SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to our podcast with white issue. I'm getting great in my partner. I mean white is why I also disease. This is what we build up to children's police with these beach.

SPEAKER_00: 0:33

Living with these disabilities for over 20 years, we have developed helpful hints and life lessons that we would like to share with you that has made our life easier and possible in some cases. We consider ourselves disability advocates and intend to educate ourselves and you about other disabilities and issues and also talk about things we find interesting and frequently encounter when we're out and about. Hey, welcome back, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05

Well, thank you, Pommy. What are we talking about this time?

SPEAKER_00: 1:09

Well, this time, you know how I told you that what is happens in our life sometimes gets told on the podcast?

unknown: 1:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18

So this month we're talking about fraud.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22

He thought something else, huh?

SPEAKER_01: 1:26

The first thing that came to mind, but all right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30

Well, let me tell the story. So uh Kevin always asks me what I want for Mother's Day, give him a couple choices, and then he chooses from what I like. Um, it's safer for him that way. Uh he got me a vacuum one time, was not very happy with that vacuum. We have a rule, no appliances for holidays. Ladies, am I right? I'm right. He didn't understand it. So, anyways, uh I was looking through Facebook and I found a web page or a site that um advertised um birds sitting on a wooden branch. And my house is decorated, the living room is decorated in birds. I have birds all over the house. And so I thought there were three of them, so I thought, oh, how cute if for Mother's Day, that'd be a perfect Mother's Day gift. One for me, one for Kevin, and one for our daughter Rose. And then so I gave him the list, and I thought, there, click, click, click, that's done. A couple hours later, I hear Palmy coming from the computer room. And I come in there, I'm like, yeah. He goes, I think we have a problem. Now I'm gonna let you tell tell Kevin tell you the rest, because I was not involved in that part. I was just in the wanting part.

SPEAKER_01: 2:45

You weren't Paul involved in the part where I told you we're not blended.

SPEAKER_00: 2:50

Yep, nope.

SPEAKER_01: 2:52

Okay. I looked up the website. The first thing I did, I guess it's Facebook. Marketplace is it was called.

SPEAKER_00: 3:02

No, just Facebook. It was a Facebook?

SPEAKER_01: 3:04

Yeah. Okay, I looked at the ad and then something didn't seem right. So I see Google W company the website name. A bunch of ads on Facebook that had the same URL. So I said, oh, that seems a bit odd. So I looked up the uh website on just a Google search, and the first five responses I got were whatever you do, don't go to this website. I was like, okay, this is good. So I started reading them. And it's a done scam. These are like websites that were put up by people that had gone to the website, so I said, Yeah, I don't think I'm going. And then I broke the bad taste upon me.

SPEAKER_00: 4:13

Well, see that the sad part of this all is the reason I was uh really attracted to this. Um I mean, I like the bird statue, that was fine, but uh it was advertised to have been made, and the income goes to a um a a vet, a military vet, who had lost both of its legs. And so, you know, you always want to support good supporting um, it kind of taints my view of co Comerus, I guess, that they would use such a touching story because they had the whole story laid out there about how he lost his leg, where he lost his legs, and how this is how he gets his only income. So it made me sad.

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

Sad and birdless, uh huh.

SPEAKER_00: 4:57

Sad, birdless, but thankfully not moneyless. Kevin saved our money. So going because of this, I and then right immediately afterwards, I went out to the mailbox and I found two AARP uh magazines. And again, this is not sponsored by anybody mentioned here, but um, where there were two articles, huge articles, about uh fraud and how and why and where and all that stuff. It had all the details in there in the AARP magazine. And then I was watching CBS Sunday morning and I saw a story about a woman who had a romance and we'll talk about that later, scam, and lost her life apparently. She is her children, she hasn't been lost for almost uh a year and a half now, so they don't know where she is. Um, and she was caught up in this, had given away a lot of her money prior to this, and then suddenly disappeared. So I'm sure people have read about or heard about all these scams, but so that led me down, you know, a wormhole all the way to see exactly because I see it on my Facebook page a lot, and I see it on my email. I get a lot of email, scam emails, and text, same thing. So this led me down a wormhole of what kind of scams are there? And I have uh I have an answer for us all. Do you want me to share?

