Scammers have a favorite tool: the appearance of your government. They send fake parking tickets, threaten arrest over jury duty, and call pretending to represent City departments, because nothing commands action like the real City does. Only the real City can take that tool away. StopScams SF is San Francisco's commitment to do exactly that.
The Scale of the Problem
$158 BILLIONlost to scams by American | +25%increase in reported scam | $2.4 BILLIONlost by adults 60 and older, |
In San Francisco, seniors, Chinese-speaking and Spanish-speaking immigrants, and young adults bear a disproportionate share of those losses. Scammers target these communities precisely because of language barriers, unfamiliarity with government systems, and limited experience with financial institutions.
The financial losses are devastating. But the damage goes further. Every successful scam erodes trust in the civic institutions that San Franciscans depend on — and that trust, once broken, is hard to rebuild.
Why City Government
Scammers know that the most powerful tool in their arsenal is the appearance of government authority. They impersonate the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the Chinese Consulate, and City departments — because nothing commands action like the real City does.
That is precisely why local government has a unique and essential role to play. Only the real City can counter that deception with the full weight of its trust, reach, and infrastructure. Only the real City can embed scam warnings into the bills and notices residents already receive. Only the real City can show up as the familiar, credible voice that scammers spend every day trying to imitate.
No federal framework for fighting scams currently exists. Congress has introduced the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act, but no coordinated national response is in place. San Francisco is not waiting. We are building the model right now.
What We're Building
StopScams SF is a multi-year initiative.
In the months and years ahead, the program will expand to include a multilingual public awareness campaign reaching San Francisco's most targeted communities in their languages; scam prevention integrated into every City-funded financial counseling session, with trauma-informed support for anyone who has been victimized; scam-proofing of City agency communications, so every bill, notice, and letter from the City is clearly and verifiably real; and a StopScams Playbook sharing our tools, training, and alert templates with peer cities across the country.
No American city has built this kind of coordinated response before. Our goal is to make sure San Francisco is not the last.
Built on a Foundation That Works
StopScams SF launches as the newest initiative of the Economic Justice Center (EJC), the Treasurer's Office program that has spent more than two decades helping San Franciscans build and protect their financial health.
The EJC brings together the programs San Franciscans already know and trust: Kindergarten to College, which opens college savings accounts for every child entering an SFUSD kindergarten; Bank On San Francisco, which connects residents to safe, affordable banking; and free one-on-one financial counseling for anyone who needs it. StopScams SF joins that infrastructure, giving San Francisco a single, trusted destination to build and protect financial health at every stage of life.
The program is backed by a three-year, $3 million investment from JPMorgan Chase, part of the firm's nearly $14 million in philanthropic investments to combat scams nationally.
Our Partners
StopScams SF is built in partnership with community organizations who know San Francisco's neighborhoods and the people who live in them. Together, we are reaching the communities that scammers target most — through the trusted messengers residents already rely on:
StopScams SF is supported by a $3 million, three-year investment from JPMorganChase, part of the firm's national initiative to build safer, more resilient communities.