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. You should seek
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the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any
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suggested ideas. The information contained in this podcast is intended
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for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for
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individual professional legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled
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from debted sources and references. However, Rose Resources outreach to
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safeguard the elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall
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victim to a scam.
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Let's talk about scams. It's the must listen show for
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anyone who wants to protect themselves and their loved ones
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from scams. Every Tuesday am Pacific time on K four
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HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose, and her guests
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will 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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Hi, everyone, welcome back to let's talk about scams. I'm
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Joyce Petrowski, founder and board president of Rose Resources Outreach
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to safeguard the elderly. I trust Brian took very good
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care of you guys last week.
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And.
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I'm back today with a cold, So hopefully I won't
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be sneezing or coughing too much during this episode. But
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I know we this episode was gonna it was titled
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do I Really Need This? And I was going to
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have a guest Martin, and due to some timing issues,
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that just didn't work out. But I'm still gonna to
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talk about his situation with with the scam that he
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encountered with his parents. But before I do that, yesterday
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I was made aware of a new scam that's going around,
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and so I just wanted to give you a little
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bit of information on that. So this one happens to
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be specifically targeting retired people because it's the scammers using
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the Sole Security Administration name to trick people with the email.
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So the email looks like it's coming from the official
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government notifications using Solid Security Administration. But if you hover
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your mouse over the name, you can see the actual
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email address and you'll see that the email address. The domain,
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which is everything after the ad sign does not end
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in dot g o V.
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Excuse me, it's uh, I'm.
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Not exactly sure what it ends in. It could be
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dot excuse me, dot com, dot net. You know, there's
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there's a bunch of different ones out there, but all
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government organizations their domains and in like the Sole Security
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Office is s S a Solid Security Administration dot gov,
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the I r S is i r S dot gov.
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Medicare is medicare dot gov, so it all ends in
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dot gov.
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That's g o V. So when you hover your cursor.
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Over the name, you're going to see that this email
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address is not coming from a dot gov email address,
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which would be the first clue. But if you know,
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if someone doesn't think to look at the actual email address,
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they actually get into the email itself. The scammers or
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you're using the urgent message again to grab your attention
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and to get you to act quickly. So they're like
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important disclosures or important regulatory information, and so the emails
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usually include a link or a file that looks like
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a standard PDF statement.
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It might have a.
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Name like Social Underscore Security Underscore Statements Underscore twenty twenty five,
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dot pdf. Now looking at that, you might look at
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it and go, okay, well that's my soile security statement.
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But it's not a normal document. So if you've ever
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had your trusted tech support person do any work on
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your system remotely, there's a good chance that they use
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a tool called RMM Remote Monitoring and Management. It's an
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actual legitimate tool and a lot of the IT experts,
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the tech support people use it to fix computers from
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a distance remotely instead of having to physically be there
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with you and your device. But scammers have turned that
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legitimate tool to their advantage and are using it as
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a weapon against you. So if the if whoever's looking
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at that email clicks on that link to view the document,
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it can install a trojan or a virus.
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Malware on your.
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Device and which allows the scammer to take full control
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of your device. And once they have that access, they
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can watch what you're doing and steal private data. If
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you're logging into your bank account, whatever you're doing, that
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they can see it, and then they're going to have
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all your logins. They can also say that there's a
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new document ready to review for a short time. Again,
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that's that urgency. If you don't do it now. You
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might not be able to see that document after a
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short time, and they might have a button called view
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document that they want you to click on, and it.
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Would do the same thing.
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It would take It would allow the scammer to take
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over your device, and that device could be your mobile
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phone because it is a mobile computer if you're doing
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if you're looking at this email on your mobile phone.
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So just just be careful out there, you know, just
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because it says it's coming from the Sold Security Administration,
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just hover over that that name and look at what
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the actual email address is. And just know that the
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Soil Security domain is s s A dot gov and
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you always want to look for that dot gov at
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the end of the domain in the email address. If
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I get any more information on this, I'll let you
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guys know over the next couple weeks. But just always
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go to your the verified source. So you're going to
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want to go to your social security account through the
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legitimate Social Security website and you can find all of
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your information there. So to get on with what today's about,
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the title was do I really need this?
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And this situation?
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A supporter Martin had given us this information that had
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happened a number of years ago to his parents. They
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were when this happened, they were probably in their mid
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to late seventies, and somebody was, you know, trying to
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sell them a home security system. And it very well
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could have been a legitimate home security system company. They
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were just you know, possibly using some aggressive sales tactics,
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and just I want to preface this conversation with whatever
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company it is selling whatever product or service. There's a
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lot of legitimate companies out there.
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And I'm not saying.
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Because of this situation or because of another situation you
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might have heard about, that all of these companies are
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not good. This is where doing your research will will
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really help you. So to get back to this situation.
