Jon Coupal on the State of the Governor's Race

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Speaker 1: And we continue at one o five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show. Mister Randy Wangs in Culver City.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: John, the City of La and the County of La love to tellut that the number of homeless on the streets has dropped in the last few years. We all know that's a bunch of bs and this pretty much seals it. In the La County Department of Public Health has just put out a report they are seeing an all time high of flea born typhus cases. Typhus comes from rats that come from homeless encampments.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: Well, at least we have Barbara Ferreira on the case. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and host of the Howard Jarvis Radio Show, which here is Tuesday nights at six pm on KABC. You can get him online at HJATA dot org and follow him on x at John Coupaul. John Coupoul, Welcome, how are you doing. I'm good, Thanks so much for stopping by this afternoon, always a pleasure. Let's start out by talking about the campaign of San Jose mer Matt Mahan, who is running for governor of California in the June primary. He is a guy who is trying to present himself as a moderate Democrat, as a technocrat, as someone who is unwilling to put up with crime and homelessness and budget busting spending, those sorts of things. And he thought that there would be a large audience in California, particularly among Democrats who are looking for someone who shares their values on the social issues, but who's willing to make the trains run on time. Apparently he hasn't been able to find that audio and yet, because his pull numbers are somewhere in the three percent range. Yesterday we learned that he's firing his campaign manager and hoping for a reset. What do you make of the fact that he is not connected with voters so far.

00:02:15
Speaker 3: Well, I think the fact that he is a sane individual immediately disqualifies him as a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. If you look who else is running it is you know, whatever you think about Matt Mahon, he is probably the most sane of all the candidates they have. But I think his real problem is that he was in fact. I know he's now claiming that he doesn't have a lot of money, but the reality is he did raise eleven point five million, but that eleven point five million was from just five hundred and six individuals. So the fact of the matter is, like any election, it is voters who vote and not bills. And so unless you are able to connect with a large demographic constituency, and the high tech industry is not that kind of broad based demographic. It's a very small demographic, and they're extraordinarily wealthy, and they have the resources to punch through with public creation of public relation ads and those kinds of things. But you need to be able to generate a buzz, and we have just seen the inability of moderate Democrats like Matt breakthrough, and so now you've got you know, I think the reality is the Republicans remain strangely enough, fairly well positioned with the two top candidates, and of course that is the Democrat nightmare that Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco would come in number one and number two, and that is, you know, that is their nightmare scenario that those would be the two candidates heading into November, and of course what would happen immediately is that there would be a recall whoever won, and that recall would probably be successful. So again, this is reflective of the fact that California politics is very bizarre, very chaotic, and at the end of the day, the people of California are not being well served either by most of the people who are running or by the system itself. The top two primary system has turned out to be far less than it was promised to be, So we'll just see how it shakes out. But I do think Matt Mahon just didn't have the sizzle that I think it takes to connect with a broad group of voters in the state of California.

00:04:49
Speaker 1: I don't know what your experience has been like, but in my own personal social network, the Democrats I know are totally checked out to state in local politics. They have no clue what's going on. They don't really have strong opinions either way. They are totally focused on hating Donald Trump and that's the only thing that they care about. If and when a failure of the state causes a problem for them, they'll grumble about it. They'll grumble about the homeless encampment near their home. They'll grumble about the fact that they have to buy shampoo through bulletproof class. They'll grumble at the fact that the taxes seem to be going one way and that the budget is upside down, but it won't impact their vote at all. They don't connect the two. They don't see those problems being associated with the politics of the state that they live in and the one party rule of the Democrats in Sacramento. And if it doesn't impact their voting, then if you're a Matt Mahon and you're trying to run on running government as efficiently as possible, and Antonio Vierregosi, I think is doing some variation of that too, and he's not in the top three either. I just don't see, given the temperature of that electorate right now, how you sell yourself as a candidate the way that Mayhean and viaa Gosa are trying, because I don't think that electorate is buying what they're selling.

