Some homeowners are being told to clean their roof or they could lose their insurance.

"But it's definitely, you know, a shock after moving into a new home," homeowner Spenser Henry said.

The shock for Henry was a letter he got from his insurance company, Nationwide, telling him that his homeowners insurance policy was going to be canceled. The reason: plant growth on the roof of his home.

"I just said, 'I've never heard of this. This is ridiculous. What do we need to do to resolve it?' And he said, you basically need to get the moss removed, send them a picture and then they'll be able to reinstate our insurance," Henry said.

Henry and his wife had their roof washed.

"If you get to the point where you have moss growing on your roof, it has a filament root system and it can dig those roots in between the shingles," said Stephen Talbot, with Talbot's Power Washing.

Talbot said about 95% of his business right now is soft washing homes.

"Insurance companies have understood that organic growth on a house and on a roof can cause damage. And they don't want to cover an asset that hasn't been maintained properly," he said.

Sister station WGAL reached out to Nationwide Insurance, which confirmed it has been in contact with Henry but would not comment on the notice to cancel his insurance. Nationwide did tell the TV station that "moss and plant growth on a roof left untreated can cause damage to a home."

This kind of roof washing may be relatively new in the northeastern part of the U.S. But it's been happening for years now in the south, where the heat and humidity are much higher.

"The more shade cover you have, the dirtier, the more organic growth is going to accumulate on your roof, more quickly," Talbot said.

Dark, black streaks coming down your roof are an indication that you may have growth starting.

"When it gets to a higher level of growth, you start to see moss and algae actually growing on the shingles," Talbot said.

Roof washing not a trend yet

WGAL checked with several insurance agents who say that right now, roof washing is not a trend.

But if insurance carriers see a long-term benefit from it, homeowners may start seeing more requests to clean their roof.

What's the cost?

The home in this story had a whole house wash, which includes the roof and siding.

The approximate cost was $1,500, which has to be paid by the homeowner.

The average cost is 40 to 70 cents per square foot.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Gift cards are a billion-dollar business during the holidays, but you may have bought a worthless stolen card without even realizing it.

Thieves are stealing the activation codes and other data from the card. They are then monitoring those cards for activation and wiping out the balances seconds after they are purchased.

Jack Garthwaite says he and his mom purchased six $100 iTunes gift cards at Target.

Garthwaite says he took advantage of a Black Friday deal where Target offered a $20 gift card for every $100 spent on iTunes cards. Several days later, Garthwaite, a college student, says he attempted to use the cards to buy his dad a new phone.

“I tried to redeem the first one, and Apple was saying it had already been used. So, I tried the next one same thing, next one same thing,” he said. “My heart sank. I was like, this is bad.”

Garthwaite contacted both Target and Apple about his worthless gift cards.

“Apple was able to confirm it was not on my account; that I did not redeem them,” he said.

According to an email from Apple to Garthwaite, the cards were redeemed minutes after purchase. But Garthwaite said Target did not refund his money.

“Tried to talk to the manager, and he pretty much shut us down,” Garthwaite said. Adding that the manager told him there were “no refunds on gift cards. ”

ABC Action News reached out to Target to ask about Garthwaite’s claim. Days later, a spokesperson responded in an email:

“After looking into the information provided, our guest relations team reached out to Mr. Garthwaite and provided a full refund for the gift cards purchased."

“I was very happy about that,” Garthwaite said.

Gift cards hanging on racks out-in-the-open may be vulnerable to tampering, so you should buy gift cards online whenever possible.

This story originally reported by Jackie Callaway on abcactionnews.com.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has doled out hundreds of billions of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic relief to businesses in Florida and across the country. But a government watchdog found more than $70 billion may have been lost to fraudulent claims.

Kraig Key discovered a thief used his identity to apply for one of the loans. Key says all his personal information including his Social Security number wound up on an application for a PPP loan filed with the Small Business Administration last fall.

Key, who has worked as an engineer with the same company for the last 20 years, says he's never applied for a pandemic relief small business loan. But in 2020, he began receiving statements showing he owes $7,000 to the SBA.

“It's kind of shocking when you actually see it in print,” Key said.

The SBA’s own watchdog report, released last October, says the agency may have paid over $70 billion in fraudulent and ineligible pandemic relief loans.

“To expedite the process, SBA 'lowered the guardrails' or relaxed internal controls, which significantly increased the risk of program fraud,” the report stated.

Congressman Gus Bilirakis says a congressional oversight committee is working to ensure the SBA implements anti-fraud controls.

“There needs to be multi-level verification there's no question,” he said.

The SBA responded to an email. In a statement, the agency wrote, “New enhanced checks put into place by the Biden-Harris administration have intensified system validations used to mitigate the occurrence of fraud."

Keys and his wife Mara say they called the SBA for months, filed a fraud report and contacted lawmakers for help.

“No one helped us; no one told us where to go!” Mara said.

After contacting the SBA on Kraig Keys' behalf, the agency contacted him saying the issue would be resolved, Keys said.

If you or anyone you know suspects fraud related to a PPP or a disaster relief loan contact OIG’s Hotline at 800-767-0385 or online at https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/oversight-advocacy/office-inspector-general/office-inspector-general-hotline.

This article was written by Jackie Callaway for WFTS.