Feb. 11, 2025

Anatomy of a Scam

Anatomy of a Scam

In this episode, Joyce will breakdown scams into three different parts using the Anatomy of a Scam Infographic.

There are so many scams out there and scammers are constantly changing their tactics and techniques which makes it very difficult to keep...

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In this episode, Joyce will breakdown scams into three different parts using the Anatomy of a Scam Infographic.

There are so many scams out there and scammers are constantly changing their tactics and techniques which makes it very difficult to keep up with them. R.O.S.E. created the Anatomy of a Scam to better understand scams in general.

Tune in an be better prepared to recognize a scam.

Let’s Talk About Scams is broadcast live Tuesdays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Let’s Talk About Scams TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Let’s Talk About Scams Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional / legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references; however, R.O.S.E. Resources / Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to a scam.

WEBVTT

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,

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legal counseling, professional service, or any advice.

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You should seek the services.

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Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

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The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational

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purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional

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legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted

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sources and references. However, Rose Resources outreach to safeguard the

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elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to

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a scam. Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen

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show for anyone who wants to protect themselves and their

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loved ones from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on

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kfour HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and her guests.

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We'll provide valuable insights and practical tips on how to

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recognize and protect yourself from scams. And now here is

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your host, Joyce Petrowski.

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Welcome back, everybody, for this episode of Let's Talk About Scams.

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I'm Joyce Petrowski, founder and president of Rose Resources Outreach

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to Safeguard the Elderly. You can find more information on

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our website and more resources at Rosadvocacy dot org. You

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can also sign up for our newsletters. We send one

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via email. We also do one that we send in

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the mail. You can find those links right on the

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homepage along with the links for our social media LinkedIn Facebook, Instagram,

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and the YouTube page. So today I want to talk

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to you about an anatomy of a scam. So when

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we do these presentations to the seniors, when we first started,

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you know, we would sit there and go through probably

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about I don't know, five to eight different scams that

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have a tendency to be the the top scams in

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the senior the older adult population, and it never failed. Right,

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we go through the presentation, We talk about these scams,

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talk about you know, some specifics about each one, like

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in a romance scam, an investment scam, you know, email compromise,

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pig butchering, tech support, a lot of different ones. Will

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we leave the presentation and then lo and behold, we

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find out there's five.

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New scams out there.

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So about a year and a half ago, we created

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what's called an Anatomy of a scam. It's an infographic

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where we really said, we need to just explain scams

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in general. So if people can understand just the basics

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of a scam in general, then they're going to be

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better app to be able to recognize a scam, no

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matter what kind it is. So I want to pull

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that Anatomy of scam up on the screen so you

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guys can see it. So there's three different parts there.

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The first part is initiating contact and there's a variety

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of different ways. Goes over to the second part, which

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is creating a compelling reason to act. This is where

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the emotions come in. And then it gets into the

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third part, which is requesting payment. Now, sometimes, yes, you know,

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scammers are out there looking for personal identifiable information, but

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they're doing that because they want to be able to

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take your identity and get money. So the bottom line

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is is they're always out looking for money. And then

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in the middle there's an urgency and with the majority

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of the scams, it's urgent from the minute they initiate

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contact and you engage all the way till you get

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done sending them the money. But there are a few

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that it's the request for money doesn't come so quickly.

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So we can take that.

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Down now and I'm going to go through the three

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different parts in it. So the first part we talked

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about was initiating. The scammers have to initiate contacts somehow,

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and this right here is the biggest reason, or not

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the reason, the biggest way that scammers are going to

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initiate contact. Just about everybody has a cell phone and

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the majority of them are connected to their online right.

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You get your emails on there, You can get on

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social media, you download apps, you know, whether you play

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games or you have movie apps that you watch movies

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or stream shows. Social media apps are on there. You know, messaging,

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you know where you can not just call somebody, but

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you can send them a text message, you can take pictures,

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all kinds of different things that you can do on

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these phones. Well, that phone provides a lot of ways

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that a scammer can contact you. They can email you,

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they can message you. And it's not just the text

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message that automatically comes, you know, with your phone. There's

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a lot of these other messaging apps. The one I

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think that's probably the most popular is WhatsApp. I don't

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really use any of them, so I don't know a

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lot of the other ones. But they're more of what

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they call a private chatting. But they can also you know,

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send you a message if you're if you're posting things

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on social media, they'll start commenting on your post and

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then it never fails.

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They they always are.

