May 19, 2026

Not all gel-ink is created equal!

Show Notes
Transcript

Who knew, not all gel-ink is created equally! Listen in while we discuss a test on three different gel-ink pens and two different solutions.

Which gel-ink pen passed the test?

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).

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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.

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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.

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You should seek the services of.

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Competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. The

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information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes

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only and is not a substitute for individual professional legal advice.

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The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references. However,

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Rose Resources' outreach to safeguard the elderly cannot guarantee that

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you will not fall victim to a scam. Let's talk

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about scams. It's the must-listen show for anyone who wants

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to protect themselves and their loved ones from scams. Every

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Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific time on K4HD radio, Joyce

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Petrowski founder of Rose and her guests will provide valuable

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insights and practical tips on how to recognize and protect

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yourself from scams. And now here is your host Joyce Petrowski.

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Hi everyone. Welcome back.

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Um, Joyce Petrowski founder and board president of Rose resources

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outreach to safeguard the elderly. Um, You can find more

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information on our website, roseadvocacy.org. You'll find all of our

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social media links right at the top of the homepage.

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Interested in scheduling us to come out and do a presentation?

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We've got a button called Schedule Your Presentation and Learn More.

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We've been adding some new and different programs to it.

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And if you scroll down to the bottom of the homepage,

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you will also find where you can sign up for

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our newsletters. We send one in the mail and we

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also do one via email. The emailed one, the great

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thing about it is every Tuesday morning, which is this

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morning at 9.15 a.m. Arizona time, you're going to get

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a tip Tuesday. And you might already know the tip,

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but what it does is it helps reinforce your healthy

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skepticism and your scam prevention habits, which unfortunately we're in

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a world today where we need that reoccurring.

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We need to hear things, see things, say things.

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Multiple, multiple times on a reoccurring basis in order to

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make those scam prevention tools a habit.

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So after last week's episode, a.

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Viewer had wrote in and left a comment that they

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heard that the gel ink pens were not good to

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prevent against checkwashing. And so it's the first time I

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had heard of that. So I did a little research

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on it. And I found this really great article that

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talked about a test that was run. And I am

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going to share my screen so we can go through that.

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Just one second here. All right.

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So this is the article that I found. If you

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want to go to it, it actually has a little

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video of a YouTuber, Rob's Homemade Life, actually went through

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this with a couple different solutions and different gel ink pens.

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We're not going to watch the video, but we're going

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to go through what it says. So Let's see. Where's

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this at here? So check washing. So the goal of

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check washing is someone gets a hold of a check

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that you've written. And let's just say that you wrote

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a check.

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Out to give as a gift to someone. Someone, family member, friend, whoever.

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And a lot of people these days do their banking

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on their phones. They'll deposit their checks on their phones.

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They pull up their banking app. They go into the deposit.

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They take a picture of the check. I would imagine

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front and back of it.

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I don't do this.

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So anyways, they take a picture of it and it

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gets deposited into their account.

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But then what happens to that check?

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You know, hopefully they put it away in a file

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or they write void on it, um, or they, you know,

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rip it, shred it.

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Somehow, you know, to make it safe.

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But sometimes, you know, you just don't know what happens

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to that check or let's say, um, uh, a criminal intercepts,

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you know, your mail and there's a, there's a check

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in an envelope and they get it that way. There's

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different ways they can get the checks, but they're in essence, um,

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using a chemical solution to erase the ink off of

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the checks. Now, what they've also been doing is putting

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tape of some sort on the signature so that keeps

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the signature intact, but they wash all the other ink off.

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So they could wash the amount, the date, sometimes the

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signature if they don't put the tape on it, but

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the pay to the order of. to get the ink

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off of there, and then they can rewrite the check

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to their benefit. And this can have devastating effects on

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the people who are the victims. So this YouTuber, Rob,

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went through a test to test some of the three

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different gel ink pens. So let's see here. Well, before

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we start that, I was just reading this, that banks

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fight check washers by printing checks using inks that degrade

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when they're exposed to the chemicals, which renders the check

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useless after being treated. But not all checks are produced

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that way because individuals and businesses can purchase their checks

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through a variety of vendors outside of the bank.

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So that's one way that banks help prevent against it.

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But this YouTuber, Rob, He put a Pilot G2, he

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put a standard click ballpoint pen, and then he also

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put a Uniball 207 pen against two different solutions. And

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the one thing I really like about this test that

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was done is he just called the first one solution A,

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the second one solution B. He didn't give away the

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details as to what was in those solutions. But let's

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look at the Pilot G2. basically the ink was washed

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off by solution B and it faded under solution A.

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The standard click ballpoint pen or ink faded under both

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of the solutions. The ink wasn't completely washed away, but

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it was faded. But the Uniball pens, the Uniball 207,

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the ink didn't budge under either of those chemicals.

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So That was the winner out of those three.

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So the most important thing to remember here is that

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not all gel pens are created equally and not all

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gel pens will be able to withstand these different chemical solutions.

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and keep the ink intact on the check. So if

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at all possible, when you are writing checks, try to

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get a Uniball 207.

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I know that's what we actually give out in our presentations.

