Scams

In 2024, older Americans age 60 and over reported nearly $4.9 billion dollars stolen through fraud. Much of this fraud is in the form of scams. In this episode we discuss and identify some of the many scams used by criminals today, their common elements and what you can do to protect yourself.

Call Blocking Apps

Robokiller

True Caller

Hiya

Call Control

Call Filter (Verizon)

Active Armor (ATT)

Charity Watchdogs

Charitywatch.org

Givewell.org

Where to Report Scams

www.ftc.gov

www.fbi.gov

www.bbb.org

The FBI has an internet crime complaint center.  www.ic3.gov

Episode Website: https://youstillhavetimepodcast.buzzsprout.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:11

Hello, and welcome to You Still Have Time. We're your hosts. I'm Hope. And I'm Harold. And we thank you for joining us. Today, we're going to be discussing a topic that we are all familiar with. That's scams. I'm sure every one of you has either been a victim of a scam or have been an attempted victim of a scam or know someone who's been a victim of a scam. because there are a lot of scammers out there. So today we're going to talk about scams, the types of scams, how to keep yourself from falling victim to a scam. And we hope that you find this information helpful. And if you do, remember to share it with your friends and loved ones. Also, remember, we're not the experts on scams or any other subject. We have researched and collected information. We will provide links to some of the sources of our information on the show notes for the podcast, but we hope that you find this information helpful. So let's get started. Just a little background. In 2024, according to the FBI, older Americans 60 and over reported nearly$4.9 billion stolen through fraud or scams.

SPEAKER_00: 1:44

And that's just what was reported because a lot of times these numbers don't reflect the people who never report because, let's face it, you're not always the most ready to report that you fell victim to a scam.

SPEAKER_01: 1:58

Right. But you should. Don't think that you're the only one. That's number one. And don't be embarrassed by it. Some of these scammers are really, really crafty. So falling victim to a scammer is not something to be ashamed of. But older people are in some ways more susceptible to these scam artists. We have resources. We tend to be more trusting. That's not to say that Younger people don't fall victim to scams because everyone does. In fact, there are groups of younger people who are highly susceptible to scams. And, you know, especially young people. I mean, they don't know. So people can sometimes tell them anything. And they too tend to be somewhat trusting and thinking that, you know, this is the easy way to make money or to get something that they want. So... We're more trusting as older adults. We usually have more resources because, you know, we've had careers and we have IRAs and investment funds and all of that good stuff. Real estate. As we've discussed before, older people sometimes feel more isolated and lonely. So people reaching out to them find them in vulnerable positions emotionally. We also, in many cases, have a lack of technical proficiency. So those scams that use technology in specific, we might fall victim to because we might not recognize how this is happening. And I'm thinking specifically of the use of AI for some scams. And unfortunately, older adults also have diminishing... Did I say that correctly? Diminishing... You said it right. Okay. Cognitive capabilities. As we grow older, sometimes our thinking processes aren't as quick and as clear as they used to be. So, some common elements for scammers. Scammers will sometimes claim to be people that they're not. Well, I think they always claim to be people that they're not. They make offers that are too good to be true, and sometimes Many times they're insistent that you act now or you're going to lose out. So just be aware of those types of offers and environments so that you can begin to protect yourself against these folks.

SPEAKER_00: 4:45

Now, we want to highlight several types of scams. I mean, Hope and I did our research, and this podcast could be another hour or two if we went through all of the scams. And quite frankly, we were really surprised to learn of some of them. I mean, I think most of us know about the typical phone scam or the text message scam, email scams. I think we all know about them. But how about, did you know about the say yes scam? I bet you didn't know about the say yes scam. So someone will call you and they'll say, is this such and such a person? And you'll say, yes, that's all they need because they record your voice and use that to get all kinds of information or to use it to do things that you never signed on up for. So one of the ways to avoid that is don't answer the phone. If somebody wants to get in touch with you and if it's important, they'll leave a message. If you don't know the number or the name associated with that number, let the phone go to voicemail. I'm sure most of you, whether you have a landline or whether you have a cell phone, it has a caller ID so you know what the number or the person who's calling you. And it also has a voicemail option so that if they want to leave a message, they can. Don't answer the phone.

SPEAKER_01: 6:13

And I must say that not answering the phone can probably eliminate a lot of these scams. We said$4.9 billion was lost last year. Right. Maybe we can cut that down to$2.9 billion.

