Dan Lampariello

Dan Lampariello reports for WGME’s CBS 13 I-Team with a focus on how real estate, housing and property-related scams affect ordinary people, often framing complex rules and disputes through the experiences of homeowners, tenants and small businesses. His coverage sits at the intersection of property, money and trust, from unclaimed state-held funds to contractor conflicts and deed fraud. He approaches real estate as a consumer beat, using investigative tools and clear explanations to show where systems fail and what residents can do to protect themselves.

Real estate, housing and property disputes

Much of Lampariello’s work examines the fine print and vulnerabilities around homes and property, translating legal and financial rules into practical guidance. He has reported in detail on what residents need to know before hiring a contractor, explaining state requirements for written contracts, limits on deposits and how changes must be documented, while highlighting warning signs that suggest a home improvement scam. His reporting digs into disputes over unfinished or substandard work, emphasizing the cost and stress that poorly chosen contractors can create for homeowners. On social platforms he has extended that focus to vivid case studies, including a story about raw sewage flooding a 91-year-old woman’s basement and a cleanup bill exceeding $28,000, using the incident to explore responsibility and infrastructure failures that leave vulnerable homeowners exposed.

He also covers the structural side of real estate: development projects, buildings and the promises attached to them. In one piece he examined a major economic development project touted for new jobs and locally grown produce in Westbrook, returning to it years later to assess whether those promises had materialized. That kind of follow-up shows an interest in holding developers and local governments accountable for the real-world outcomes of ambitious real estate plans. His coverage of the tallest building in the state being an 18‑story apartment building fits the same pattern, treating significant housing projects as stories about who benefits, how the skyline changes and what new construction means for people who live and work nearby. The theme runs through his work: real estate is not abstract, but lived space subject to both market forces and public oversight.

Lampariello’s reporting also reaches into property rights and title integrity, including deed fraud. On X, where he posts under a WGME-branded handle, he has highlighted cases where people discovered that property was being sold or transferred even though they were not selling, describing deed fraud as an increasingly common real estate scam. By surfacing these stories, he connects administrative records and legal documents back to the risk that homeowners can lose control of their most important asset without realizing it until damage is done. His piece on thousands of residents due to receive unclaimed property checks from the state fits the same through-line, showing how forgotten or misdirected funds tied to property and financial accounts eventually return and why people should pay attention to what the state holds in their name.

Scams and consumer protection

Beyond traditional real estate stories, Lampariello spends significant effort on scams that touch property, vehicles and personal finances. His reporting on a fake “car wrap” scam targeting teens promises quick cash but, as he documents, involves instructions to deposit a check, keep some money and send the rest to a supposed decal installer—an arrangement consumer advocates flag as a classic overpayment scheme. He underscores a key principle in that story: legitimate businesses pay their vendors directly, not through untrained consumers. The piece combines step‑by‑step reconstruction of how the scam works with expert commentary, giving viewers enough detail to recognize and avoid similar pitches.

His contractor coverage operates as a broader consumer protection guide. In explaining home improvement law and common scam tactics, he walks through scenarios where scammers knock on doors claiming to be “in the area,” pressure people for instant decisions or demand large cash payments upfront. The reporting does more than warn; it offers specific strategies such as researching contractors online, reading reviews critically, seeking recommendations and getting multiple written estimates with clear descriptions of work, materials, timelines and price. The approach is practical and preventive, casting the audience not as passive victims but as participants who can make safer choices if they are better informed.

Even when a story is not strictly about housing, Lampariello often connects it to consumer risk and financial impact. Unclaimed property checks, contractor conflicts, car‑wrap scams and deed fraud all involve situations where people may not realize they are at risk until an investigative report explains the pattern. Across these stories, he consistently brings in voices from affected individuals and consumer advocates to show both the emotional toll and the pathways to recourse.

Community infrastructure, environment and public safety

Lampariello’s beat also extends to public buildings, environmental change and high‑stakes safety events when they intersect with how communities live and work. He has reported on when the Maine State Library and Museum will reopen, detailing plans to move more than 800,000 archival items and explaining how the long closure of the Maine Cultural Building affects access to history and government records. The story treats a construction and facilities project as a public accountability issue, focusing on timelines, logistics and the impact on residents who rely on those institutions.

In environmental coverage, he has chronicled a summer clam die‑off in Brunswick, tying the event to high heat, warming waters and runoff. By linking changing environmental conditions to a concrete loss in local shellfish, he shows how climate and pollution pressures play out in specific places and industries. The reporting again reflects his tendency to connect systems—here, marine ecology and regulation—to livelihoods and local economies.

His investigative reach includes major public safety stories. Lampariello co‑authored WGME’s “Tragedy in Lewiston” coverage of the mass shooting there, a project recognized as a finalist for a national investigative reporting award. Related reporting examined how early contacts between law enforcement and the suspected shooter unfolded months before the attack, raising questions about missed opportunities and systemic gaps. This work demonstrates that while his day‑to‑day beat centers on real estate and consumer protection, he also contributes to deeper accountability projects when failures in public systems carry life‑or‑death consequences.

Professional bios for Lampariello describe him as a multimedia journalist at WGME, reflecting experience in shooting, writing and editing his own stories for the station. He is listed as a participant in regional First Amendment and investigative reporting training programs, underlining his interest in access to public records and rigorous accountability reporting. On his Instagram account he positions the platform as a place to share more of his WGME work and document assignments across Maine, reinforcing that his storytelling spans television and digital channels. Taken together, his body of work marks him as an investigative reporter whose real estate beat is grounded in real lives, institutional decisions and the practical steps people can take to safeguard their homes and finances.