00:06:15
Speaker 3: Not yet, but I think there might be one opportunity, and that is just the news in the last week or ten days about the fraud. We've all known that there is so much fraud in this state. I worked with a fraud expert and he and I published a couple columns, and it's like the Minnesota fraud. It was there and everybody knew it until somebody until it hit critical mass here in California. The amount of fraud in California is going to make Minnesota look like child's play by comparison. So if I were one of the Democrat candidates, I would try to grab the mantle of addressing fraud because I do think you know, when when you and I go out and speak to people, when we start talking about fraud, you can see the veins on the people side of people's heads start to pop out as they get really angry because at an intuitive level, they know that the amount of waste out there, that's our money, that's our money. And you're well aware that the EDD fraud alone was between thirty billion billion, not million, thirty billion and fifty billion, and the EDD fraud and now people barely remember as a story. Now you've got the stories out there about in La County alone, the number of hospice care services like sixty care services assigned to one building doesn't make any sense. We know the fraud is there, but until some candidate can connect the fraud with the absolute robbery of taxpayer, I think that may be an avenue, not just for a Democrat candidate, but I do think that certainly Steve Hilton has already made that a cornerstone of his campaign, and we'll see if that bears any fruit.

00:08:15
Speaker 1: I want to go back to a point that you made about Matt Mayhan, where you talked about the amount of money that he's raised, but it's all come from a handful of individuals in Silicon Valley. We know that certain tech companies have already moved out of California, Oracle and Tesla among them, and we know that we're in danger of having more tech companies move out of California for Austin, for Florida, for other places. Clearly, the people who work in those industries would prefer to stay here, but if the government makes it untenable, they have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to pack up and leave. They saw Matt Mayhan as the answer to all of their problems. They saw him as someone who shared their values on socialist Choose, but would certainly make California a business friendly state to the tech community, particularly when AI is about to explode, given the fact that he seems to not have any pop to his campaign. Where do those people go, assuming they recalibrate and they decide that they're going to cut bait on Mayhon. Do they go to Via Ragosa because they see him as the other moderate Democrat alternative. Do they go to the two Republicans because they see a Republican on Republican runoff as a viable option. Or do they look at Eric Swalwell as the inevitable Democratic governor of California and they decide, all right, we're going to just try to curry favor with who we think is going to win.

00:09:46
Speaker 3: Jeez, got to help us if it's Swalwell, because that guy has more baggage than the cargo hold of a seven forty seven. But be that as it be, that as it may. I don't know where they go. I do think, and you know, for per this is a full disclosure. The Howard Jarvis PAC has endorsed Steve Hilton in his effort, and one of the reasons we did so is because he is extremely policy oriented and he speaks about fraud and the outmigration of both individuals and capital out of the state of California. He knows the facts and figures he's fast on his feet. But the question is, and we like him a lot, but the question is, is he perceived by the average California as being a little bit too close to Donald Trump? Because Donald Trump still remains very unpopular in the state of California. So I think Steve one of Steve's challenges will be to focus really on the problems of California, which he has done with two of his books. I mean, he's caught. He's One of his books is Kala Opportunity or something like that, where he talks about the opportunity in the respect of being that kind of Reaganesque optimism. I think there's a lane there for either a Democrat or Republican who can be less going on personal attacks and being more focused on policy, because really, look, potholes are indiscriminate as it comes to whether it's a Republican, Republican or Democrat car that it's about ready to drop the axle on. So I think, you know, there are some people, I think out there that would be attractive to somebody who's very problem focused and I know Matt tried to fill that lane, but we just don't. We don't know who's going to fill that lane. And it's going to take a question of very disciplined marketing, not marketing but so much as messaging. How do you mess so, how do you articulate the problems, identify the problems, and articulate the solutions and then come across as being realistic in your ability to address those problems.

00:12:13
Speaker 1: We're speaking with John Coopaul, who you can follow on x at John without the age Coupaul. John, Let's talk about Eric Swalwells more because he just received the endorsement of the California Teachers Association. Before that, he received the endorsement of the SEIU. Those are the two big unions here in the state of California. Other unions I should mention have thrown their endorsements in different places. Via Ragosa has some endorsements, Styer has some, Porter has some, Besarah and others. But the CTA and the STIU are certainly the two big ones. Just as AI is about to explode and California will be the epicenter of that, the unions and the tech companies are about ready to clash with one another. They're going to collide. What both of them want you can't have. You can't split the baby. Either one wins or the other one wins. That's the way it's going to be. The AI companies obviously want things like driverless cars. They want technology to be able to pick the fruit and the vegetables in the Central Valley. Certainly, the medical industry would be remade by AI. A lot of jobs would go away, and the unions are going to do everything they can to try to kill this. If we have a governor that is wholly owned by the unions right as AI is going to blow up, that seems like just about the worst case scenario to me.