SPEAKER_00: 6:27

No, that's the phone. Okay. And I noticed that, because Hope, I think you started getting these calls on your cell phone. There are cell phone blocking apps. Some of them, RoboKiller is one. Haya, that's H-I-Y-A, is another. TrueCaller, Call Control. All of these are apps that can be loaded onto your phone. Now, Most of them are free to download, but there's a monthly subscription fee. So you need to look into it to see which ones would suit your purposes. If you still have, oh, the carriers also have some of the apps. AT&T has something they call Active Armor, and Verizon has something they call Call Filter. So these are apps that will help to minimize the amount of these calls that you receive.

SPEAKER_01: 7:20

Yeah, I know on my phone, I get a lot of things that say potential scam or something like that. I think it says potential scam. So, you know, of course, I don't answer it. But even at home, we are still people who have a landline as well as cell service. But numbers come up. And I tell you, if we don't recognize the number or the name that comes up on the screen, it just rings. And I would say 90% of the time, nobody leaves a voicemail because they were just calling to try to sell you something or scam you out of something.

SPEAKER_00: 8:00

Another scam is the fake bank calls. It'll start off with, we have detected suspicious activity on your account. Now, that sounds good because you know that you do have a bank card and there may be some suspicious activity. Call the bank yourself. Take your card, turn it around to the back, and you'll see a number there. Call that number to find out if that suspicious activity was legitimate. Fake invoices, there's another one. Oh, did you want to say something?

SPEAKER_01: 8:32

No, I was just going to say that also happens in emails. You'll get an email notice that says, oh, we noticed suspicious activity on your account. Call the bank. You know, as Harold said, there's a number on your card, whether it's, you know, you're a Your debit card or whether it's a credit card. There's always a way to contact, yes, contact the vendor.

SPEAKER_00: 8:57

You're going to hear us say this quite a bit. One of the way to avoid almost all scams is to go to the source. We're going to say that later on as we go deeper into the scams. But another scam, these fake invoices. One example I get all the time is your subscription will expire today. And you have to, you know, re-up. And then you wait. Wait a minute. I don't have a subscription to that. Why am I re-upting? And just by virtue of the fact that you answer the email puts you in jeopardy. So, again, be very reluctant. You know, be vigilant because that's what these scammers prey on. You know, you just click on a button and before you know it, you've already given in to, you know, you've made yourself susceptible. A big category of scams, and I'm reluctant to use the word scam because they're not really scams, so to speak, but they fall under the category of investments. And now I'm sure that I have some statistics that says that the investment scams were the costliest for seniors in 2024 with over$1.8 billion in total losses. I'm sure you've seen these Very sophisticated ads. Usually they will take out a facility in a hotel or a big restaurant, and it's a very lavish, put-together event. And they seem legitimate, and sometimes they are. But as I said earlier, do your homework. If they're promising to make more money than the market can return in a normal situation, chances are it's not real. They will use some of the same tactics as we mentioned earlier, where if you don't act now, you may lose out. So I would suggest that before you part with your money, find out who is behind the investments. Know the company. Do your research. I know I said that before, but it's really important because there's so many people coming after us to try to get us to part with our investments. The few dollars that we have.

SPEAKER_01: 11:15

Right. And as Harold said, the research part is critical. So you can go and attend. Maybe they'll serve you a nice meal and you can sit there for, I don't even know how long they are because we've never attended one of them, but an hour or two and they're telling you and they're giving you all this information. They want you to sign something before you leave or whatever. Don't. Go home. Thank them for their nice meal. Go home. And do your research. Ask your friends. Ask family members. Have you ever heard of this group? Do you know anything about this investment? Cryptocurrency is the big one nowadays. And I mean, even at the highest office in the land, they're talking about cryptocurrency. But be suspicious. And you know that's a scam. Probably. Well, not necessarily. Not technically a scam. We have to be careful here. We don't want to get sued. Right. But I guarantee the personal finances will be enhanced in the highest office. How's that? But yeah, research, research, verify, and know the risk. All investments are risky. Some are less risky than others. Exactly. Talk to a professional if you already have some sort of financial advisor. Talk to them about what you've heard or read or whatever and get their advice.

