SAN FRANCISCO – As people do their last-minute holiday shopping, the San Francisco FBI office is urging people who shop online to do so with caution.
“We put this as one of our top priorities because there is a significant amount of loss,” said Agustin Lopez, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for FBI Criminal Branch I at the San Francisco Field Division.
“One of the things that I do, personally, is make sure these investigations get elevated to the level that they need to be elevated to,” Lopez went on to say.
The most prevalent online shopping scams circulating this holiday season are non-payment and non-delivery crimes, according to the FBI. In a non-delivery scam, a buyer pays for goods or services but never receives anything. In a non-payment scam, a seller ships goods or provides services but never gets paid.
Across the region, there was more than $7,000,000 in losses from January through October of this year, according to FBI data. That’s more money than in the…