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Having a problem friending you, so they want you to

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friend them, which is really just a ploy so they

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can actually look more legitimate to the social media platform

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that you're the one that's friending them. They're not out

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trying to friend all these other people, but they will though.

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I can't tell you how many times I get messages

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on posts that I make and I just look at

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them and I go, yep, that's a scammer, and I

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just hold my finger down on it as long as

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there's no links in there, but just hold your finger

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down on it and it comes up and you can

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delete it.

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You can report it as well.

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I think it'll say report and then you can delete

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after that. But it's just good to always delete them.

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Same with text messages, right, you get an and this

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is contact unexpected contact that comes. You're not expecting a

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text message from your friend. You know, you're not expecting

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a text message to come through from Amazon, or from

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the post Office, or from Social Security or the one

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that's been going around lately is toll fees, saying that

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you were on a toll road and you owe some

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money for toll fees. You know, there's a lot of

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different ways they do it. And they can call you

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and they can make that, but you know, the caller

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ID they can They've been able to spoof that for

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a long time. They can make it look like the

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police department's calling you. They can make it look like

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Social Security is calling you some federal office. They can

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make it look like your friend is calling you when

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it's not actually your friend. They're just they've somehow been

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able to get into your contacts and see your friend's names,

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and they're able to use those as the caller ID.

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And so, I mean, it's happened to me. You know,

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it's like, oh my gosh, I haven't talked to Stephanie

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in a long time, and so here lo and behold,

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she calls, So I answer the phone and it's not her, right,

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It's so it's very it's very hard these days to

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determine just when that contact comes in, if it's real

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or if it's fake. So we talked about email, we

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talked about text messages, phone calls. Social media is a

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big one. Lots of people are on socialcial media. There's

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all different kinds of social media platforms. Scammers are in those.

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You know, they're creating fake profiles and a lot of times,

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you know, at least the fake ones that I've come across,

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when they're preparing to be when they're pretending to be

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a man they have, they're impersonating someone that's been in

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the service that just seems to kind of be their

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mo you know. And if they're impersonating some woman, they're

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going to find, you know, a really beautiful woman that

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would just make somebody want to be friends with them

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and not think twice, you know, to click that friend

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request button or to accept a friend request. So social media,

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you know, they hide out there. They also if you

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play the online games. So like, for instance, I play

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an online game, it's not it's an app that I

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have and I play some games on it, but I'm

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not playing in real time against people where I can

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sit and have a conversation with people as I'm playing

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against them. That's online, and scammers will hide out in

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there and they'll strike up relationships in there. If you're

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on a dating site, you know, they set up profiles

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on dating sites that they can find you online. Is

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really is apt to have a scammer involved in there

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someplace and they are still using the mail I received

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from one of our supporters yesterday, I received an email

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that says, hey, have you seen this scam? And I

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open it up and it's about it pretends to be

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coming from Walmart, and it was something that was sent

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in the mail to her and it had Walmart on

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there with the logo, and it was about being one

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of the mystery shoppers. And it actually had a check

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attached to it made out in her name and her address,

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and it was for over four thousand dollars. Well, basically

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what they were saying is they're in there is you know,

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you need to text these two numbers to activate everything,

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and then you get to keep seven hundred dollars as

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your commission for being a mystery shopper. And then if

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you do these things within I think it said twenty

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four hours or forty eight hours it was a really

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short timeframe that you get an extra fifty dollars and

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then the rest of it. They wanted you to go

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out and buy six different gift cards five hundred dollars each,

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and then they wanted you to then they were going

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to send you this survey to answer these questions and

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you know, send the information, you know, with the gift

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cards over to them. And it's just a big scam.

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And so what I I mean, it looked like a scam.

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If you look down at the bottom of the letter,

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which will be on our social media today, so you'll

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see a copy of that letter if you want to

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look at it. You look at the email address that's

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down at the bottom of it. And I don't remember

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the what's to the left of the ad sign, but

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it was a Gmail account, you know. It was something

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like Walmart's Secret Mystery Shopper at gmail dot com. Now

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we all know Walmart doesn't use Gmail, right, so that's

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a big red flag there. Yes, there was some grammar stuff,

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you know, bad grammar going on in there, which I

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was really quite shocked because with artificial intelligence these days,

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the chat GBT, you can actually get that program to

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write a really nice letter for you and then use

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that the scammer could use that. So I was a

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little shocked that there was some bad grammar in there,

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but you know, it can still happen, so they are

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still using the mail, so you just got to be

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careful with that contact. And it's that unexpected contact, right,

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And that's the majority of the time. Now, there are

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also times when say, for instance, a scammer was able

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to hack into your friend's email account and so now

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they're sending emails out as your friend, So it's coming

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from your friend or family member whatever their email address.