SPEAKER_00: 12:42

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 12:48

All right. Now, let's go on to another group category of scams, and that's charity scams. And, you know, when we have, you know, horrible things happening in the world, disasters... all over the world in the United States and elsewhere. And people start collecting money. We want to support, you know, and the thing that they need most in most cases is money. I know sometimes we like to send clothing. After Hurricane Katrina, people were sending clothes and they're saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We need money because we need money to buy certain things. People sometimes don't want use clothing. They're trying to rebuild their lives. So just be careful when you hear about these campaigns to raise funds, either for disaster situations or for individuals, for certain nonprofit organizations. Again, research everything. Question, be, what's the word? Vigilant. Well, vigilant, but when you question things, I can't think of that word. I'm old, that's why. Wait, we have notes and I didn't even write down the word on our notes. Anyway, but find out where your dollars are going. And if you want, if you see something online about, call the charity, call the charity, research the charity. There are places that you can go to charity watch, which sort of gives you, you know, put in the name of the organization and see if they're legitimate or not. There's also givewell.org, which does the same thing. And in many states, they have, the attorney general's office has some sort of website where you can verify in-state nonprofit organizations to make sure that they are legitimate. On those websites, they also have not only annual reports, but federal and state filings that are required of nonprofit organizations. So just be careful. Harold, you wanna do

SPEAKER_00: 15:07

the crowdfunding one? Yeah, crowdfunding. You'll probably know GoFundMe or Kickstarter. I'm not suggesting that you don't give money when you see some of these projects, but again, make sure you know who the money is going to because not all of them And another type of scam that

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

has, I guess, become prevalent because scams have already always existed. They're nothing new. It's just the delivery ways have become more sophisticated and in some ways much easier. Because before, you used to have to have face-to-face contact for some of these things. And now with the technology and AI and all of these other vehicles, you don't need that anymore. But one of the ones... is what they call romance or sweetheart scams. And I'm sure many of you have seen stories about these kinds of things. You know, we have on TV, we have the golden bachelor and the golden bachelorette, older people who are looking for companions in their later years. They might be widowed or divorced and they don't want to be alone. We've talked about older people feeling isolated and lonely. So they're looking for a partner. But there are scam artists out there ready to take advantage of those emotions. So we know that there are a lot of dating apps out there that people use. I'm sure there are ones who are targeted to seniors. They're targeted to all different types of groups. They could be targeted based on religion. They could be targeted based on sexual preference. They could be targeted based on, I don't know, political views. Just be careful. It is a way, and we know people who have met on these online dating apps and have gone on to get married and have families and live very happy lives. Some of those situations turn out very positively, but it's also risky without vigilance.

SPEAKER_00: 17:25

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 17:26

So here's some of the things to watch out for if you're engaged in online dating and looking for a partner online. Watch out for folks who are immediately lavishing attention and flattery and some who may even, you know, send you gifts. You're thinking, oh my God, this person is so wonderful and they did this and they did that and they said I was so beautiful and all of those good things. Be careful of people who give you these stories. They're out of the country working or so they can't meet up in person or they... I can't chat on video because, of course, they don't want you to see. They give you false information about everything. But what it ends up being is they're looking to get some of your money. So they may ask you for money. Oh, a medical emergency happened. I can't get to my own resources. Can you send me$1,000 so that I can take care of this? Or send me gift cards. That's a slick way of doing it. You send them gift cards and they say, oh, yeah, and I'm going to get on a plane and I'm going to come to see you. And you never, never see your money again. And one of the most sinister ways is they ask you for your banking information so that they can send you money or, you know, pay you back maybe. And now they have your banking info. You've just given them your banking info. These are criminals, and they have a lot of crafty ways of finding out how to get into your resources. So just be careful.

SPEAKER_00: 19:12

Have you had enough scams yet? No, we still have more. Have you heard of the grandparent scam? I saw this one on TV. So you get a call, pick up the phone, and you shouldn't have picked up the phone in the first place because they said if you don't recognize it, don't answer it. But anyway, here we go. So you pick up the phone, and it's someone saying that they're your grandchild or relative. And they just got into a car accident, and they need money. And you say, well, and this is for real. I'm not making this up. And they say, well, you sound different than normal. And, oh, well, I have a cold. Or

SPEAKER_01: 19:50

I'm just nervous because this just happened

SPEAKER_00: 19:52

to me. Right, exactly. And these scammers have been able to get your information back. off of the web. So they know that you have a granddaughter or a grandson and they know a lot about you. So they could make it sound somewhat realistic. And then after they, you know, you, okay, you're listening and, oh, you just got into an accident. And then they'll hand a call off to maybe someone else, another scammer.