SPEAKER_01: 6:21

Sure.

SPEAKER_00: 6:22

Apparently you've already been down this because you knew exactly what to do. So I went to the Federal Trade Commission and I was bewildered that they state that consumers lose over one or lose over 10 billion, that's B, ladies and gentlemen, to fraud in 2023. And it was just a little less in 2022 at 2,000.68 million. A quarter of that of those reports actually have lost money, and the money ranges between$500 and millions. Another curious information thing I found was that a majority of the victims uh are younger people between the ages 22 and 29. They report the most money lost, most incidences of money lost. But there it is not ageless. Uh the fraudders do not um go for just one group, the group over 70 They don't discriminate. They don't discriminate. That's the word I was going for. The they the older group, 70 and over, uh report the largest dollar amounts of loss. Surprising, huh?

SPEAKER_01: 7:42

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00: 7:43

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_01: 7:45

Way too many.

SPEAKER_00: 7:47

And it's uh you it's innocent people, you know. That's what's the worst part about it.

SPEAKER_01: 7:53

Not the worst part about it, it is uh that as technology uh uh advances people find ways to use it for bad.

SPEAKER_00: 8:07

Cheat other people out of money, yeah. So they have listed the Federal Trade Commission has listed ten um common scams that I think our viewers, our listeners and viewers should be aware of. So we're gonna list them along with what you should do to protect yourself or how you should answer that kind of scam. And so, like I said, I'll say um episode or uh scam number one, and then I'll give you tips to protect yourself against that scam. And then later on, we'll tell you what happens if you are a victim of fraud. So are you ready to go?

SPEAKER_01: 8:43

Sure.

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

Can you guess what number one?

SPEAKER_01: 8:47

Now it's a snorge.

SPEAKER_00: 8:50

No, I don't think so. I don't think it's occur occurrence-based, but um imposter scam is the number one listed onparents. Uh romance, uh, robocalls, you know. Sometimes the caller uh the robocalls will try to get you to say certain things so they can um take your voice comparison and use it for further fraud. Uh the grandfather or grandparent scheme, which is someone calling saying, Oh my god, I'm in the jail, I'm in a country and I can't get out, I need money right away. And that's where they might have taken your granddaughter or granddaughter or grandson's voice to use on that. So you recognize the voice thinking it's true. And of course, you want to act immediately. You want to get them out of jail, you want to get them out of the across the border, that type of thing. Uh, and that's where we are gonna tell you to stop and think. Also, the romance, which I alluded to in the in the intro about the woman that had um a romance with a man sending money and lost her life, apparently. So, you know, there's a lot of those. I especially single per people looking for love, I think are the most vulnerable among them.

SPEAKER_01: 10:06

Yeah, I would think so.

SPEAKER_00: 10:08

Yeah. So uh so if you're if you think you're uh be getting uh being taken advantage by an imposter scam, what you should do. So the key thing here is ask for ask personal information. You yes, you may hear your child your grandson, grandson's granddaughter's voice on the phone, but they will not know particular information about them. So ask very personal questions. What did I get you on your eighth birthday? You know, that type of thing. Where no other no scammer would know that information. And if you don't get a direct answer, hang up. Stop communications.

SPEAKER_01: 10:49

Just hang up, but you have to realize um that's not your relative. So right.

SPEAKER_00: 10:57

They also impersonate uh firemen and uh police officers and sheriff's officers trying to gather money.

SPEAKER_01: 11:09

Yeah, just because somebody says they're who they are on the phone, you should always be able to verify it.

SPEAKER_00: 11:18

Yeah, and verify and then um call them back. If nothing else, say I'll call your organization back.

SPEAKER_01: 11:29

Uh have you called Station back and asked for them by name?