00:13:40
Speaker 3: Yeah it is. But all those AI industries will move to other states because I do believe the federal government will come in and invalidate some of the non competitive or uncompetitive laws that California is trying to enact to the extent that they attempt to extend to other states. Some of these companies will say, Okay, California is a lost cause, so we're just going to move to the Austin or the Carolinas, or Florida or wherever. But the one thing they have to be careful about is California is never ending effort to extend the reach of its laws to other states. We see this with the so called the wealth tax. You know, they have this provision and then, by the way, I don't think that wins, but they have a provision there that seeks to target the wealth as of a date, even after a wealthy individual has moved out of state. I believe that is very obviously constitutionally defective. That they can't go out and try to extend the reach of California's laws beyond the borders of California. So to the extent that the unions get away with this, I believe they it will result in a loss of some of these big jobs. Now I hasten to add this. The last election cycle, it was actually pretty decent for the Libertarians and conservatives. Look what we did on the whole public safety passing Prop thirty six. The voters of the state of California rejected an expansion of rent control, and the campaign that we led on Prop five, the attempt to lower the two thirds vote for local general obligation bonds. We beat that by ten points. Notwithstanding the fact that we were outspent ten to one. So I think the body politic in California is a lot more centrist than is reflected in our political leadership. Now. The counter argument to that would be, Okay, if that's true, then why didn't Matt Mayhan, Why didn't his campaign gain traction? And I think you could be talking about that for a long time. I guess I think it gets down to the sizzle. Do you have someone who's up there who's can actually be the messenger and be a really excellent communicator. And that may have been one of the shortfalls, either that or that the two sides are now so politicized, particularly on the left hand side. I think you've got people who used to be, you know, in the old days, yesterday's Democrats would be today's Republicans because the Democratic Party now is really defined by its far left, even socialist leadership, and I think that is I think they're going to lose a lot of people in that respect.

00:16:43
Speaker 1: Let's go back to the tax that you reference that the SEIU is putting on the ballot, the wealth confiscation tax. They say it's a one time thing and they're only going after billionaires. Well, Apparently they've been caught conducting some public polling where they're asking people if they would support the same sort of confiscation tax on those valued at ten million dollars, not billion, ten million dollars or more, which leads us to believe that they weren't being fully honest. Surprise surprise, when they said it was going to be a one time thing.

00:17:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, shock shock, I mean, yeah, the the in any of these campaigns, you know, when they make when they show their true selves. Our side really has to exploit that. I remember when there was a split Roll campaign. There was split Role is the effort to take away Prop thirteen's property tax protections away from business properties, and they said that the level was going to be set so high that residential properties would not be impacted. But then you had some statements from a number of supporters saying we're coming after businesses first and then we'll come over after homeowners later. Well, my members are almost exclusively homeowners, understand that if there's any weaknesses punched in Prop thirteen, that's bad for all property owners, whether you're business, industrial, agricultural, or residential. So I think our people get it, and my hope is at the end of the day that with all these issues that they make good choices with respected candidates, but also the ballot measures. And as it relates to the ballot measures, it's looking like we're on track that we could see as many as seventeen actually make it to the ballot. I know we had at one time more than sixty or seventy filed. But there are some very impactful initiatives that are bound to be on the ballot, one of which is ours, of course, which is closing some of the loopholes in Prop thirteen, and that looks we turned in one point three million signatures and that appears to be on track to qualify. But there's a lot of other things out there that people really need to watch very carefully and discern what is the what are the good ones, and what are the bad ones.

00:19:08
Speaker 1: John Coopaul, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and host of The Howard Jarvis Radio Show, which is Tuesday nine to six on KABC. You can get him online at hjat a dot org and follow him on x at John without the h Coupaul. John Coopaul, thanks so much for stopping by. Take care of John eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two Are you looking at this AI photograph of the two of.

00:19:40
Speaker 4: Us with mister Peanut. Why?

00:19:42
Speaker 2: Yes, I am Tony, who is our resident AI expert decided to generate a picture of John Phillips, myself and Antonio Viragosa. But instead of of the typical Antonio Viragosa, it is a picture of Antonio Viragosa if he was the yellow eminem.