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So you look at that and you're like, no, that's

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their email address, that's them, but it's really the scammer

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because they've hacked into it and taken it over, and

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your friend or family member might not know quite yet

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that it's happen. So that's where you got to kind

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of look at the message, right, and you got to go,

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does this really make sense? Is this how they're usually conversing?

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They've never asked me for money before. What's going on?

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You know, it's always good to call that friend or

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family member, you have their verified phone number and just

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check it out. Hey, were you emailing me about this.

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I had this happen with someone I needed to do

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a background check on yesterday who does some of our presentations,

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and the background check company sent her an email saying,

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you know, we need you to fill this information out

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and it was going to have personal sensitive information because

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it's running a background check, and she wasn't going to

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just do it. So she calls me and says, hey,

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was this you that sent this through the background check company?

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And I'm like, yep, absolutely, that was me. I just

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put it through. So she verified that that was a

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valid email that I did that, even though you know, earlier,

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earlier that morning, I had sent an email to her saying, hey,

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I'm going to be doing this right, she still called

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and verified. So that was her way to protect herself

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from not going in and giving all this personal information

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out until she knew for sure it was legitimate.

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So in those instances, you know where.

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The scammer might you know, take over someone's email address

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or you know, take over the phone number. Somehow it

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could come across with that phone number. So you still

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need to be really careful in those instances and just

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always have not in a bad way to always but

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what we talk about is the healthy skepticism. Having that

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healthy skepticism because you don't want to be giving information

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out to scammers or obviously money, but you don't want

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to engage. You want to stop the scam at that

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00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.840
first step, which is the contact, and if you can

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00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:34.320
do that, you don't even have to worry about the

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second step, the third step. All of that you've stopped

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it at the contact. But let's on some of these

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00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:45.720
scams that people have fallen victim to. You know, they've

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gotten the contact, they've engaged with the scammer, and very

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00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.519
quickly the scammer then goes into the second part, which

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is creating a compelling reason to act. This is where

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00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:02.159
emotions come into play. They are very very good at

251
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getting you into an emotional state, whether that's fear, anger, love,

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you know, greed and I don't really like the word greed,

253
00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.960
but it is an emotion and it's more of you know, say,

254
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for instance, you get something that says you've won this car.

255
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.039
You know, this this.

256
00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:27.440
Very high end expensive car, or you've won some lottery

257
00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:29.879
or you know, Publisher's clearinghouse it's been around for a

258
00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:35.399
long time and it's a legitimate company, but scammer's impersonate them, right,

259
00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.200
And so you've won this big, you know, pot of money,

260
00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.600
and you get excited and you're like, you know, who

261
00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.480
doesn't want a big pot of money? Who doesn't want

262
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that expensive you know car? A lot of people do,

263
00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.519
and so they they let that emotion take over them

264
00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:55.120
without stopping and thinking, you know, well, did I really

265
00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.399
enter this contest? Did I play this game?

266
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You know?

267
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Is this this seems too good to be true? You know,

268
00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:05.679
things like that, And this is where you have to understand.

269
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.759
I hear this so much from people, whether they're talking

270
00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.919
about a loved one that's fallen victim, or maybe they've

271
00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:16.279
fallen victim theirselves themselves. They'll say, you know, how could

272
00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:18.879
they be so stupid to fall for that? Or I

273
00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:21.080
can't believe I was that stupid to fall for that.

274
00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.519
And it's got scams have nothing to do with intelligence.

275
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The smartest, the people on the highest end of the IQ,

276
00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.039
and the lowest end of the IQ, and everybody in

277
00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:36.320
between is vulnerable to falling victim to a scam. And

278
00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.960
it's because of your emotions. If you are acting out

279
00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.600
of your emotions, you are going to make different decisions

280
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.480
than if you are thinking and acting out of a

281
00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:52.200
rational state, which is like our first tip we always give,

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00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:54.759
be aware of your emotions. And the next thing I

283
00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.600
say is I get it. When you're in that emotional state,

284
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:00.799
it's a lot more difficult to be aware of those emotions,

285
00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.960
which is why you should always have a trusted person

286
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.359
that you can talk to about everything that's the situation

287
00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.240
and what's going on, because sometimes when you just hear

288
00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.880
yourself say it, you then flip over into your rational

289
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:17.960
state and you're like, yeah, that just doesn't make sense,

290
00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.759
or it takes your trusted person to talk you through

291
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:23.720
the whole thing and then get you to think more rationally.

