Finding fresh material each week for her podcast is rarely a struggle for Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office Chief Criminal Investigator Kristina Perkins.
“It’s unfortunately easy to find content for Scam Squad because there’s so much out there,” Perkins said. “It’s usually just a variation of the same type of scam … happening everywhere.”
Perkins’ guests on Scam Squad—available online through Apple Podcasts and YouTube—range between Central Coast locals and callers from out of state who vent about their experiences falling prey to scammers online, over the phone, or even in person.
“The reality is,” Perkins said, “if someone heard about a scam that’s happening in Arizona, I guarantee that scam’s happening here too.”
Since the launch in May of the District Attorney’s Office’s new email address dedicated to collecting reports of scams or suspected scams from county residents, Perkins has reviewed dozens of inquiries from community members she may not have heard from otherwise, she explained.
“I know that phone calls, for some people, it’s just not the most effective way of communicating,” Perkins said. “Everyone has their preferred way of communicating.”
The first message Perkins reviewed was from a local suspecting that they received a fake invoice from a source impersonating a county Planning Commission official.
Within less than a week, the District Attorney’s Office and Planning and Development Department collectively received more than a dozen messages about the same scam. The subject line on most of the emails residents reported receiving read: “Payment Request—Application Review & Approval Fee.”
The county sent out a public service announcement to warn the community about the scam.
“I knew that there was a large part of the population out there that we could probably tap into if I gave email as an option to contact,” Perkins said.
Perkins joined the DA’s investigators team in 2013 and became chief criminal investigator in 2021.
Outside of her work as a professional investigator and podcast host, Perkins occasionally leads educational presentations about scam trends and other types of fraud topics when invited to speak by local organizations. Past groups she’s collaborated with include the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) Santa Maria Branch.
‘The reality is: If someone heard about a scam that’s happening in Arizona, I guarantee that scam’s happening here too.’
—Kristina Perkins, host of Scam Squad
Perkins hopes her ongoing work on raising awareness about scams helps prevent as many perpetrators from succeeding as possible.
“I’ve had phone calls with people from other states that say they’re the victims of fraud and that the reason they found out is they found my podcast and were able to identify something that I had specifically talked about,” said Perkins, who brought up a past caller from Utah as an example.
The caller was victimized by a romance scam, Perkins explained, which left her emotionally devastated and with $60,000 less in her bank account.
“She had suspected maybe this was something that was happening, but she didn’t put everything together—she really didn’t want to,” Perkins said, “but by listening to the podcast, it made her realize, ‘I’m the victim of a scam.’”
Fast fact
• On Aug. 8, join ECOSLO in Cayucos for a beach clean-up funded by the Visitor Alliance of Cayucos. The event runs from 9 to 11 a.m., starting at the Cayucos Pier. “Together, we’ll remove litter before it reaches the ocean and help keep one of our favorite beaches beautiful for people and wildlife,” ECOSLO said in a newsletter. The organization encourages participants to wear closed-toe shoes and dress in layers and bring a reusable water bottle. ECOSLO will provide gloves, buckets, trash grabbers, and water. Register by visiting ecoslo.com/events, where you can also find information about other future cleanup events. ∆
Reach Sun Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Education Today 2026.