00:20:11
Speaker 3: Pnut.

00:20:13
Speaker 1: Okay, My one objection to this photograph is that he gave me gray hair on the sides.

00:20:19
Speaker 4: It's not him, that's the AI.

00:20:21
Speaker 2: My objection is that my face looks scary.

00:20:29
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is jellphone number one. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny, don't like show gmail dot com. All right, it's time to open up the California Crime Blodder.

00:20:50
Speaker 5: It's happened yet again.

00:20:54
Speaker 1: Nice see.

00:20:56
Speaker 6: Time for the California Crime Blodder and.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: Randy Surprise Surprise. This one involves a massage parlor.

00:21:04
Speaker 2: Carl's Bead is cracking down on the massage parlors where you know what is happening for mar Here is Fox five in the San Diego area.

00:21:15
Speaker 7: Good Thursday evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Sum Maria sega done.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: And I'm Andrew Loia.

00:21:19
Speaker 8: We begin tonight in the North County where Carlsbad.

00:21:21
Speaker 2: Police have shut down four massage spas in Carlsbad Village and Brussey Ram.

00:21:25
Speaker 7: More than half a dozen people were arrested for prostitution in a police investigation.

00:21:30
Speaker 2: I'm shocked they found prostitution at a massage parlor and a strip mall.

00:21:35
Speaker 1: Have you ever seen that movie starring REEDA. Rudner called a Weekend in the Country.

00:21:39
Speaker 4: I have not.

00:21:40
Speaker 1: It's a great movie. It was a made for TV movie on the USA Network a long time ago. But there are laughs in that movie. It's a fun movie and it's them spending a weekend in Temecula in wine country for some kind of wine festival. And Dudley Moore, the eight Great Dudley Moore was in the movie and there's one scene where he's at the spa and he's getting the massage from this woman who's talking to him about all this new age stuff, and it's just him laying down and her doing the massage. And then after I don't know twenty or thirty seconds of her talking to him about crystals and new age stuff, he lifts his head up off the table and he goes more massage less hippiebs, and then he puts his head back down on the table.

00:22:34
Speaker 7: More than half a dozen people were arrested for prostitution in a police investigation that spanned six months. Our Julia Varra joins his line from Carlsbad with why police say local residents help crack the case.

00:22:46
Speaker 4: Juliet Hi Maria Well.

00:22:50
Speaker 9: Police say they were getting a lot of calls from business owners that were noticing suspicious activity. They were also getting I.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Mean, like anybody who is getting a massage at ten o'clock at night, that doesn't happen.

00:23:03
Speaker 1: What you're saying, that's not a legitimate massage.

00:23:06
Speaker 2: Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. If your massage parlor is open late at night, chances are there's illegal activity going on.

00:23:14
Speaker 1: They call those gentlemen's massages.

00:23:17
Speaker 9: Noticing suspicious activity. They were also getting calls from Carl's Bad residents who were going to these businesses to get a massage, but they were offered.

00:23:26
Speaker 6: Much more than that.

00:23:29
Speaker 1: Good don't say.

00:23:32
Speaker 9: Tucked in Carl's Bad Village, you'll find a lot of local mom and pop businesses and fit the beachy coastal vibe here. Rayo radez Cozy Cottage coffee shop is no different. If you can't tell from his decor.

00:23:44
Speaker 7: We want to see prospering businesses and other business owners doing things that are community driven.

00:23:50
Speaker 9: But the massage parlor next door to him on Carl's Bad Boulevard, he says, never quite seem to.

00:23:55
Speaker 1: Fit the mold. You don't think, wait, they're not getting a cupped show first.

00:24:01
Speaker 2: Because we didn't see a lot of people going.

00:24:04
Speaker 1: In throughout the day. It was more night activity.

00:24:09
Speaker 6: Definitely male clientele based.

00:24:12
Speaker 4: There's your other red flag.

00:24:14
Speaker 2: If it's almost entirely men going to the massage parlor, you can tell this is not legit.

00:24:21
Speaker 1: Hey, maybe they have stiff necks from sitting in front of the computer all day at the office.

00:24:25
Speaker 4: Don't use that word.

00:24:26
Speaker 6: Definitely male clientele based.