SPEAKER_00: 11:33

Well, you'll you want to make sure you're using your own phone number because a lot of times they give you the a number that's been connected to them. So that's number one, the imposter scam. Number two is online shopping scams. Um, I have to say I've been a victim of this. There was a um something on Facebook again. So I'm we're seeing this theme here, Kevin. Um, where they were giving away really good stuff for very little amount. I think I lost under$30. I did not report it. I probably should have. Uh oh no, I did report it. I reported it to Facebook that it was a scam um page, but not before I had sent my money. So um always look for red flags because what they're doing is trying to get you to make a quick decision. So what you should do is stop, think about your purchase, review, look for red flags, look for the website, look for the company's name, and always use PayPal or a credit card where you can dispute the charges. If you use just your debit card, it goes straight out of your bank account, and there's oftentimes no way to dispute those charges. Anything else, Kev? No, but that's straightforward, yeah. Okay, so the next one is a sweepscape scam. Say that three times fast.

SPEAKER_01: 13:01

No, thanks.

SPEAKER_00: 13:03

Where they're offering you the winning prize. But there's always a but, you have to send in money for shipping. Does that sound like a real sweepstakes?

SPEAKER_01: 13:15

To a cheap guy like me, no.

SPEAKER_00: 13:18

Costs money, so everything costs money. Yeah, never a real sweepstakes do not ask for prop payment up front, nor do they ask for uh additional information, which they might be trying to scam your social security number or your address or a bank account or something like that. So oftentimes there's things that you're not thinking that they're trying to get from the sweepstakes while you're thinking about the wonderful prize you're gonna get. Number four, investing scams. Now these are not as common, but rec record the largest amounts of loss over uh 7,768 per claim. Um, and this is basically where you're paying for tips, seminars, courses, or promises to invest on your behalf. Cryptocurrency, Kevin, uh stock or bond or real estate. You were into cryptocurrency for a while. Investigating, huh?

SPEAKER_01: 14:27

Yeah. I I've never owned any cryptocurrency.

SPEAKER_00: 14:32

No, I think our my brother-in-law has, hasn't he? Yeah, he's made some money on it, but he's lost a lot too. Uh never pay for a course that promises a guaranteed return. Uh never a prom a return of promise. Uh no, no promises of passive income. Um, for that kind of stuff, there's actually a federal industrial regulative uh agency, F-I-N-R-A, that offers free tools and sites free of charge that you can look up. Anything if you might be interested in stock selling or purchasing or cryptocurrencurrency. I think there's even a thing on crypto. Isn't that one of the ones where you went to to look up information? No?

SPEAKER_01: 15:21

No, I just watched a bunch of YouTube videos.

SPEAKER_00: 15:25

Well, don't trust those either.

SPEAKER_01: 15:27

Like I said, I was just looking for information. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't buy anything from any of them.

SPEAKER_00: 15:35

Yeah. So on all these, basically, the inf to keep yourself safe is to stop, think about it, and then investigate. Seems pretty simple.

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

It sounds simple, but it's not always uh simple. That's true.

SPEAKER_00: 15:51

A lot of stuff is deceiving. A lot of fraud plays on your emotional or your desires or you know, something to get something for free.

SPEAKER_01: 16:02

Hard to like think rational when you're thinking with your heart, because your heart doesn't think grassly.

SPEAKER_00: 16:10

Right. The fifth one is business or job opportunities. And this would be like fake work from home opportunities, franchise opportunities that were not are not real. Can you think of any other ones?

SPEAKER_01: 16:25

Uh well, those mainly cover it, but I guess we should talk about how they've uh changed over time. It used to be you could pretty much rely on that for working from home being. Something that would not be the complete truth. But since we had to endure the COVID lockdown, a lot of legitimate companies had their employees work while they were at home. And they found out it actually did luck for them as a company.

SPEAKER_00: 17:11

Well, in some cases, other cases it didn't work.

SPEAKER_01: 17:14

Depends on what business it is.