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In addition to the hardware and the installation, it also
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had a monitoring contract with a monthly subscription fee, which
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is normal. I mean, you have a security system, but
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you want to have it monitored so if something were
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to happen, you know, the emergency people would be.
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Notified right away.
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But apparently once the system was installed, it never really
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worked properly and the company was never able to make
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the system work. Now, maybe they had come out a
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few times to try to get it to work. Maybe
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it was just once, or you know, maybe they for
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whatever reason, never came out.
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I don't know that part of the story.
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But after you know, a number of months, and you know,
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it could be could have been you know, a year,
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two years, three years of paying this monthly subscription and
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then they had already paid, you know, for the hardware
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and the installation, but they had that ongoing monthly subscription
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fee that was continuing to be paid. They finally Martin
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just suggested them, you know what, why don't you just
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stop paying the subscription fee. This thing doesn't work. We
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can't get anybody out here to help us with it.
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And so they stopped paying it and no one ever
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came back after them for any back charges. Which is
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a risk you take right if you've if you've committed
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to this contract of paying this monthly subscription fee for
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what it is, for whatever product or service it is,
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and then you all of a sudden stop paying it,
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well you run the risk of am I going to
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have to then? Are they going to come after me?
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Are they going to send me to collections? Am I
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going to have to go through some legal battle with him?
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That's a risk you take this is just in this instance,
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the company never came back after his parents. The company
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had probably folded, or maybe it just wasn't a legitimate
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company to begin with. We don't know the exact answer
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to that question. But unfortunately, by the time they stopped
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paying the monthly subscription, they were out several thousand dollars
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for the hardware, the installation, and the monthly subscription fee.
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And so, you know, Martin was like, the moral of
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this story is you need to step back, which is
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pause And that's the first tip we give everybody pause
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and think about the situation. And in this instance, ask yourself,
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do I really need this? Do I need this home
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security system? And if I, if I was actually looking
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for a home security system, have I done my research
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to determine that this is a legitimate company that sells
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legitimate products and services? Have I? You know, you can
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actually get on and put the name of the company
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in your Internet search bar and put fraud or scam
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after it and see what comes up, or just say
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is and then the name of the company a legitimate company.
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Different ways you can You can also look up customer
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reviews and see what comes up on customer reviews. You know,
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for the company. If you know somebody that already uses
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this product, you can talk to them about how they
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like it. Excuse me, so doing your research in this instance,
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after you've determined that yes, this is something I really
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do need and or want and I can afford to
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pay for the installation, and you know, that's another question
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is asking yourself, excuse me, asking yourself if this contract
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were to go sour like in this situation, that the
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product never worked and I had already paid all that
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money and I was paying for the subscription, can I
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afford to lose this money? Because what if the company
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does end up folding? A lot of companies end up
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getting bought out, and then the new company, you know,
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we'll take over and service the subscriptions. But you know,
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just it's another question to ask yourself, not only do
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I need this? You know, do I want this? Can
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I afford to lose this money should something happen where
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I can't recover it? It's another valid question, And then
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to do your research.
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There are.
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Companies out there, real companies that use aggressive sales tactics
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to get you to buy.
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Their product or services.
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And there's a wide variety of aggressive sales tactics. Yes,
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you know, they can come to your door. And you
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know those of us that were you know, taught to
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you answer your door. You don't shut the door on someone.
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When you talk to them, you invite them in. You
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be hospitable. We can't do that today. You know, peek
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out the window. If you don't know the person and
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you have an appointment, you don't have to answer the door.
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But then also remember, you know, they could call you
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and they could talk you into setting up an appointment
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where they come over to your house. And so you're
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expecting the appointment. You're expecting them to show up and
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they actually work for the company. They might have a
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name tag, I don't you know, maybe they have a
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shirt that has the name on it.
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Maybe you've already verified.
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Through the company's official channels that yes, this person does
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actually work for them. But then they come over and
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for the appointment, and they just start throwing a lot
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of information at you very quickly, and your mind is
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just spinning, like I can't keep track of all this.
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And but then it's like they want you to sign something.
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Maybe they say it's an estimate, but it's actually a contract,
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or maybe they you know, say you know, and these
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are just these are examples. They might also say, oh, well,
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you know, you can sign the contract and then you know,
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you can get out of it at a later date,
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you know, if you don't like it or whatever. But
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you really have to read the fine print. And a
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lot of I've heard a lot of people tell me
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that after they've gone through one of these situations using
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these aggressive sales tactics, they've been mentally exhausted, and they've
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taken that paper that they've signed and they just put
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it in a drawer and you know, they take a
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nap and then they get up, they go about their
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day and they might not pull that contract out for