In the last month we’ve had two South Shores residents  become victims of thefts of their money. LAPD Sr. Lead Officer Paul Winter is advising the residents of South Shores to not buy gift cards and give unknown people the access number that allows these criminal to get cash from the cards.

#1 05/27/2019, The victim received a phone call from the suspect. The suspect identified himself as a Social Security administrator. The victim was told that, to clear his name of criminal charges and not have his bank account frozen,  the victim would have to obtain Target gift cards.  At some point another person got on the phone and identified himself as an LAPD detective from Harbor division. The victim obtained 10-15 target cards worth $ 25,000.00.  The access numbers were then given to the suspect.

#2 06/01/2019, The victim received a call from a person posing as a Ventura County Sheriff Deputy. He told the victim that her granddaughter had been arrested and she needed to post bail.  The victim gave the suspect the card and pin numbers to the Home Depot cards for a theft of $ 3,000.00.

NO GOVERNMENT AGENCY is going to call you and request money via gift cards, If some unknown person does, it is a scam. No law enforcement officer will call and request bail for a family member or any other person. They may tell you what the bail is, but will not request bail for them. A jail will not take gift cards as payment for bail.  I know this gets redundant but we must constantly attempt to protect the most vulnerable.