Scammer poses as nanny to swindle ‘young, affluent’ California families, cops say
Northern California authorities are warning of a nanny scam after a real nanny’s identity was stolen and used in a plot targeting “young, affluent families,” Bay Area police said.
The legitimate nanny reported the scam to Emeryville police on April 26, telling them that two San Francisco families contacted her because they believed they had interviewed her for a childcare role, police said in a news release on Thursday. But when the families and real nanny spoke, they “soon realized they were dealing with a con artist and contacted law enforcement,” police said.
Emeryville police said the suspected scammer is 60-year-old Darlene Mariana Monticalvo. She was already wanted in Oakland on felony charges, including one involved injury to a child, according to police — and now she’s wanted in Emeryville on suspicion of fraud and identity theft.
Monticalvo “is known to frequent areas of Contra Costa County,” police said. Authorities encouraged anyone who knows her location to call Emeryville police.
A surveillance camera at one of the families’ homes helped catch the suspect coming in to be interviewed, police said, explaining how the the victims’ cooperation helped point to Monticalvo as the suspect.
Emeryville police Officer John Corcoran said Monticalvo got the real nanny’s name, resume and driver’s license number by pretending to be a mother in search of a nanny, Bay City News Service reports. Those are details a nanny might give a client to run a background check.
Corcoran said the families grew suspicious about Monticalvo after she allegedly posed as her own reference over the phone, which at least one person realized based on past encounters with Monticalvo, according to Bay City News Service.
“When it came time for the (in-person) interview, the would-be mom got cold feet and the victim never heard from her again,” Corcoran said, according to Bay City News Service.
It’s not the first time Monticalvo has been accused of a scam, according to San Francisco police.
In 2003, police sought the public’s help finding Monticalvo for pretending to be a nighttime baby nurse to scam unsuspecting families, according to a news release from the time.
“After signing a contract, Monticalvo receives partial payment, as much as half of the entire contract, which could be $5,000, works for one night, and never returns,” police said. “In other cases, she receives half of what the contract stipulates, works one night, and the next day fabricates a story as to why she needs the balance immediately. After given the balance, she does not return to fulfill her contract.”
Police said in the June 2003 news release that the scams had begun in November 2002 and “occurred throughout the Bay Area, including incidents in Contra Costa and Marin counties,” in addition to five reported in San Francisco at the time.
During those early 2000s schemes, Monticalvo asked clients for payments in advance and then made off with money and even property — including one instance in which a family said she took travelers’ checks worth tens of thousands, the East Bay Times reports.
Lafayette police spotted her in early 2004 after she slipped under the radar for months, but a local detective said she tried to strike an officer with a car during that encounter and got away, according to the newspaper.
This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Scammer poses as nanny to swindle ‘young, affluent’ California families, cops say."