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, legal, counseling,
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professional service, or any advice. 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, eight am Pacific time
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on K four HD Radio, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose,
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and her guests will provide valuable insights and practical tips
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on how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. And
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now here is your host, Joyce Petrowski.
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Good Morning, everybody, Welcome to Let's talk about Scams. My
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name is Brian Watson. I'm a community outreach specialist for
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Rose Resources Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly, and I'm filling
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in for Joyce Petrowski today. I'm actually filling in for
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Joyce for several weeks. She's giving me keys to the
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radio show and we've got a bunch of great episodes
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coming up, and today we are going to start. Today's
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topic is five Signs that you are being scammed. I've
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been working for Rose for almost two years now, and
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what's really struck me is the amount of extremely smart
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people that have been scammed. To be honest, there were
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I was expecting to run into a few people that
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had some cognitive decline, who were getting older just couldn't
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handle their finances, but that's not been the case. So
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I've seen a lot in the last two years, and
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I want to talk about just some patterns that I'm seeing.
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So we're going to talk about five signs that You're
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being scammed. We could have done ten or fifteen, but
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I wanted to keep it nice and tight, keep it
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at five. So let's talk about these trends. They're in
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no particular order, but let's start with number one.
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First sign that you.
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Are likely being scammed is someone you don't know is
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calling you on your phone incessantly. They're calling from different
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phone numbers. They're not giving you a break, they're telling
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you what to do. They're being bossy, they're being demanding.
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They're creating that sense of panic. That's just not normal.
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That's what scammers do. I've heard so many stories of
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scammers calling people up and just not letting them get
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a break because they don't want you to talk to
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someone else. They don't want you to, you know, get
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a second opinion. You know, the longer they have you
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on the phone, the more likely they're going to take
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your money. So the key is to disengage right away.
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Don't let them get to that point. Because they walk
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you down that path, and they have you at a
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certain point, it's hard to get off that path. You remember, remember,
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time is your friend. You don't have to act immediately.
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You need to end that conversation and ask for help,
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even if you have to lie, make something up. Say
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you know what, I have a family member coming over,
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I have another call coming in, but just break this cycle.
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What's going on? You know.
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Just to give you an example, I spent my career
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as a special agent with the IRS, and the IRS
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impersonation scam was going on years ago, and I was
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at the office one day with a coworker. We had
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just finished lunch, we're kind of hanging out. His phone
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rang and it was a scammer telling him he owed
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money to the IRS, which was kind of funny to
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think because we were both IRS special agents at the time,
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and they would just not let my friend have a break.
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They told him what to do.
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They said he needed to get in his car and
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drive down and buy a prepaid card to pay his bills.
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And even when my friend lied and said he didn't
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have a car and that he was handicapped, they didn't care.
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They kept him on the line. And that's the thing.
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You need to break that cycle, because if you're allowed
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to hang up or you stop talking to them, get
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your wits back and realize things aren't right.
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So that was number one.
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Someone you don't know is calling you incessantly from different
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phone numbers and not giving you a break. All right,
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Let's move on to number two. Someone is telling you
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not to talk to someone else. You know, why would
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they do that. You know, that's the kind of creepy,
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abusive language that child predators use and other victims. You know,
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they want to keep you isolated. The goal of financial
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predators is to control you, force you to make bad decisions,
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and then ultimately steal your money, because that's what all
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criminals do. They lie to you and they steal your money.
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This is why people tragically fall victim for the grandparent scam,
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because they will call you up, pretend to be someone
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calling from a jail, saying your grand in jail and
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that you need to send money right away. And this
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happened to someone I know here in Arizona, and this
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is what they told him. They said, the judge has
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put a gag order in place, and you aren't allowed
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to talk to someone else. So how convenient is that
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for the criminal? They're saying it's against the law to
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talk to someone else.
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So he didn't. He stayed on the line.
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He ended up wiring this fifteen thousand dollars and he
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never got it back. But if he had, if he
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had talked to someone else, they would have said, you know, dad,
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you're being scammed. That's a scammer. But that's what they
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want to do I want Speaking of the grandparents scam,
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I once heard a story from some law enforcement officials
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in northern Arizona. One of their residents in I think
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it was Yavapai County, he received the grandparents call and
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he was told the scammers told him that his grandchild
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was in Mexico, and he started driving from northern Arizona
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down to.
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Mexico.
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And because he believed it, and he didn't talk to
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anyone else, somehow, some way they were able to intercept him,
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talk to him, find him, and they broke that cycle.
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But so that was number two.
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If someone is telling you not to talk to someone else,
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that's a red flag. Anything that's legitimate, you should have
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time to think about. You should get a second You
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can have a second opinion. You know, sleep on it.
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Whenever you make a big purchase. You know, if you're
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going to go buy a car, you don't have to
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buy it immediately. You know, you can go sleep on it,
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you can go look at other places. So break that cycle.
