Community alert: Recent scam activity in Atherton

The Atherton Police Department is alerting residents about several recent scams that have impacted members of the community. These include fraudulent wire transfers, computer “virus” scams, and check washing, resulting in financial losses for some victims.

Business Email Compromise / Fake Invoice Scam

One recent scam involves criminals gaining unauthorized access to a company’s email account or internal system. Once inside, the suspect sends fraudulent invoices to the company’s legitimate customers requesting payment via wire transfer.

These emails often appear legitimate and may look nearly identical to the company’s real email address, with only a very small change that is easy to overlook.

Example:

A construction company performing work for a resident might legitimately be owed approximately $45,000 for a project. A suspect gains access to the company’s system and learns about the outstanding payment. The suspect then sends an email to the customer with a fake invoice and wire transfer instructions.

The email address might look almost identical to the real company email — for example:

NYConstruction.com (legitimate)
NYConstrution.com (fraudulent – missing a letter)

Believing the request is legitimate, the resident wires the payment to the provided account, which is actually controlled by the suspect. The fraud is often not discovered until the real company later requests payment.

In these situations, both the customer and the legitimate business become victims.

Residents are encouraged to take the following precautions:

Verify payment requests directly: Never rely on phone numbers or links provided in an unexpected email. Contact the company directly using a trusted phone number from a verified website, previous invoice, or known contact.

Carefully check email addresses: Fraudulent emails may differ from legitimate addresses by only one character. These subtle changes can be difficult to detect at first glance.

Tech Support / Computer Virus Scams

The department has also received reports of fake virus alerts and tech support scams.

In these cases, scammers pose as technical support representatives from well-known computer or software companies. They may contact victims through phone calls, emails, texts, or pop-up alerts that appear on a computer screen claiming the device has been hacked or infected with a virus.

Victims are then instructed to click a link or call a phone number. The suspect convinces the victim to allow remote access to their computer so they can “fix the problem.”

Once remote access is granted, the scammer can see everything the victim types —including banking credentials and other sensitive information. Criminals then use that information to access financial accounts and transfer money.

Never click on pop-up virus alerts, even if they appear to come from your computer manufacturer or antivirus company.

Do not allow unknown individuals remote access to your computer.

If you believe your computer may have a virus, contact a reputable local service provider or your computer manufacturer directly.

Check Washing Scam

Check washing occurs when a suspect steals a mailed check and uses chemicals to erase the original payee and amount. The suspect then rewrites the check to themselves or another person and deposits it.

To protect yourself, consider using online bill payment when possible.

If mailing checks, deposit them inside a post office rather than in public mailboxes.
Monitor your bank accounts regularly for unauthorized transactions.

If you believe you may be the victim of a scam or notice suspicious activity, please contact the Atherton Police Department at 650-688-6500. Prompt reporting can sometimes help investigators recover funds or prevent additional victims.