly released data shows Utahns reported a staggering $32 million in construction fraud losses over the last three years, according to the Utah Commerce Department.

"We've seen a surge in reporting of construction fraud," said Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director.

She said the losses are particularly brutal for people building new homes, where the average loss per consumer is $302,000.

"We have a new task force that is going to be focused on the construction fraud problem that we have here in Utah," Busse said.

Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of Utah’s Commerce Department, tells KSL’s Matt Gephardt that the task force will include a full-time prosecutor. (Photo: John Wilson, KSL-TV)

Fraud is already a crime in Utah, but victims have long lamented that police tend to treat construction fraud as a civil matter, telling folks their recourse is filing a lawsuit.

One of the biggest changes with the new task force is that the state is assigning a prosecutor to go after bad contractors.

"We are putting together a very coordinated effort to stop this construction fraud," Busse said.

Part of that effort includes working to stop scams before they happen. The task force is also putting together tools like contract templates, tips to hire good builders, and free guides on avoiding rip-offs.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.