Full Notification

 
On Wednesday, August 7^th, 2024, San Leandro Police Department arrested a suspect in connection with a grand theft committed via a computer scam. 
 
Detectives in the Property Crimes/Crime Suppression Unit began investigating a case where a victim was defrauded of a large sum of money after he responded to a fraudulent pop-up window on his personal computer to pay an invoice on his anti-virus program.  Through a series of fraudulent transactions prompted by the suspects via remote access to the victim’s computer and over the phone, the victim was defrauded of $44,000.  The victim eventually realized he had been scammed and reported the crime to SLPD.
 
Investigators were able to follow leads and track down one of the suspects believed to be involved in the scam.   On Wednesday afternoon, the suspect was taken into custody in Castro Valley, and a search warrant was later executed at the suspect’s residence in San Lorenzo.  The search warrant yielded evidence and an unregistered firearm. 
 
SLPD would like to remind our community to be constantly vigilant towards suspicious phone calls, text messages, e-mails, or other forms of electronic notification.  Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and polished in their methods of defrauding victims of their money.  Many of these schemes involve the lure of a monetary prize or a fake problem requiring immediate action on your part.  Scammers often pretend to be from an organization or company that you are familiar with and will typically require an unusually specific form of monetary transaction from you.  You should always try to independently verify the authenticity of any suspicious communication and avoid using any phone number or web link contained in the communication itself.

 
For more information on how to recognize and avoid a scam, or what to do if you were scammed, please visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website:

Scams | Consumer Advice (ftc.gov)