00:24:29
Speaker 9: Ocean Missed Massage now one of four Carl'sbad spas rated and shut down by Carlsbad Police thanks to community members reporting strange activity.

00:24:38
Speaker 1: Girls coming in being there for a week or so.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, what what you might not know is that usually the women who are the UH massuses live in these establishments. A lot of them are shipped here from China or some other Asian country.

00:24:57
Speaker 1: Kind of looking like they didn't have a place.

00:25:01
Speaker 9: Ray caught part of the raid on camera the day it went down at Ocean Miss Massage. It shows video of someone inside trying to kick the door down.

00:25:11
Speaker 8: A lot of these illegitimate businesses are connected to organized crime.

00:25:15
Speaker 4: Well there is that.

00:25:18
Speaker 1: Well it's not going to be the Mormon church that opens up the Ocean Miss Massage parlor and they use this as a front.

00:25:25
Speaker 9: Lieutenant Alonso de la Lasco says police were tipped off by residence calling to report solicitation of prostitution.

00:25:32
Speaker 8: On a couple of occasions. Customer result as if they were being pressured into engaging in prostitution services.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: That what they did not ask for. Yeah, what happens if you say no, I don't want the happy ending? They call that the upsell they were offered.

00:25:47
Speaker 8: And when they would turn down the solicitations, the some of them.

00:25:51
Speaker 2: I have you in a position where this is either going to feel real good or it's going to feel real bad.

00:25:57
Speaker 1: Uh oh.

00:25:58
Speaker 8: They were offered, and when they would turn down the solicitations, the some of the massusu would become a little bit more aggressive.

00:26:05
Speaker 6: He says.

00:26:05
Speaker 9: That was also them down the road at Happy Chiatsu spawned.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: You don't put happy in the name unless you know what you're doing.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Did I tell you that the city made Yum Yum number two change the sign?

00:26:21
Speaker 2: I was wondering how many minutes we'd get into this story before you had a Yum Yum number two reference.

00:26:27
Speaker 1: And now all the sign says is massage.

00:26:31
Speaker 9: He says that was also them down the road at Happy Chiatzu spawn, Jefferson Avenue and Imperial Massage on Grand Avenue, Kingspa on Gateway Road in Bressey Ranch, which is in a very busy shopping plaza.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: Legitimate Spa has the name Burke Williams Illegitimate Spa Happy Shiatsu.

00:26:54
Speaker 9: Kingspaw on Gateway Road in Bressey Ranch, which is in a very busy shopping plaza, was also right and shut down by police for similar illegal practices.

00:27:03
Speaker 8: At this point, we don't know.

00:27:05
Speaker 2: And by the way, it's good that Carlsbad is doing this. I firmly believe that cities like Los Angeles, where there are so many of these places, if you counted, you would lose count just driving two miles in the same Fernando Valley. I think the city of LA looks the other way because they want the business tax.

00:27:25
Speaker 1: They want the business tax, and then they have to get a business license, so there's probably a payoff at the beginning.

00:27:31
Speaker 2: I kind of wonder if you actually did the job of the city attorney and you shut down the illegally operating smoke shops that are selling stuff they're not to be selling, and you're shutting down the massage parlors that are selling things they're not supposed to be selling. I firmly believe if you did that, we'd have so many vacancies inside the strip malls that the entire commercial real estate market in LA would collapse.

00:28:00
Speaker 1: Well, here's something I do know. Whenever they redraw the district lines for the city council in Los Angeles, they all fight over Koreatown. And they fight over Koreatown because there's a lot of shady businesses down there that they can shake down.

00:28:17
Speaker 8: At this point, we don't know what connection they have to human trafficking, but it is often an element to these illicit massage spas that are operating.

00:28:26
Speaker 9: Investigators say in these cases, spaw employees were being exploited. Employees, Lieutenant Develasco says, are often offered very low wages. They're usually from another country, oftentimes traveling students on visas.

00:28:39
Speaker 8: They now participate in this illegal activity to make additional money.

00:28:43
Speaker 9: But now this North County community is on alert thanks to a police department on the lookout.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: What how long that investigation took? How deep an investigation did they have to do?

00:28:54
Speaker 1: They were very thorough and.

00:28:56
Speaker 9: Seven people were arrested in this case for pimping and pandering and institution. Two of them were SPA owners. The rest employees all were women. Police say civil case the.