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So that was number two, all right, Moving on to
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number three. If you find yourself at your bank with
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drawing cash while on the phone while someone is coaching
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you what to say. I guarantee you you are being scammed,
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and I hear this story all the time. Scammers obviously
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want money, and where's money. Money's at the bank, and
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you know, you can only take out so much cash
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from your ATM. Usually the daily max is around three
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hundred dollars. Well, scammers aren't happy with three hundred dollars,
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so to get more than three hundred dollars, you have
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to go inside the branch. And but if you go
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into a branch and ask to withdraw, you know, five
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thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars, they're going to ask questions why,
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because that's their job. They take care of their customers.
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And the people at the bank are trained. They're trained
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to spot scams. And it's just not normal for someone
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to walk into a bank and ask for a lot
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of cash. So criminals are prepared, so they will coach you.
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They will tell you what.
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To say, they will stay on the phone with you,
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and so if the banker says, you know, why are you,
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sir or ma'am, why are you with drawing so much cash?
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They will have a lie prepared. One of the common
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ones is I'm buying a used car, and the person
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doesn't want to check.
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They want cash.
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Okay, sounds pretty legitimate, but they'll keep asking more and
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more questions. I mean, ultimately, it's your money and they
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can't stop you from withdrawing cash, but if they suspect
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a scam, they will try to stop you. Another one
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is I'm withdrawing cash to do some home improvements. So
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where I live here in Arizona, I have a banker friend,
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and she told me the story where this gentleman came
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in and was withdrawing a really large amount of of
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cash and he said it was for home improvements. Well,
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she knew where he lived. He lived in a retirement
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community where he rented, so there would be no reason
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in the world for him to do home improvements. So
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she knew her customers. She intervened. But that's what they do.
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Another thing they'll do. It's still talking about number three
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being at the bank and withdrawing cash the scammer. If
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things aren't going right with the teller, they will instruct
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you to go into the restroom for privacy and talk
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on the phone. They'll instruct you to go outside to
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your car, and you know, so they can coach you.
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But that's it. You know, once again, how do you
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break this cycle? You got to hang up and talk
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to someone else. And I know it's scary, but be
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prepared for that call and be prepared to hang up
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because who is your phone or friend? Joyce and I
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talk about this all the time. We all have to
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have a phone a friend. And that was from the
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show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? If you didn't
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know the answer to something, your best bet was to
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have your smartest friend on hold. So I'm not telling
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you you have to have that person on hold all
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the time because that's just not practical. But in your contacts,
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you should have a friend, and you should talk about
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this ahead of time. And you can have a friend
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where you help each other out. But I recommend a
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you know, a family member, someone you've known obviously a
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long time, or a family friend someone you've known since
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high school or college, and help each other out. You
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know what, Every friend I know, every person I know,
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would love to stop a scam in progress. So that
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was number three. If you were at a bank with
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drawing cash and someone's telling you what to do, I
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guarantee you you're being scammed, all right, So that leads
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in to the fourth side that you are being scammed.
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And if you ever find yourself putting cash currency into
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a bitcoin ATM at a local convenience store or smoke
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shop or mall, you are doing something wrong. Now let's
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just back up a second. What is a bitcoin ATM. Well,
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bitcoin is one of the thousands of cryptocurrencies, and bitcoin
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has the largest market share. They're at like sixty percent.
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So when I say bitcoin ATM, I'm not picking on bitcoin,
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but those are the most prevalent ATMs. So I've been
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to the Tucson Mall in Tucson, Arizona, and there is
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a Bitcoin ATM and it looks like an ATM automated
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teller machine that you would see at your local bank
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or credit union, and it says bitcoin on it, and
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you walk up to it, and what you do is
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you can log in into your account. Usually that's using
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one of those QR codes that black and white square
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and scammers will give you that. And so from now on,
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we'll just call it a cryptocurrency ATM. But let's say,
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why wouldes scammers send you there? So this is like
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a scenario. They'll say, you get a phone call and
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it's someone from the sheriff's department, sheriff's office or the
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police department, and they say you've failed to show up
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for jury duty and there's a warrant out for arrest.
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But they'll say, you know what, we can take care
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of this right now if you pay money. So how
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do you pay money? A variety of different ways, you know,
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they might ask for a prepaid card, you know, wire transfer, cash.
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But the thing we're saying now is there they'll instruct
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you to go down to this cryptocurrency ATM and they'll
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tell you the location at this convenience store on this corner,
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and they will send you one of those QR codes
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on your phone. They'll text it to you so that
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what they want you to do, go to your bank first,
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withdraw all that cash. And if you're able to draw
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the withdraw the cash without the teller convincing you it's
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a scam, they have you drive down to that cryptocurrency ATM,
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scan the QR code right right in front of the
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little at at the bitcoin ATM, and then you start
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entering cash.
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Okay, if you're doing that, you are being scammed. Now.
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Are cryptocurrency ATMs illegal? No, absolutely not. It's just a
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way to invest in cryptocurrency, and some people do that.
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But in my view from being a law enforcement officer,
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former law enforcement officer, and now being with Rose for
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almost two years, this is a scam. I don't like
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these machines because I see them as fraud receptacles or
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machines that allow fraud to take place, and they're just
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scam machines. So but this is what scammers do. The
242
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typical thing is they want people to pay in a
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way that they're not familiar with. You know, we were