292
00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.799
So just know that it's emotions. Scammers are very very

293
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.839
very good at getting you into that emotional state, keeping

294
00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.960
you in that emotional state until they get what they want.

295
00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.680
And so if you can cut it off at the contact,

296
00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.319
then you don't have to worry about getting into that

297
00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:48.880
emotional state and then having to decipher what's really going on.

298
00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:52.759
But then we get into the third part. For people

299
00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:55.359
that have fallen victim, we're going to use those examples.

300
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:59.319
They've engaged with the contact, the scammer's gotten them into

301
00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:02.920
that emotional state, and now the scammer needs needs money

302
00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:09.119
for a variety of different reasons, and scammers will a

303
00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.720
lot of times they want it over you know, gift cards.

304
00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:14.200
Why gift cards, Well, they don't need you to send

305
00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.480
them the actual gift card. They just need the information

306
00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:18.599
on the back of the gift card and they have

307
00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:23.359
access to it. Or those peer to peer payment apps

308
00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:28.920
so venmo, Zell, PayPal, things like that. They're convenient and

309
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.000
I totally get it right. I use PayPal on occasion,

310
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.279
but I don't use venmo and Zel. I don't really

311
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.359
have a need to use it. But I understand there's

312
00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:39.640
people out there that do have a need and they're

313
00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.680
willing to take the risk for that convenience. And again

314
00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.240
that's a lifestyle choice, and that's one you have to

315
00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:50.039
make for yourself, depending on your situation. But if you

316
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.920
are going to use those peer to peer payment apps

317
00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.920
like Venmozel, PayPal, please make sure you have all the

318
00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:02.160
security measures in place that they offer. I believe they

319
00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:06.440
all offer multifactor or two factor authentication. When your logged,

320
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:11.680
you can go directly to the settings and it should

321
00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:14.559
be in privacy or security and then it should be

322
00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:16.640
listed as an option, you need to turn it on

323
00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:20.440
and then that's where you get the code sent to you.

324
00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:23.480
So if a scammer was able to get your log

325
00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.880
in for one of those accounts, they still can't get

326
00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:28.200
into it unless they have that code. But you need

327
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:31.960
to understand that that code is confidential information. You don't

328
00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.319
give it out to anybody. What some other people have

329
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:39.079
told me that they've done they need to use Zell

330
00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:41.200
or Venmo is that they have set up a totally

331
00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:44.160
separate bank account that they have attached to one of

332
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.480
the to the Venmo or the Zel and they only

333
00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:50.319
keep a little bit of money in it and then

334
00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:54.079
they just they'll put money in that account whenever they

335
00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:56.680
need to replenish it. But that way, if a scammer

336
00:19:56.839 --> 00:19:59.279
was to access Venmo or Zel and get into their

337
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:01.240
bank account, they only have access.

338
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:01.799
To a small amount.

339
00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:06.559
So that might be another way too, if you're using

340
00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.920
Venmo or Zell to help mitigate you know, any damages.

341
00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.720
Another way that they like is, you know, wire transfers.

342
00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:17.039
A lot of.

343
00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.079
People do their do online banking, and so they're just

344
00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:22.680
gonna and this comes into play a lot with the

345
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.440
tech support scam where they're pretending to be for Microsoft, McAfee,

346
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:30.079
you know, all these big tech support companies, and there's issues,

347
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.160
you know, scaring you issues with your computer, and we

348
00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:35.599
need to remote in and we can get this all fixed,

349
00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:37.599
you know, and then you'll be good to go. And well,

350
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:40.960
once they're in your computer, they're going to have access

351
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.680
and they can see everything that you're doing. And if

352
00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:46.440
you're transferring money out of your account to them, well

353
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:51.359
then they know. They've then been able to log your keystrokes,

354
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.599
so they know what your login is, and then they're

355
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.160
going to have access to that bank account. So and

356
00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:59.720
you know, wire transfers, they're going to get it. You know,

357
00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:02.839
they're to get it instantly. So another way that they

358
00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:06.000
like is, well with the wire transfers, let me step back.

359
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.200
They also will have people just go to the bank

360
00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.759
and take money out and sometimes they have a like

361
00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:15.880
wrap it in paper or put it in a book

362
00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:18.680
or something and then send it off to some address.