00:29:06
Speaker 4: Pimps were women too.

00:29:11
Speaker 1: Well, what's that progress?

00:29:13
Speaker 9: Police say, civil cases are being filed against the owners. Reporting live tonight from the Carlsbad Police Department, I'm juliet Vara, Fox five News.

00:29:22
Speaker 7: All Right, Juliette with the latest, Thank.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: You, there you go, the city of Carlsbad doing what a lot of cities won't shutting down the obvious illicit massage parlors.

00:29:32
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the cellphone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And Randy. I assume all of the emails are too explicit to read on the air.

00:29:51
Speaker 4: Yes, there are many jokes.

00:29:54
Speaker 2: Some of them are any funny, but they're a little too explicit for the all am radio.

00:30:00
Speaker 1: All right, it's now time to reopen the California crime blodder.

00:30:04
Speaker 5: It's happened yet again.

00:30:08
Speaker 1: Nice see.

00:30:09
Speaker 6: Time for the California crime.

00:30:12
Speaker 1: Blodder, and this one takes us to the City by the Bay.

00:30:17
Speaker 2: Just a warning, if you get a text message saying that you forgot to pay a traffic ticket, it's a scam. I just got one of these the other day. For more, here's NBC in the Bay.

00:30:34
Speaker 6: Okay, here's your warning. Scammers are sending out fake notices of traffic violations and as NBC barriers. Christie Smith tells us, the notices appear as if they're coming right from the court. The message is to be aware of violation notices showing up on your phone or email.

00:30:52
Speaker 10: Consumers around the Bay Area have been receiving emails and text messages indicating that they have tolls or out standing tickets that they owe finds for and.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: They are cal Trands is not sophisticated enough to even know how to text you a fine.

00:31:09
Speaker 1: Nope, anyone who tells you that you owe the money via text message, do not pay them. It's one of the things that drives me crazy about my dermatologist. They just text message you the bill. And since I know that that's their standards and practices over there, I know it's legitimate, but I hate the fact that it's them and a bunch of scams.

00:31:32
Speaker 10: Finds for and they are being prompted to go to a link in order to pay those fines to avoid having to go to a court hearing.

00:31:39
Speaker 6: San Francisco's District Attorney put out a joint consumer alert with the Santa Cruz County DA. They say the notices appear to come from the court and could be labeled notice of hearing it toll violation, or notice of hearing traffic violation or something similar, and it may include a cure.

00:31:54
Speaker 2: I knew for me that it was fraudulent because it said that I got a speeding ticket, and I don't think in the last three years I've ever been able to drive faster than fifty miles an hour in Los Angeles.

00:32:07
Speaker 6: Or notice of hearing traffic violation or something similar, and it may include a QR code or link to make a payment. Jenkins says, don't click it.

00:32:17
Speaker 10: Most importantly, know that if the Superior Court of California wants to get in touch with you, they will not be sending you a text or an email.

00:32:25
Speaker 2: They will not be They're going to send a letter to an address you haven't lived in five years.

00:32:31
Speaker 1: And then when you don't pay it, they're going to start tacking extra fines on them.

00:32:35
Speaker 10: Wants to get in touch with you, they will not be sending you a text or an email. They will not be telling you to go to a link in order to pay a fine through that type of messaging mechanism, and not to pay anything that you are being told to pay through that type of again, text message or email.

00:32:55
Speaker 2: Other red flag you owe us money for a traffic ticket. We need you to pay it in gift cardsds.

00:33:04
Speaker 1: I have shocked that people fall for that.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: They're usually targeting the elderly, and the elderly are just happy that somebody texted them.

00:33:14
Speaker 6: Along the Embarcadero today, we asked people if they'd heard of this actually gone something similar to that. I can't say exactly that, but yes, and what did you do?

00:33:23
Speaker 5: I ignored it.

00:33:24
Speaker 11: I'm not gonna send money to something that I didn't initiate, you know, I mean like more like if they're initiating and I'm just receiving. Now, if I put in a request with something I know I had a bill on or something I had experience with the person's names and things, I'll still even resource.

00:33:39
Speaker 10: That a little for them.

00:33:40
Speaker 6: Jenkins says her office could potentially prosecute the scammera's responsible.

00:33:44
Speaker 2: Well, good luck finding them. They're out in Cambodia.

