Judicial candidate Phoebe Maffei is running for San Francisco Superior Court judge with extensive experience in prosecuting blessing scam cases

SAN FRANCISCO — Phoebe Maffei, an experienced prosecutor specializing in elder abuse and blessing scams, is running for a San Francisco Superior Court judge seat in the June 2 election. She is overwhelmingly supported by members of the Chinese community who know her through her work combating the blessing scams that hurt so many Chinese-speaking elderly women victims.

Among Maffei's Chinese American supporters, Marlene Tran, a Visitacion Valley leader and advocate for crime prevention and victims' rights, said Maffei was very well qualified to be a judge. 

"I am very impressed with Phoebe’s extensive court prosecuting experience — especially the Chinese blessing scam cases where many Chinese seniors, including my neighbors and former CCSF students, were victims," said Tran.

Blessing scams first emerged in 2010 in San Francisco and metro cities with large Chinese American populations across the country, including New York City and Los Angeles. Scammers, mostly from China, entered the United States on tourist visas and worked with local criminals who connected with criminal syndicates to find targeted victims.

The vast majority of scammers are women and usually work in groups of three to approach Chinese-speaking elderly women victims on the streets. They convince victims that their loved ones are cursed or in imminent danger, then demand that all their cash and jewelry be brought from their homes for a spiritual blessing to remove the threat.

During the so-called spiritual blessing, scammers took the victims' valuables and secretly replaced them with water bottles and newspapers in a black plastic bag. The plastic bags were given to victims who were instructed not to open them for a period of time. Many victims opened the black plastic bags after they were back home and found their life savings were all gone.

In the past decade, about a hundred or more victims reported their cases to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). Many more cases are believed to be unreported. The latest string of blessing scams occurred between November 2024 and January 2025. At least 7 Chinese-speaking elderly women aged 69 to 79 reported a total loss of $374,000 to the SFPD.

During her 15 years serving at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office as a prosecutor, Maffei has specialized in handling elder abuse cases, including blessing scams occurring in San Francisco.

"My work in elder abuse has been significant for me because it is important to protect and stand up for the most vulnerable members of our communities, which includes elderly and dependent adults," Maffei said when asked about prosecuting blessing scam cases.

"It has been particularly important to me to advocate for elderly community members who are not primarily English speaking because they are even more susceptible to scams and abuse," said Maffei. "The blessing scam cases have had such negative impacts on the elderly Chinese community and were therefore a high priority for me and the investigators I worked with."

"We made sure to work closely with the victims to ensure they could be given the opportunity to stand up against the women who victimized them," Maffei continued. "The losses to these women and their families were staggering, and even more devastating because of the emotional impact of being victimized in such a targeted way."

"These cases have reminded me of the importance of supporting our elders and making sure to educate people about potential fraud and scams that target our elderly community," Maffei added.

In addition to blessing scams, Maffei worked on complex cases, including the high profile case in which the dependent broke into Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi's home, held her husband, Paul Pelosi, hostage, and nearly killed him. "That case was important to the entire community as a terrifying example of violence against one of our elderly members," said Maffei.

Maffei also prosecuted other cases involving robberies and assaults upon elderly Asian community members in San Francisco. From 2022 to 2024, she was assigned to the Vulnerable Victim Unit in the District Attorney's Office. She prosecuted cases involving elderly Asian victims of robberies and assaults. She has worked with the Institute on Aging's Elder Abuse Forensic Center to help address and prevent elder abuse in the city.

Maffei was born in Houston, Texas. She and her family lived in Texas for three years. Her family then moved to New Jersey and later to Andover in Massachusetts where she graduated from High School. Maffei moved to San Jose to work with City Year, a national non-profit organization that provides in-school and out-of-school programming for low-income students.

Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Maffei enrolled at the University of San Francisco to earn her degree in Sociology and U.S. History. She continued her studies in law by enrolling at Santa Clara University.

"Once I settled in San Francisco for college, the city became my home and I have been committed to the city ever since," said Maffei.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Maffei worked outside the legal field, supporting herself through law school as a server and bartender. She believed those experiences gave her perspective beyond the courthouse and helped her understand the challenges many working families face.

While studying sociology at the University of San Francisco and gaining work experience at the non-profit City Year, Maffei decided that becoming a prosecutor would be a good way to do the work she enjoyed and serve the community simultaneously. So she went to law school.

Maffei pursued the career as a prosecutor by joining the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She first interned at the Office from 2008 to 2010 for three years and later became a prosecutor.

She has served 15 years in different units across the office handling domestic violence, elder financial and physical abuse, public corruption, and other cases.

"The work at the District Attorney’s Office was exactly what I hoped it would be. I was able to stand up for victims of crime, serve the people of San Francisco, and ensure fair treatment of people accused of crimes," said Maffei.

For the next step in her legal career, Maffei is interested in applying to be a judge and filed papers to run for a seat on the San Francisco Superior Court in the June 2 election.

"Although I enjoy my work as an advocate, I want to move to the more neutral role of a judge, where I can continue to serve my city, ensure equity and accessibility in our courts, and support safe communities for everyone in San Francisco," said Maffei.