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Everybody that attends our presentations, we give a Uniball 207

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pen out to them. You can get them very easily

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on Amazon. You can go to any, you know, office store,

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you can buy them there as well. But let's go

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down to this. The bottom of the article just talks

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about some other different things that you should do, like

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using the blue post office box and things like that.

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But I want to go.

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To our resource packet. So here's our resource packet that

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we give out to every attendee in our presentation. This

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is page 10, which talks about check washing and check writing.

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There's two different things. So, um, you know, we say

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use that gel pen, um, probably on our next update

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where we might, uh, specific, specifically say the Uniball 207,

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the ink's harder to remove, but drop the mail inside,

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inside the post office, um, Or if you're using those

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blue post office boxes at the post office, use them

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before the last pickup of the day. So you know

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that your mail that's in there is going to get

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taken out during one of the pickups during the day.

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So it's not going to get left overnight.

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You don't want to leave checks in your mailbox, collecting

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your mail daily. If you're going to be on vacation,

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put a hold on your mail so it doesn't accumulate

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in your mailbox.

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When you're writing the name of the payee.

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Try to avoid initials because those initials could stand for

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a variety of different things. If you have old or

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unused checks, make sure you shred those or safely discard

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them instead of just throwing them away for anybody to

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get a hold of. and reviewing your bank statements. You

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can also put alerts on your bank account, but this

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check writing, this is something that's different. It doesn't deal

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with the ink on the checks, but what it is

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is where the scammers, the criminals are actually making duplicate checks.

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Off of your account.

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And they've been doing this for a long time because

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every check includes the bank routing number and your account number.

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Now the bank's routing number is public information. You can

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just Google what is Wells Fargo routing number for ACHs

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or for wire transfers, and it's going to pop up.

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It's public information, but your account number is not, but

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it's on the bottom of every check. So in essence,

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it does then become more public information. So just, you know,

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If you're giving somebody a check in person and you're

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not sure how they're going to deposit it, maybe ask them.

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And if they're going to do it over their phone,

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ask them if they can just deposit it and then

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you can take it with you for safekeeping. Or just

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be very careful on how many checks you write. Maybe

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do more through online banking so then the bank is

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actually printing the checks out and sending them So you're

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not having to write the checks. So a couple other

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things here. You never want to sign a blank or

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incomplete check. Only give checks to trusted people or businesses.

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Set up the bank alerts so you can get notified

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of activity. Always use your two-factor authentication. And if you

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receive a suspicious check, And this happens a lot with scammers.

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They actually, in a wide variety of cases, they will

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send you a check. And they'll say, well, just deposit

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it and send me this much back. And it might

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take a day or two for your bank to realize

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that's a fraudulent check, but you've already sent the money,

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some or all of the money back to scammers. the scammer.

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And the next day you find out that check was

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no good. So you're actually out the money. So just

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be careful of that as well. And go back up

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to the, you know, when you're using those blue post

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office boxes, just make sure you're using them at the

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post office. And I've even noticed that the post office

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I go to, they've taken the ones outside the post

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office away, except for there's one left in the drive-through area.

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But if you're walking, if you get out of your

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car and go, you actually have to go into the

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post office and deposit your mail that way.

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It's just a deterrent.

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Because if someone's going to break into those blue post

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office boxes, they're going to find ones that are just

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sitting by themselves on the sidewalk. It's a deterrent to

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actually go to the actual post office and break into

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one of those. There's cameras all over the place. So

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just be very careful if you are mailing... something that

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has a check in it, has a gift card in it,

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sensitive personal information, you're going to want to make sure

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you take it inside the post office and put it

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in the outgoing mail that way.

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So that is all I have today. I'm going to

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stop sharing here.

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This was a really short one, 15 minutes, but.

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It was very important.

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And so if you If you have any other tips

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or things that you hear about that you're not sure about,

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send us a message. We love to get those messages

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because then we can create a show around it. So

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just remember with the gel ink pens, if you want

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to be safe, according to this YouTuber Rob that did

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this test, he determined out of those three that were used, Ballpoint, ClickBallpoint,

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the Pilot, and then the Uniball 207 that you use

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the Uniball 207. You can find them in a variety

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of different places. Come to one of our presentations. Get

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one scheduled and have us come out, and you'll get

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one for free at the presentation along with everybody else there.

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Clip it right to your checkbook. That way you have

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it right there every time you want to go write

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a check.

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All right.

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Don't forget to visit our website, roseadvocacy.org. Scroll down to

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the bottom. Sign up for our newsletters to get that

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reoccurring scam information And you'll find our social media links.

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We are really trying hard to grow our YouTube page.

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And you can go to the YouTube, I should say

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the YouTube channel. And you can find all of our

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past episodes along with the shorts. And you can find

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some other videos there too. But click subscribe so you

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get notified whenever there's a new video upcoming or maybe

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that just dropped on there. Next week, Brian Watson is

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going to be here. So I'm not quite sure what

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he has ready for you guys, but I'm sure you'll

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enjoy it. And I will see you guys back here

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in a couple of weeks.

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Thank you.

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Well, that's all the knowledge for this episode. Tune in

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every Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific time on K4HD Radio

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at K4HD. com as Joyce explores a variety of knowledge so

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you have the power to make scam protection your healthy habit.

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And until then, feel free to reach out to Joyce

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and let's talk about scams.

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