Consumer Success Stories

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sophia*, a senior from Jackson, CA, began receiving monthly emails claiming she owed $969 in rent for an apartment she had never rented, along with a broadband bill. At the start of each month, another email arrived thanking her for paying both bills, but payments had never been made. Concerned but seeing no suspicious activity on her credit reports or financial accounts, she chose not to respond.

The emails continued for years, eventually totaling 137 messages. Sophia did not respond to any of the emails; however, she did not delete them either. Unsure how to stop the scam, Sophia attended a presentation at Amador Senior Center led by DFPI Targeted Outreach Director Kue Lee. She showed him several of the emails on her phone.

After reviewing the situation and confirming that Sophia regularly monitored her financial records, Lee explained that the scammers were likely waiting for a response to initiate a major fraud scheme. Since Sophia had never responded to the emails, the scam had been avoided. What a relief that was!

Motivated to take action, Sophia blocked the scam email address, deleted all of the messages, and reported them to Google. She never heard from the scammer again.

Recently, Richard* and Elizabeth* attended a DFPI presentation on how to avoid scams at a 55-and-over community in Lincoln, CA. Their jaws dropped after learning about some of the outrageous scams out there and their sophistication. They were unaware that in the following days, they would soon be relying on DFPI’s sound advice.

The next day, Richard was awoken from an afternoon nap by a panicked phone call from his crying daughter (or so he thought), who said she had been kidnapped. She put her kidnapper on the phone, who told Richard that he wanted to negotiate his daughter’s release. Luckily, Richard remembered what he learned at the DFPI presentation. He put the man on hold and called his daughter. She was happily working at her job and was not a hostage. The call was a scam.

A week later, another attendee, Elizabeth*, received a letter from an established large law firm in Canada, or so it seemed, offering to split ownership of a $1 million estate from a long lost relative. Using the DFPI advice she had learned, she looked the firm up on the Internet, and it initially seemed legitimate, but then she checked the postmark on the envelope. It came from Houston, Texas, not Canada, where the firm was based. She confirmed the company had no locations in Houston. Mystery solved and scam avoided.

Without the DFPI’s guidance, both seniors could easily have lost hundreds of dollars to the scammers. In a follow up note, Richard stated, “Thank you DFPI for caring about and protecting us older folks and all Californians! You rock!”

Scammers are out there! The DFPI works to educate Californians on how to help prevent themselves from becoming fraud victims. To schedule a presentation with the DFPI, email us at [email protected].

The catastrophic Eaton fire raced through parts of southern California, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses in January 2025. It killed 19 people and, to date, is one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in recent California history. After the embers died down, many residents, like Jerry*, faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. He lived in Altadena, located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and reached out to his mortgage company for help, hoping to get a few months’ breathing space from repaying his loan. Unfortunately, he received a major setback. His company mistakenly told him that, because he had not fallen behind on his mortgage payments, he would not qualify for mortgage forbearance.

Luckily, Jerry did not take no for an answer and contacted DFPI for help. The department had received commitments from more than 400 financial institutions that had voluntarily agreed to provide relief to affected customers. Our Customer Service staff reached out to the loan company, which quickly acknowledged their error. It reversed its decisions, and Jerry was approved for an initial 90-day disaster forbearance.

After a wildfire, many homeowners find themselves in an unexpected predicament—they are required to continue paying their mortgage even though their home has been destroyed or is uninhabitable. It can be a challenging time. Take Mary* for example. She had reached out to her mortgage company for help, not once, but twice, after her Malibu home was damaged in the LA wildfires. However, she met roadblocks and bureaucracy as the company informed her that their systems hadn’t yet been updated to reflect Governor Newsom’s wildfire-related relief announcement. To make matters worse, the next day, Mary received a Notice of Default and Intent to Accelerate, a document indicating that she had violated her loan agreement, a situation that could lead to foreclosure. Frustrated and worried, Mary turned to DFPI’s dedicated customer service task force for help.

After DFPI intervened, we learned that Mary had inadvertently submitted an incomplete application, so her forbearance request was denied. She corrected that, and in February 2025, less than one month after contacting DFPI, her loan for temporary disaster forbearance was approved. Mary says her foreclosure proceedings were also put on hold. DFPI is proud that we can help Mary and others gain more financial certainty during a harrowing experience, such as a wildfire.

Sometimes, all you want is a straight answer. That’s what Alice*, a Downey, CA resident, hoped for when she tried to access cash through a reverse mortgage.

A reverse mortgage allows a borrower to access part of their home equity as a lump sum, monthly payments, or a line of credit.

When Alice contacted her mortgage company, she was repeatedly assured by a representative that she qualified for a cash-out. However, she was told she needed a home appraisal first. She paid $795 for the required appraisal — and then the mortgage company abruptly stopped returning her calls.

Weeks went by with no updates, leaving Alice increasingly anxious.

Frustrated and scared that her $795 might be gone for good, Alice wondered where she could turn for help.

Thankfully, Alice had recently attended a DFPI presentation hosted by Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco’s office and remembered that she could submit a complaint with the DFPI if she suspected her financial service provider had acted improperly. So, she did.

Once the DFPI received the complaint, our Consumer Services staff contacted the mortgage company to investigate the delay and determine what had happened.

After the DFPI stepped in, the company admitted that Alice did not qualify for the funds under its program guidelines. It agreed to refund the $795 appraisal fee.

If Alice hadn’t filed a complaint with the DFPI, she might still be waiting for a response from her mortgage company – and still be out $795.

Using apps for online payments is becoming more common. And they are often used to split restaurant bills or send money to friends and family. But sometimes things go wrong.

Mateo*, from Grass Valley, CA, used a popular payment app to send $704.99 to a friend. He entered the correct phone number and email, but the money was unexpectedly delivered to a stranger. When he contacted the app, the company said the phone number was linked to another person in its system and refused to issue a refund.

Seven hundred dollars is a considerable amount of money, so Mateo filed a complaint with the DFPI. He told us that he provided the company with the correct information, including the phone number and email. He requested the company verify the phone number directly, arguing that its internal records were inaccurate. He also provided the DFPI with screenshots of his bill and payment records.

The DFPI went to work and reached out to the company. After we interceded, it reversed its decision. On November 7, 2025, the company refunded the full amount of $700.00, plus $4.99 for the transfer fee.

Afterwards a grateful Mateo wrote: “Thank you for your support. The company refunded my account for the funds they sent to the wrong recipient. Case closed, with much appreciation for your good work.”