00:33:48
Speaker 1: And I know I keep mentioning this, but I'm gonna mention it again. Do not forget when they killed El Menshell, the drug cartel leader in Mexico. They talked about his operation. Part of his operation for a Mexican drug cartel, he had an entire building in Mexico. That he turned into rez and they were the ones that were making the phone calls trying to scam the elderly out of time shares.

00:34:16
Speaker 6: She's asking that people notify her office if they receive the fake notices.

00:34:21
Speaker 10: But we are again having investigators look into this. Hopefully we can track down whomever is responsible for this, but in the meantime, we just want to make sure that no one logs on to pay money that they do not owe to these fraudsters.

00:34:35
Speaker 6: In San Francisco. Christie Smith, NBC Bayran News.

00:34:39
Speaker 2: There you go, no way, know, how are you actually going to get a legitimate text message from the city, the county, or the state saying that you owe them money?

00:34:49
Speaker 4: They'll send you a letter and the.

00:34:52
Speaker 1: Letter should look official too. All right, it's time to reopen the California crime bladder.

00:35:00
Speaker 5: It's happened yet again.

00:35:01
Speaker 4: This wow, wow, what's not weird?

00:35:04
Speaker 11: Dun Dun dun, dun dundun dun reads the Califonia Crime Blodder.

00:35:09
Speaker 5: With Jung.

00:35:13
Speaker 4: And Randy.

00:35:14
Speaker 1: This one leads me to believe that nothing is sacred because it involves a scam regarding the lottery.

00:35:21
Speaker 2: This is the good old fashioned fake lotto scam. If somebody approaches you and says, hey, I have a winning lottery ticket, but there's some reason that I can't cash it. Can you give me some money as collateral so I know that I trust you and you can cash it. That is the oldest scam in the books.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that happens, and I've talked to people who have seen this occur. If you owe a ton of money in child support, or you owe the government money and they're garnishing your wages, and you have a winning lottery ticket, the government can just take their portion to the money and give it to your ex wife or or give it to the irs or whomever it is that you owe money to. So frequently what people will do, what let me rephrase that, what dirt bags will do, is they will pay someone to claim to be the winner, so therefore they don't have to pay the child support that they owe or the taxes that they owe.

00:36:23
Speaker 2: For more on the fake lotto scam, here's nbcla new tonight.

00:36:29
Speaker 12: Crook's using a fake lottery ticket ploy scammed a woman in Santa Anna out of forty five thousand dollars. Polease say. Two women drove up to the victim and claimed they couldn't cash a two point seven million dollar lottery ticket because of their immigration status.

00:36:47
Speaker 2: Hey, I got three million dollars in my pocket here, but I can't do anything about it because ice. So if you give me everything that you have in your house, I'll let you have this ticket and then we can split the winning sounds legit.

00:37:03
Speaker 4: She fell for it, though they.

00:37:05
Speaker 12: Asked for collateral so the women or the woman rather could cash it for them. Take a look. This is the vehicle police say the two were in when they approached that woman and then drove her to her home. She went inside, got forty five thousand dollars worth of cash and jewelry. The crooks then took off.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: Seems just about right.

00:37:27
Speaker 13: I think sometimes people use the tactic of immigration, but this has been happening for a really long time, where oftentimes the suspects tell the.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: Vehicle you know, I just got this massive lottery ticket in my pocket, but I have a warrant.

00:37:41
Speaker 4: Can you cash it?

00:37:42
Speaker 3: Oh?

00:37:43
Speaker 2: And I don't really trust you, so how about you give me your wallet with all your credit cards so that way we're on the same page here.

00:37:50
Speaker 1: Oh dear.

00:37:51
Speaker 13: Oftentimes the suspects tell the victim that they don't have some type of identification, whether that's a driver's license or some type of ID, and so they're a little more willing to just help out because they think that they're going to get a cut of some type of fake winning that they're going to get.

00:38:07
Speaker 2: No legitimate stranger is ever going to cut you into a lottery ticket, just nope, dop it right there.

00:38:14
Speaker 1: And even illegal aliens know US citizens and if that legitimately happened, they would go to someone they trusted and not to a random stranger.

00:38:23
Speaker 12: If you have any information, you're asked to contact Santa Anna Police.

00:38:28
Speaker 2: There you go. Beware of the fake lotto scam.