During this unfortunate pandemic, most of us are just trying to figure out what we can and cannot do and how we can keep ourselves, and our families, safe and healthy. Unfortunately, there are those unscrupulous people who take advantage during this time with telephone scams, mail scams and other fraudulent activity.
Our office recently received a scam phone call in which the caller claimed to be calling regarding our office’s SDG&E bill. He claimed that he was making a “courtesy call" prior to the utilities being shut off. He never said he was from SDG&E. He said he wanted to talk to who was in charge of paying for utilities and then said that our power was scheduled for shut off on the next day. This caller was not from SDG&E. He was not from the power company or utility company. He got quite irate when I told him that I knew hat he was not from the utility company, that our power had been paid for and we were not at risk. He just yelled back that I didn’t know what I was talking about and then hung up the phone. It is my understanding that SDG&E does not make courtesy calls the day before power shut off. They will post something on your door couple of days before usually or even the day before. But they're not gonna call you and try to collect the money the over the phone. Please be careful about this scam.
Scams involving Title to your property.
Another thing we would like to call to your attention, is something that many of our clients have called us about in the past so we thought we would address it now. For anyone who has recently refinanced, bought a new house, or placed their house in their living trust, a deed was recorded with the San Diego County recorder's office. This deed would change how title is held for the property into the name of the trust, or just been prepared in the process of a purchase or refinance. When you record these deeds, you will get the original deed back from the San Diego County recorder's office by mail. You do not have to pay for this deed you have already paid to have it recorded and they just mail you back the original after they have scanned it into their microfiche system. However, you'll see attached something that purports to be from the “Local Records Office" and the address is a PO Box in Norwalk, California. It also says “IMPORTANT PROPERTY INFORMATION RESPOND PROMPTLY.” But if you really take a good look at the envelope, it does say that “THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT APPROVED OR AUTHORIZED DOCUMENT.” It looks official though. Many people think they need to send in the money to get a copy of their deed. Others will call us to find out what's going on with this because we didn't let them know that there was another charge to get their deed. If you look closely at the document that came in the envelope, you will see that they want to charge $89 for a copy of the deed. You will have already received the original deed back from the county recorder's office prior to receiving this. The county recorder's office will not send you anything asking for money with regard to getting a copy of your deed. Please don't be fooled by this attempt to get you to spend money that you don't have to spend for document that you already have or will be receiving in the very near future directly from the San Diego County Recorder’s Office.
Please be sure when someone calls you on the phone that you don't tell them anything until you are sure that they are legitimately from the company that they either claim to be from or claim to be collecting for. Please don't send money to individuals or purported companies for documents that you already are entitled to for free. The notice may look official but it's not. If you have any questions in that regard feel free to give us a call will be glad to take a look at whatever you've received to be sure that there is no problem. But as you can see from the example we sent you they send these out all the time it's just a way to try to make money off of unsuspecting people. Please take care and stay safe.