SPEAKER_00: 17:16

Wouldn't work for sales.

SPEAKER_01: 17:17

Yeah. It's hard to work from home if your boy buyed McDonald's lunch.

SPEAKER_00: 17:24

Yeah. That'd be a deliver from the house hamburger.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

Yeah, I don't know what it would be.

SPEAKER_00: 17:33

But um our daughter kind of job. Yeah. Our other daughter, our our daughter um ran into this when she was looking for a job. There was, she said probably out of 10 offers, um, like seven were fake or you know, promises stuff, but then you had to pay in order to get the information, which that is the number one key. Do not pay for anything. There is somewhere free out there to find where the actual information is. So you want to look up the company online, never pay for tips or jobs. The sixth one is internet internet services. These will be fraudulent websites selling ads online, payment services, uh, video games, virtual reality, social media networks, um lots of those out there. I think a basic caution would be be careful when you're online.

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

Well, yeah, but it's kind of hard to do when you think, oh, this is so great.

SPEAKER_00: 18:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:37

It's on the internet, how can it be not true?

SPEAKER_00: 18:41

Or you're playing a game and suddenly they start asking you for money in order to get to extra lives, or you're in the thrill of the game. That you know, you don't want to stop, you wanna don't want to stop and end it where you're at.

SPEAKER_01: 18:54

Or the IRS contacts you for yeah, where you pay a bit of something they think you would want payment and gift cards, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 19:06

Or you're going to go to jail or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:09

Yeah, that's not good. So monitor be sure to interact, be careful when interacting with people online. There are lots of fake actors out there. Um, monitor your monthly subscription charges and internet charges. Make sure you're not getting charged for something that you didn't sign up for. Common sense, I think. Number seven is telephone and mobile services. This would be an example of this would be phone plans, providers, apps. They're trying to trick you to download malware or what and I this is a new word uh word combination for me. It's called swap and port. Swap or port your number to a phone or carrier to then try to intercept text messages for one time codes for to your accounts and passwords. So they can take over your phone by swapping out your SIM card or calling the company and asking for another SIM card sent to their address, not yours. And they take over your phone, which is not cool.

SPEAKER_01: 20:20

Well, I think I could, but I'd be the exception.

SPEAKER_00: 20:25

There you go. So there so always be careful to download apps from the official um stores. Kevin informed me that there's an like Apple Apple app, the Play Store for Google, and the Windows store for Microsoft. So there's an official store for your device typically, and you should stick with those originals, don't go offline somewhere. Also, uninstall apps that you don't use, scan devices for malware and um antivirus software. Call mobile carriers to enable sim swapping protection, which I was not aware you could do. And review your bill regularly to pick up anything right away. Sounds legit. Yeah. So here's the next one. And that we have um I can see where this would happen a lot. It's healthcare scams.

SPEAKER_01: 21:29

Yeah, again, they uh are preying on your emotions, startle your logic.

SPEAKER_00: 21:36

Right. You're sick, you don't feel good, you want to fix. So this is misleading and deceptive claims about um medical or health-related products or services. So they indicated that the largest amount of fraud here is with diet products. Can you I'd get that right? I see all kinds of diet stuff out there nowadays. Take a pill, it'll cure cure take off 10 pounds, whatever.

SPEAKER_01: 22:01

Well, I'm pretty sure that uh there's been a lot of diet stuff for years, yeah. For yeah. Many, many years.

SPEAKER_00: 22:11

I think they used to see my mom told me she used to see it in magazines and stuff where you know, and you'd think it'd be legit if it was in a magazine, you know, they paid for the advertising.

SPEAKER_01: 22:21

But again Well, just like if it's on the internet, it's got to be a help.

