577 Million Robocalls made to CA phones on National Do Not Call Registry, including Medicare and Social Security scams

May 23, 2023 (Sacramento)-- California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 49 attorneys general, announced a lawsuit against Avid Telecom for allegedly making billions of unlawful robocalls in California and across the nation.. Those robocalls included Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, and employment scams; two robocall examples can be found here and here. 

Today’s complaint is the result of efforts by the nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, which Attorney General Bonta helped launch last year and is charged with taking legal action against telecommunications companies that perpetuate robocall traffic.

Source:  Calif. Attorney General’s office.

May 29, 2019 (Sacramento) - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced today judgments totaling $1,498,574 in a lawsuit against telemarketers who scammed investors. The company, Consumer Rights Legal Services (CRLS), and four individuals, including CRLS’s president and owner, James Davitt, cheated more than 150 victims by offering bogus “investment recovery services” that they claimed would recover money victims had lost from previous investments. Many of the victims were elderly and had already lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from previous schemes.

By County News Center, County of San Diego Communications Office

April 12, 2018 (San Diego) - Don’t fall for it if someone claiming to work at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department calls you on the phone and tells you to pay up or you’ll go to jail.

The Sheriff’s Department advises you to hang up because it’s a scam. No Sheriff’s employee would ever contact a member of the public by phone to demand payment. The way the con works is criminals tell people they have an outstanding warrant for their arrest — or that they have a summons for them to appear in court for missing jury duty service. The criminal might even use the name of a real Sheriff’s deputy which they can easily find by doing an internet search. Another trick is they might use Caller ID spoofing, which makes it appear that the call is coming from a Sheriff’s facility. Don’t let those details convince you its real.

East County News Service

June 13, 2016 (Sacramento) - The California Energy Commission has a toll-free Renewable Call Center to help the public with information but this resource has been compromised.

January 16, 2013 (San Diego) – The San Diego Sheriff is warning the public to beware of phone scammers posing as members of the Sheriff’s Department.  There are at least two separate scams.  One involves canceling arrest warrants or court appearances for a fee.  The other scam entails notifying the victim that they have won a prize, then asking for payment for taxes.  Scroll down for details.