363
00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:22.519
But another thing that they like to do is they

364
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:28.000
there's these cryptocurrency atm machines. I personally have not used one.

365
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:32.000
I'm not invested in cryptocurrency, but a lot of people are.

366
00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:34.960
And you actually don't have to be invested in it

367
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.359
in order to use those ATMs. They know where they're at.

368
00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:41.559
They're at gas stations, they're at shopping malls, and they

369
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.039
will stay on the phone while you're at the bank

370
00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.319
getting the money because they anticipate that that bank teller

371
00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:50.920
is going to start asking you questions and they already

372
00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:53.440
have the answers that they're telling you to give them.

373
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.519
And I've talked to people that have said, looking back,

374
00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:00.559
I lied. I lied to the bank teller. They asked me,

375
00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.160
they thought it was a scam, but I just lied

376
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:05.960
to them. So that's how good these scammers are. And

377
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.039
then they stay on the phone and they direct you

378
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:12.160
right to that cryptocurrency ATM. You get in there, they

379
00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:13.960
have you put an account number in, you put the

380
00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.720
money in, and boom, that money's gone.

381
00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:16.559
You know.

382
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:18.799
I've talked to people that said, yeah, I did it,

383
00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:22.119
And as soon as I put the money in, it

384
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.720
was like I realized that it was a scam and

385
00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:26.640
I was trying to grab at the machine to get

386
00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:32.759
my money out. Once the money's in there, there, it's gone.

387
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.960
So and Crypto when it first came out was like

388
00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:39.079
totally anonymous, and like I said, I'm not by any

389
00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:41.279
means a crypto expert, but my understanding is when it

390
00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.519
first came out, it was anonymous. But I'm also hearing

391
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.559
and reading things where law enforcement and prosecutors are now

392
00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:54.039
able to and through new technology, through different investigative measures,

393
00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:58.759
that they are actually able to start getting more information

394
00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:01.440
about these crypto accounts and where they actually lead to.

395
00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.680
So it's not quite as anonymous as it once was,

396
00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:08.640
is my understanding. But like I said, those are the

397
00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:12.720
three parts, and then the urgency is when they get

398
00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:15.240
you to engage with the contact, to go all the

399
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:19.319
way through all three steps. It's urgent. Everything is urgent.

400
00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:22.599
But then, if you remember at the beginning, I said

401
00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:27.519
for most scams, there are some that, like the romance scam.

402
00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:31.359
Now they make that contact and you engage with them,

403
00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:36.279
they're not necessarily going to start asking for money right away.

404
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:40.119
They're getting you into the emotional state because in a

405
00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:45.079
lot of times it's exploiting someone's grief that they're going

406
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:49.680
through because they've lost a loved one and they're playing

407
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:54.720
on that grief, and they're taking their time, however long.

408
00:23:54.759 --> 00:23:58.039
It takes maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe a

409
00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:01.960
couple months, however long it take to get you into

410
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.759
this absolute trust, because that absolute trust is your relationship

411
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.160
with them.

412
00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.079
You believe everything they say.

413
00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:15.599
You're trusting them, you don't trust anybody else, and they know.

414
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.799
Then once you're in that absolute trust, then it's urgent.

415
00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:24.160
They need money for all different kinds of reasons. Same

416
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.759
thing with like pig butchering scams. A little bit about romance,

417
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.519
a little bit about investments, but sometimes they're not necessarily

418
00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:37.400
establishing a love relationship. It's more of a friendship relationship

419
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.440
to get you to invest. So they're taking a little

420
00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:44.039
bit of time to build that friendship and then to

421
00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.400
get you to invest with them. So it's not as

422
00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.440
urgent as you know a lot of the other scams

423
00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:54.200
from start to finish. So there are a few of

424
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.839
them out there. Like I said that going from contact

425
00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.079
all the way through to getting the money could take

426
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:02.599
some time, but once they're on the money part, it's urgent.

427
00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:04.759
They always need it. They need it for a variety

428
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:09.160
of different reasons. So if you could really keep those

429
00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:13.920
three parts of a scam and when and just think

430
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:16.599
about it, right, just just think about, Okay, well, how

431
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:18.599
does a romance scam work? Well, they had to have

432
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.519
contacted you. How does the tech support scam work? They

433
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.640
had to have contacted you. Right with any scam, they've

434
00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:27.880
got to contact you. And what they don't have to

435
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:29.799
actually be talking to you. They could send stuff in

436
00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:32.279
the mail, right they you know, they can message you.