SPEAKER_00: 22:26

Yeah, that's true. I think when we were we were on some tour somewhere and we were uh where was it? I think it's when Jacqueline and I went to the um Hot Springs. Hot Springs, Arkansas, yeah, where they showed all these um artificial um things that were supposed to make you lose weight, where it was a machine that would had a um a band and you put it around your stomach and it it like jiggled you, jiggled the fat off you, apparently. Needless to say, it didn't work. Yeah. There was a lot of stuff. There's even uh you know, pills out there, and you know, well, Kellogg's had what he do, he did um health club saunas and clubs and stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 23:10

Yeah, before he made uh cornflakes.

SPEAKER_00: 23:13

Well, no, cornflakes was part of the regiment, it was part of the diet.

SPEAKER_01: 23:17

Yeah, but I mean before he the cornflakes part of the diet.

SPEAKER_00: 23:22

It was gram crackers, yeah. Or gram uh whole wheat. He kind of had a thought where it was whole wheat versus you know white wheat products and stuff like that, but there was a lot of weird stuff that he did to people. A lot of pooping. A lot of pooping stuff. So um, you know, if somebody's promising you a a cure to a disease or or uh um prescription drugs that cure all, or nowadays, and honestly, I I wish the government would do more regulation on this for supplements. Um I end up having to take quite a few supplements because my um the surgeries that I had, and um you never know what's a good supplement or what if you're getting what you're they're saying you're getting because it's not regulated. They really need to get down on that and figure that out because I think there's a lot of times where you're not sure how much of the product, the actual product you're trying to get into you is and how much is actually filler. And there was a lot of times in my case, and your case too, um, where you were allergic to the filler that they put in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:31

That was when I was a kid, it was really apparent because I take those like the floodstone trouble multivatin's.

SPEAKER_00: 24:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:40

That you know, the multivitamins typically have a lot of filler in them.

SPEAKER_00: 24:47

Yeah. I'm not sure why, but you were taking one medicine that we had uh the doctor recommended a supplement and you tried it and you couldn't take it because this whatever the filler was in it. You were highly allergic to it, and we finally figured out it was the filler and not the supplement that you were trying to take. I can't remember what it was now. Do you?

SPEAKER_01: 25:06

Me either.

SPEAKER_00: 25:07

Yeah, I don't remember either. I do remember the hives, though. It was not a pretty case. So, you know, to just common sense here. Speak with your primary medical professional, or you can go to the FTC page and they have a lot of um stuff that's already been proven to be scams.

SPEAKER_01: 25:26

Yeah, chances are if you have a good relationship with your doctor, you bring some of and he searched laughnet you. It's uh not a good product for you to invest a large amount of money in.

SPEAKER_00: 25:43

Yeah. There with with the fact that Kevin has a um disease that's very rare. Um we go to our new our neurologist often with you know these claims that we see in somewhere or something, and he pretty he's pretty good about telling us whether they're fake or you know, might have a chance of helping Kevin. Well, I don't know. I was listening to the um actaxia foundation that's on the um YouTube, and she mentioned the neurologist there mentioned that um it a lot of times it doesn't help it helps the some of the symptoms, but makes other symptoms worse. For like the movement, it would make you because you're not as aware where your body is, it might make it more um dangerous for you to be on it if you're gonna be run moving around and stuff, but it does help anxiety.

SPEAKER_01: 26:35

So it certainly does.

SPEAKER_00: 26:37

Yeah, we've tried we've tried that for now that it's legal here in Missouri, we've tried it. And very low doses, very micro doses, but it helps him with anxiety, especially when the little kids are coming over for holidays or something. He doesn't strangle them. That's a good sign.

SPEAKER_01: 26:52

Well, high squeaky voices just all I hear is kill, kill, kill.

SPEAKER_00: 26:58

He's kidding, he's kidding. But he does it does help him. He also helps him watch um football.

SPEAKER_01: 27:06

Yeah, the uh crowd noise and football is forecast me. Yeah, those all those people and whistling and screaming and hollering, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:22

Yeah. It was better during COVID, they never had the the audience noise. But then they did pipe it in, didn't they? You found that some of the games they actually piped it in to add to the enthusiasm and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 27:35

Yeah, because you'd have the cardboard folks in the stands, but you have the cardboard.

