Over the past few weeks, citizens of South San Francisco have reported getting suspicious phone calls, messages or emails in what appears to be several different financial scams. The scam artist(s) appear to be calling from untraceable phone numbers or email addresses advising residents in South San Francisco that they are eligible/qualified for restructured home loans, or are asking people to re load money onto Green Dot gift cards in exchange for lottery winnings or new cars. In other cases, the suspect(s) are falsely identifying themselves as IRS agents and telling the victims they owe money to the IRS in back taxes. The scam artists then advises the victim he/she needs to wire or mail money/checks to them online. The phone numbers provided are usually disconnected or go straight to an answering service once the suspect receives the money. In two of these cases, the victims were scammed out of large sums of money.
Elderly victims tend to be the targets of phone and internet scams, however, there is no defined pattern in these cases as the victims are of different age groups. If you receive a phone call or emai l from an unknown person asking for personal information, obtain as much information as you can and report the incident to the police. Do not give out your address, banking institution, social security number or any other personal information. The non emergency )ine to The South San Francisco Police Department is 650-877-8900.
They called me too!
To SSF Police:
I have been getting numerous emails saying I won or have an account waiting for me with large sums of money, have a fedex letter,written on the subject line. Once I open the email, there is a link or sometimes a long explanation of a bank holding a fund with money and I should provide name address and phone number. They usually end up in the spam box, and I try to delete it using a spam filter. But they are always changing the words so that it becomes difficult get the filter to pick up this type of junk mail.
I also received numberous phone calls, saying I owe a large sums of money to an account I do not own or have used. The caller does not give much information other than an address in Sonoma and want to know my current address. I ask to speak to security because I suspect fraud and the security sounds like a foreigner with a thick accent. I told them not to keep calling as I was going to report this to the police and the calls have stopped.
I am still getting the emails but no calls and we do not respond unless they identify themselves and often they do not, unless its the person they are requesting at which time we refuse to allow the communication to proceed. This is just an example of the kinds of harrassment SSF residents are being subjected to and appreciate the website to keep us informed.
Sincerely
Mina Richardson