San Diego County District Attorney

The Economic Crimes Division of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office investigates and prosecutes fraud and unlawful business practices in the marketplace. The Consumer Protection Unit, a section in the Economic Crimes Division, is a team of experienced attorneys, investigators, and other professional staff that investigates and evaluates reports of fraudulent and unfair business practices and determines appropriate action. The Consumer Protection Unit prosecutes cases on behalf of the People of the State of California where the interests of the public at large are involved. Our office is prohibited from representing private citizens in individual disputes with other persons or businesses.

Our cases are developed in several ways, including information from law enforcement and regulatory agency investigations, referrals from consumer protection prosecutors in other areas of California, and complaints from the citizens of San Diego through our Consumer Complaint Form process (see below). Our office is committed to supporting the San Diego community and providing a means of reporting individuals and businesses engaged in unlawful business practices. Public protection is our priority. We encourage you to file a complaint if you are aware of a fraudulent or unlawful business practice taking place in San Diego County.

Once the Consumer Protection Unit receives your complaint and accompanying documentation, we will review that material and contact you if we need more information. In many cases, the appropriate agency to undertake the initial investigation of a consumer complaint is another specialized regulatory, licensing, or enforcement agency in California. Many of these agencies have authority to take corrective action when their investigations reveal evidence of wrongdoing, including bringing administrative enforcement cases to end the unlawful business conduct. If the investigating agency determines that a matter is appropriate for further prosecution, it will generally refer the case to our office or another prosecutor's office, such as the California Attorney General's Office or a City Attorney's Office.

Once our staff has received and reviewed your complaint, you will be notified of our evaluation (usually by mail). If our staff makes the decision to refer your complaint to another agency for investigation, you will be provided the contact information for that agency. We may also refer you to other resources within our community, when appropriate.

You may sometimes expedite this process by directing your complaint to the appropriate specialized agency. Our office has compiled a Consumer Resources Guide which lists the types of consumer complaints, the agency that handles them, and the agency’s contact information. The California Attorney General’s Office also has a comprehensive Complaint Referral Table that is a great resource for assisting consumers with determining the appropriate agency to contact depending on the type of complaint and industry it involves: https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/complaint-referral-table

1. Thoroughly read the Guidelines to Submitting the Consumer Complaint Form.
   GUIDELINES (ENGLISH)
   GUIDELINES (SPANISH)
2. Complete the CONSUMER COMPLAINT FORM. The form is available in a format to print out and complete manually or PDF fillable format (you still need to print it out after completion and sign the Declaration.) Below are the links to the forms available in both English and Spanish.
   CONSUMER COMPLAINT FORM - ENGLISH
   CONSUMER COMPLAINT FORM - ENGLISH - PDF FILLABLE
   CONSUMER COMPLAINT FORM - SPANISH
   CONSUMER COMPLAINT FORM - SPANISH - PDF FILLABLE
   ***You can also call the Consumer Complaint Form Request Line at 619-531-3507 and provide your name and address. A packet will be sent to you in the mail including the Complaint Form and Guidelines.
3. Attach copies (not originals) of any supporting documents you believe are important to support your complaint.
4. Send the completed Consumer Complaint Form and attachments to the following address:
   
   Office of the District Attorney
   Consumer Protection Unit
   P.O. Box 121011
   San Diego, CA 92112-1011

• Attorney General’s Office California: https://oag.ca.gov/consumers
  - Complaint Referral Table:https://oag.ca.gov/consumers/complaint-referral-table
  Lists the Industry/ Type of Complaint – Agency responsible for handling the complaint and its link – Agency Phone Number
• Department of Consumer Affairs: https://www.dca.ca.gov
  - Check the Licenses of professions requiring a license to practice - https://www.dca.ca.gov/licensees/index.shtml
  - Complaints – File complaints about licensees – https://www.dca.ca.gov/consumers/complaints/index.shtml
  - Listing of Web Sites by Profession and links to their sites – https://www.dca.ca.gov/about_us/profession
  - Who We Are, What We Do list of the DCA’s licensing entities and the professions and establishments they regulate
  
  – Available in English and Spanish -

  https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/dca_booklet.pdf
  https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/dca_booklet_sp.pdf
  
  - DCA Listing of California and Federal Consumer Laws: https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/m_1.shtml
  - Listing of Publications: https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/index.shtml
• Federal Trade Commission – Department of Consumer Protection:
  https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection
  
  - Report Fraud – https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/assistant https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#faq
  - When a report of fraud is made, it goes into the Consumer Sentinel database which is available to federal, state, and local law enforcement nationwide. The FTC cannot resolve individual complaints and does not respond to each report individually. They do assign a report number to the report and will provide that number via email after it is received. They use the reports to decide what entities to investigate, spot trends, educate the public, and share data.
  - Consumer Advice –

  https://consumer.ftc.gov
  https://consumer.gov
• American Association of Retired People (AARP):https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/
  - Fraud Watch Network Helpline – 877-908-3360.
  - Scam Tracking Map - https://www.aarp.org/scammap
  - Fraud Watch Network Online - https://www.aarp.org//fraudwatchnetwork