SPEAKER_00: 27:41

The real noise, yeah. So next one um uh it's a little kind of in our in our sights again because we do a lot of traveling. And so the next scam is called the travel vacation or time share timeshare plan scams. Um, and they said, uh, I read an article or listened to an article on um YouTube about their the increase of the fake timeshare plans have increased in since 2020 because you know everybody was locked in and couldn't go anywhere, and suddenly you were released, and you know, lots and lots of travel pursued after that. And it's and it's continued up until this day. They said travel is very high on people's list of get what to do and low-cost vacations. And we know that it is very difficult to get out of a timeshare. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we belong to give you a little hindsight here, we belong to Disney Vacation Club. And that uh we started that back when you first was were diagnosed, right?

SPEAKER_01: 28:46

Yeah, we started that a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00: 28:49

Yeah, we've eventually paid it off. Um, and we feel we got our value out of it, but you know, that's just our opinion. Again, this is not sponsored by Disney and we wish, but it's not. But um, but we did we do really enjoy our vacation club plan. And if we wanted to get out, I know there are easier ways to get out.

SPEAKER_01: 29:11

One thing is bad is the maintenance fees, but I think we've heard that uh Disney is one of the easier ones to get out of because there's so many people that are willing to buy it from you.

SPEAKER_00: 29:24

Right, right. But there's a lot of scams on that too, um, where we were we went on a vacation to Hilton Head under a trime share type situation. Um and thinking maybe, you know, we wanted to always we've always wanted to live in Hilton Head or visit Hilton Head. So we thought maybe it would be a something we'd be open to. But and we did listen to their little spiel, but things that kind of hit home were they could only give us the price for one day. Um, what was another one?

SPEAKER_01: 29:59

Based on your record, they give us you know an additional discount.

SPEAKER_00: 30:05

Right. Suddenly we were able to have diff additional discounts.

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

But I think those were more sales pitches, you know, sales missteps into the gray area, not out and out fraud by the company. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 30:23

So basically you need to investigate the company, um, search it online, look for reviews, don't give up, don't give disc um deposits the day up, and there's no such thing as one day price only, you know. If they're gonna watch your business, if you come, if you actually investigate it and come back and find that it is something that you're interested in getting into, then I'm sure they'll honor it. There's no such thing. They're just trying to pressure you into the sales pitch. So the last one, uh, and I think we've all kind of heard the some of these, it's called the foreign money uh scam. And you know, you've heard that story about the prince that wants to give you money, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01: 31:03

Yeah. Way too many details.

SPEAKER_00: 31:07

Yeah, and so basically it's um it's a fraud where they're asking for you to exchange your money for his money, but then he suddenly overpays you, and so he needs you to pay him back. And so, yes, you see the money in your account, but it is a fraudulent check that has brought that money to your account. And because it's international, it takes so many days for your bank to check that out. And by the time they do, you've already sent them back the overpayment in, say, a gift card or or something else. I don't know. But we've all heard that scam. I think it's pretty I can't imagine anybody falling for it nowadays, but uh be careful if you say that.

SPEAKER_01: 31:51

Well, yeah. I'm sure there are people who will still fall for it.

SPEAKER_00: 31:54

Right. Well, don't ever do that. Um if they quote request money, say no and investigate. So say you do find yourself into a as a victim of one of these fraud schemes. What do you know what to do?

SPEAKER_01: 32:09

I do, but before you tell everybody else, I'd like to uh actually talk about present times. Oh, sure. And what the uh authorities, I guess, are warning about now? Warning about now. That's the uh summer olympics in Paris. Right there are ways you can tailor most of these frauds with the Paris Olympics twist, and nobody knows how it's gonna be done because the time for those frauds is not come yet.

SPEAKER_00: 32:50

Yeah, I could see where they could do any of these ten. Yeah, any of them would apply to it. Yeah, you know, and be valid too, you know. Calling to say you're in jail or in in another another country or you're lost in another country.