SPEAKER_01: 20:17

Yeah. Opposing as a lawyer or a police

SPEAKER_00: 20:20

officer. And this way you say, yeah, well, you need to send X amount of dollars in order to take care of something. Another kind of scam. I mean, I couldn't, when I was watching it on TV and I'm saying, well, wait a minute, this person is claiming to be your grandchild. Don't you know what your grandchild sounds like? But this is, I'm not making this up. This is for real. And of course, I think one of the old, the tech scam, we've seen this often. Sometimes you will click on the wrong email. Of course, if you had been listening to us, you wouldn't have clicked on an email. But anyway, you click on the wrong email And all of a sudden you get this flashing thing. Oh, you know, your computer has been infected. You have to call this number in order to get to just shut the computer off. Nine times out of 10, if you just shut the computer off and restart it, that'll go away. Don't ever click on that number or call that number that they suggest. It just makes things worse.

SPEAKER_01: 21:19

It's sort of disheartening that there are so many people out there trying to take advantage of It really is kind of sad. It's a sad commentary. But, you know, this happens all over the world. In fact, the United States, given that we are probably the wealthiest nation on Earth, you know, there are other countries where scams are even more, what's the word? More prevalent? Prevalent. That's a good word, Harold. You're smart. That's why. Anyway. Okay, yeah, right. Well, the last scam that we want to talk about, and I'm sure we haven't even touched the surface of how many different ways people try to get your money, is a real estate scam. Now, there are many different ways that people try to scam people out of their money using real estate. But one of the ones that particularly targets seniors is the loan flipping scam. Now, You've been living in your house for a number of years, but you still have a mortgage. And maybe you got that mortgage at a higher interest rate than is currently available. There are people who call you and say, oh, you know, you can refinance your mortgage. And they're going to, you know, help you get a lower rate. But what ends up happening is that you lose equity in your home because of excessive fees. and end up paying even higher interest rates. So again, be careful, be careful, be careful. We can't say those words enough. Don't click, don't answer. There are a lot of don'ts there because there are a lot of people who are out there trying to get your money, who are trying to take away things that you have worked hard for. And it's not fair. It's not right. Now, finally, I think we've said verify everything enough. Don't click. Don't answer. Do we need to say that more times, Annie? I hope not. I hope not. Don't answer. Okay. Finally, report. If you have been a victim of a scam, report it. This is information that's needed and sometimes can lead to... you know, stopping these scams altogether. So you can report it to the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission. You can report it to the Better Business Bureau. And, you know, in the case we've read, in case of like the mortgage scams, the real estate scams, certain types of scams, you can report it to the FBI. That's how the FBI collects their resources. As Harold said, that 4.9 billion, according to the FBI, that's reported. There may be billions that weren't reported. So we hope that this is information that you can use, that you will share, that you found helpful. I think that's about it for scams. Can I talk about what I do to a scam artist? I would love to get like a group of these folks that have cheated people out of their money or broken their hearts. And I would like to get them in a room with a bunch of us older guys, tie them up. You know, I always like that. What is that where they put you in the box? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to always say that that was a great way. So, you know, you put them on the corner of a busy street, a busy intersection. Right, right. And people are allowed to take their frustration. Now, they're not allowed to stab them or shoot them or anything, but you can slap them in their face or step on their toes or whatever. or stick them with a straight pin, something, something that gives me, isn't that terrible of me? Yes, I think it is.

SPEAKER_00: 25:18

Yeah, well. Anyway, thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions for topics, you can email us at youstillhavetimepodcasts at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01: 25:33

And we will have links to the sources of this information that we've just given you in the show notes. wherever you listen to your podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 25:42

Right, right. You can also leave us a voicemail message at SpeakPipe. SpeakPipe is an application that will allow you to leave an up to 90-second voicemail message. So you can use that. That also will be in our show notes.

SPEAKER_01: 25:57

Okay. Anything else?

SPEAKER_00: 25:59

Yeah. We appreciate your input. For the two people who listen to this podcast, Both of you. There might be five. Okay, for the five. Oh, but you know what? We actually know that there's a person in Europe who clicked in our podcast. If you're in Europe and you're listening to this podcast, would you please tell us? Identify yourself. Identify yourself because we want to know who you are. I'd come visit you probably. Yeah, if you didn't know. Well, we may have to go there. But I think that's, I really think, so we've asked for input, you know, comments. Share this podcast. Like us.

SPEAKER_01: 26:40

Follow us. Yes, all of that. And your comments, they don't have to be flattering. They can be critical. The critical ones really are valuable because they help us improve what we do. And share. Share, share, share. If you've liked what you've heard, if you think it might be helpful to someone else, please share the information on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 27:00

And what do they still have?

SPEAKER_01: 27:03

As always, you still have time. We hope to see you next time. Bye bye. Bye bye.