Recently several residents of South San Francisco have fallen victim to different and unique types of confidence scams.
On02/11/2014, a South San Francisco couple searching for a new apartment in San Francisco using the website “Zillow “were victims of a confidence scam. The couple found a desirable rental listed for $815.00. A person claiming to be the property owner instructed the couple to transfer $815.00 as a deposit for the apartment using a Money Gram transfer service to “Jacqueline Garcia “in Kansas City, Missouri. The fictitious property owner also directed the couple to provide the Money Gram reference number so the transferred funds could be collected from any Money Gram location.
Promised keys for the apartment and the rental contract were to be mailed to the couple after the money was received, but were never sent. All communications about the rental were made via email and ceased after the Money Gram was sent.
Please contact the South San Francisco Police Department at 650-877-8900 if you believe you have been the victim of this type of confidence scheme.