437
00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:39.839
They a lot of different things. So keep those three

438
00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:43.599
in mind and you'll be better apped to understand scams

439
00:25:43.640 --> 00:25:48.599
in general. And just know that once you engage in

440
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.359
that contact stage, even if you realize that after you've

441
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:55.480
engaged that it's a scam and you cut off contact,

442
00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:59.519
be prepared because they're going to continue to try to

443
00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.359
get you to engage because in their mind, you've engaged

444
00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.200
once and so they've got a better chance of getting

445
00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:10.240
you to engage again, and then they can they're really

446
00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.759
good at getting you into that emotional state. So just

447
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.799
know that more contact could be coming and you're just

448
00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:22.079
gonna need to be extra diligent about knowing that. And

449
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.480
if it's your phone and they keep they keep calling

450
00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:27.200
you and it's getting really I get it. It gets

451
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.480
really frustrating. The phone rings off the hook, turn on

452
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.200
silence unknown callers. It's your in your phone settings, it's

453
00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.160
called silence unknown callers. If you have an Apple, it's

454
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.279
called block Unknown Callers. If you have an Android, you

455
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:42.599
just go to your settings and your phone settings and

456
00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.920
then scroll down. You can toggle it on and off

457
00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:48.720
as much as you want. The only downside i've heard

458
00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:51.279
to it is some older adults have told me that

459
00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:54.640
they missed the phone calls to their doctor's offices because

460
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.119
when you have that turned on, when a call comes in,

461
00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:04.119
if that phone number is not in your contacts, it

462
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.799
will not ring through. It goes directly to voicemail and

463
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:09.640
the person on the other end can leave a voicemail.

464
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.440
So the doctor's offices will leave a voicemail and then

465
00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:17.240
you can call them back. But what some people do

466
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:19.359
is they ask the doctor's office for all those back

467
00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:23.440
office numbers, because normally when they call out from the office,

468
00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:25.880
they're calling from one of those back office numbers. They

469
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:28.400
put all those in their contacts, so then when the

470
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.839
doctor's office calls, it will ring through to them. But

471
00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:34.039
it really they've told me that they really like it.

472
00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:37.079
That cuts down on the frustration of the phone just

473
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:41.759
ringing off the hook, and especially like before the election

474
00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:46.519
last November, I think everybody's phone was ringing off the hooks,

475
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:50.880
texting off the hook because of all these you were

476
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:53.240
getting all these calls about the election and all these

477
00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:57.440
text messages and things like that. So that's one way

478
00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:03.400
that you can help cut that down. So again to reiterate,

479
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:06.680
we've got those three parts of a scam. You've got

480
00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:11.000
that contact, you've got that creating, that compelling reason to act,

481
00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:18.440
and then the requests for money. Understanding those three parts

482
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.559
is really going to help you with scams. And we're

483
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:24.000
going to talk more in a couple of weeks. I'm

484
00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:27.799
going to have a guest on a psychologist that is

485
00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:34.319
very well versed in senior scams and has written a

486
00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:37.720
book on it, actually wrote her thesis on it, and

487
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.839
she's gonna we're going to get into some more with

488
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:44.640
some details on these different emotions and why people can

489
00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:48.359
be more vulnerable than others. And so you'll want to

490
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:50.599
you'll want to listen back in in a couple of weeks.

491
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:55.640
But in the meantime, you can get on our website

492
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:01.599
at Rose Advocacy you can find more resources. Shoot us

493
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.240
an email or give us a call if you want.

494
00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:07.519
If there's a specific topic you'd like us to discuss

495
00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:12.559
related to scams. You can follow us on our social

496
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:16.920
media channels Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. The links are

497
00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:20.119
on the homepage, and you can sign up for our

498
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:23.599
monthly newsletters. The sign ups are on the homepage as well.

499
00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:24.759
We do one via.

500
00:29:24.599 --> 00:29:28.359
Email and we do another one in the mail. So

501
00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:32.640
until next week, thank you very much for joining in,

502
00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:38.160
and I will put a I will have that infograph infographic.

503
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.079
Link in the show notes. See you next week.

504
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.240
Well that's all the knowledge for this episode. June in

505
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:49.599
every Tuesday at eight am Pacific time on KFOURHD Radio

506
00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:54.400
at KFOURHD dot com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge.

507
00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.480
So you have the power to make scam protection, you're healthy,

508
00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:01.599
have it and until and then, feel free to reach

509
00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:04.400
out to Joyce and let's talk about scams.