SPEAKER_01: 33:03

And or your cars were gone down. Yes, there you go. But if they wait until the morning to start it down, they won't be able to see their event. Oh, a big event they bought the ticket for.

SPEAKER_00: 33:18

There you go. Yeah, I can see where that would fall through in any of these categories. Yeah, yeah. Beware, beware, beware, ladies and gentlemen, for especially during this next one.

SPEAKER_01: 33:27

Now would be a great time to, you know, see what you should be looking for.

SPEAKER_00: 33:32

Okay. Well, this is if you've already been a victim. So you should contact the relevant companies, your credit card, banks, payment apps, uh, social media platforms, and report what's happened because the more they know, the more they can fight this fraud. And the typical place where you should do this is the Federal Trade Trade Commission, the FTC. And specifically go to the FTC website.

SPEAKER_01: 33:59

FTC dot gov.

SPEAKER_00: 34:01

And on there you'll find report fraud at t FTC.gov. And don't hesitate, go right there. Um, you might not always get your money back, but at least someone else will be warned that this particular scammer is out there.

SPEAKER_01: 34:17

And the FTC should be your first stop because they also have links to the specific office or agency you should be a report to next. Right. Um because the FTC, FTC website changes often. I don't know this is still the case, but you still list some of the more common ongoing scams of the time.

SPEAKER_00: 34:50

Yes, that's true. I saw that on there. So number three, if you think that your identity has been stolen, report it to identytytheft.com, gov, I'm sorry, dot gov. And I believe that link is also on the FTC um website. What you can do is add security freezes and fraud alerts on your consumer reports, which would be your credit report, uh, your credit cards, and your credit report, and along with the check service report and also the National Consumer Telecom Utility Exchange. NCTUE is the acronym, yep, for that report. Uh, you also should improve your account security with unique passwords. Um, turn on the multi-factor auth authentification or and use pass passcodes. Now, Kevin, I wasn't aware what a passcode is. Do you know what that is?

SPEAKER_01: 35:56

I do. Passcodes are basically what we've been using up to this point for almost everything.

SPEAKER_00: 36:06

Password, you mean?

SPEAKER_01: 36:07

Uh adding two-factor authentication means you may still have a passcode, but they're gonna send you an email as well, or a code via text that you have to enter supply before your transaction can uh proceed.

SPEAKER_00: 36:28

And that all adds extra security to your accounts, right?

SPEAKER_01: 36:31

Well almost anything that adds extra inconvenience adds extra security. Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 36:42

I have a little uh book that I hold all my passwords in, and otherwise I would not remember them all. And Kevin actually has something on his computer that keeps them.

SPEAKER_01: 36:56

I have a password manager, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 36:58

Yeah, so there's multiple ways you can do that and still keep track of what you're doing. Um, you should also monitor your credit for fraud and on a regular basis. Um, there's companies out there that you can uh join that will give you like every six months or whenever there's a movement in your credit report type situation where you should be know you are notified of it. I know my daughter has it on her credit card on her banking account, and I think my Discover actually has it also free of charge. You can check on your credit um report at any time and see if there's anything fraudulent on there, and then there's ways of going in there and correcting it if it's it if it is actually fraudulent, so or identity stealing or something like that. So, well, I found this really interesting, Kevin, and I hope that our listeners and our um viewers appreciated it too.

SPEAKER_01: 37:53

I hope so. I go with something they can use as far as uh what to look for and red flags.

SPEAKER_00: 38:01

Yeah, and if you find those birds, email Kevin. I still want them. I haven't found anything else I want to put on my list yet.

SPEAKER_01: 38:13

Okay, folks, I'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00: 38:17

Unless they hear from you from other birds. Bye. We are always looking to improve the podcast. So if you want to hear a specific topic, have a different opinion, want to add something to the conversation, drop us an email. Our contact information is listed on our website. It's www.whenlife gives you lemons.net. We have recently added a companion YouTube channel called Making the Lemonade. If you enjoy the podcast, continue your enjoyment by joining us on YouTube.