Social engineering is on the rise and the scammers are getting better at exploiting our vulnerabilities. Tune in to learn the most common types of social engineering techniques, how to protect yourself, and why you need recur...
Did you know criminals steal mail looking for checks they can alter? It is called check washing. They dip checks in acetone to dissolve the ink. If you use a gel pen, the ink does not dissolve because the ink in gel pens perm...
Dr. Marina Dove is back to discuss romance scams - their techniques, who is most vulnerable, changes over time in how scammers manipulate, and how can we protect ourselves. Dr. Martina Dove has a background in psychology and ...
Electronic invitations to a party, from a friend, safe right? Well not so fast. There is a new scam going around inside a party invite. Name of the company is legitimate, scammers are impersonating the real company. Plus, rec...
Pig butchering scams - we have talked about them before, and it is worth talking about again. Join us as we talk with our guest, Erin West, a globally recognized speaker, and educator specializing organized crime, with a focu...
What do you do if you have been the victim of an internet related scam? Who should you call? Can you get your money back? We will be talking with retired FBI agent Martin Hellmer about his experiences investigating scams and ...
It is time to talk about “phishing” because a friend recently fell for a phishing scheme. The email, which appeared to come from his cable company, claimed that the method of payment was rejected. And while we are at it, let’...
What would you do if you overheard a phone conversation that sounded like the person was being scammed? Last year, I accompanied my mother to an appointment at her doctor’s office. I overheard a gentleman sitting across me ma...
What would you do if a friend sent you an email asking if you would be willing to buy them a gift card? For most of us, our default reaction would be to say yes and help out our friend. Because most of us are generally nice f...
Recently, I was about to start a fraud prevention presentation when my mom called to tell me she was having some computer issues. I drove over to her place. Upon arrival, her computer had a pop-up on the screen that made her ...
This week, we will share top five telltale signs you are being scammed. • Someone you don’t know is calling you incessantly and creating a sense of panic. • Someone is telling you not to talk to anyone else. • If you are at your bank withdrawing cash...
Last week Brian Watson talked about phone scams and it is okay to hang up. Something we hear a lot is - I do not answer the phone unless I know who it is as scammers do not leave voicemails. Or do they? We are starting to hea...
We discussed this four months ago and it is worth revisiting, our Anatomy of a Scam Infographic where we discuss the three parts of a scam. We have some examples of scams that we will break down using the Anatomy of a Scam. T...
I like to show a photo of a yellow rotary dial phone circa 1980. I ask my audience to raise their hand if they ever had a similar phone. After I show the photo of the phone, I always ask “what did we do when that phone rang?”...
Data breaches give scammers a chance to orchestrate social engineering attacks against unsuspecting victims. The data can be purchased in bulk, and is then used by scammers as a token of credibility to gain trust. Several dif...
We all make mistakes, and last week I made a mistake with sharing my screen. So, here is a redo on how to determine the safety of a website. Last week you saw my notes for the episode and today you will see how I use R.O.S.E....
Last week we discussed a few of the scams that had a profound effect in 2024 on the 60+ year old population in the United States. The type of crime that had the most impact on this population, with almost 195,000 victims, is ...
The last two weeks we talked about the 2024 FBI IC3 report and the related statistics in addition to how scams have evolved over the years. In this episode we are going to dive into the top two scams with the most amount of l...
Scams have changed so much over the past 20 years. Scammers are no longer lone wolves, but part of organized criminal gangs that will take everything you have. They are truly ruthless financial predators. Let’s Talk About Scams is broadcast live...
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center 2024 annual report is out. The statistics are not good and going in the wrong direction. Losses increased by 33% in the United States and 43% increase in losses with the 60+ year old population.Tune in while...
New FBI Public Service Announcement on April 18, 20205. Criminal scammers are impersonating the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) employees. Almost all the reports filed reflect that the scammer claims to have recovered the victim's lost funds...
Today is tax day! Do you have your IRS IP Pin? Do you know what an IRS IP Pin is?Joyce will discuss her experience with tax related identity theft when someone filed a tax return in her name and social security number. A six digit IP Pin could have...
We all use USB cables for charging and data transfer. How do you know if the USB cable you have is good or does it have malicious hacker hardware?Tune in to learn the signs that a USB cable has malicious hacker hardware, how to protect yourself,...
