She’s starting this charity, and she really could use your help supporting it.
Would you be able to Venmo her $5,000 to start up her charity?"
And that’s how they start.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:00:05] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Bob Sullivan.
[00:00:27] Bob: Voice printing, delayed action sweepstakes, check cooking.
And, of course, tell us what we can do to protect ourselves.
We have our Perfect Scam, right here, right now.
The, the best um, podcast out there that talks about the latest frauds and scams.
It’s such an important service.
So thank you for that feedback.
And so I, I’m sure you often get asked what are the most uh common scams.
[00:03:17] Amy Nofziger: Yeah, absolutely.
I mean the criminals are always thinking of new ways to steal from you.
Tell me about check cooking.
And then they’ll fill it out with a new amount and to a new person.
[00:04:15] Bob: So instead of check washing, we now have check cooking.
[00:04:19] Amy Nofziger: Yeah.
The names that we come up with, but let’s just say check fraud, right?
Don’t worry about the names, just worry about keeping yourself safe from a scam.
And then just pay attention to your bank statements.
It’s really important.
And I look at mine, honestly, daily, ‘cause I do online banking.
[00:05:22] Bob: You know, I’m with you.
[00:05:42] Amy Nofziger: It is important.
[00:06:03] Amy Nofziger: So this really gets into the fears around AI and deep fakes.
Um, you know, everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence right now and stuff.
They could be calling your bank and, and trying to get information about your bank account.
And how to protect yourself is just be very careful about where you’re putting your voice, right.
Now Bob and I right now are talking on a podcast and our voice is out there, right.
What do you think of that?
I still, you know, talk to my best friend every day, and my sister every day.
I love those phone conversations.
Now, of course, those are my friends and my family.
[00:08:10] Bob: Okay, so the next thing in the list is celebrity impostor scams.
Those are becoming more common?
And let’s be honest, we all have a celebrity crush.
I mean think of yours right now, right?
Thank you so much for coming to my town.”
They love that you’re a fan.
They want to meet with you," and you feel really special.
And that emotional ether that we always talk about takes over and you think, oh my gosh!
They really want to meet with me.
We’ve heard everything.
She’s starting this charity, and she really could use your help supporting it.
Would you be able to Venmo her $5,000 to start up her charity?"
And that’s how they start.
[00:09:47] Bob: You didn’t just tip us off to your celebrity crush, did you?
[00:09:51] Amy Nofziger: Oh, no, no, no.
Mine is absolutely Pitbull.
And they, they had to talk her off of, off of that.
These things can be very persuasive and as, as you mentioned, the groups coalesce online.
[00:10:49] Amy Nofziger: Absolutely.
So this is a, a new flavor of an old-fashioned crime, right?
So they’re just morphing them and growing them and making them bigger and bigger.
This doesn’t make sense right now.
I would always just say, you know, don’t even talk to them.
What’s the best way to talk to you directly at a number I know belongs to you?
You have my permission."
And they feel so helpless.
Uh, okay, so number five, it’s called delayed action sweepstakes.
But now the scammers are asking for personal information so they can validate it.
So it’s just a way to add more credibility.
[00:16:19] Amy Nofziger: Yeah, especially if you did not enter it.
So just resist the urge to react immediately.
So again, just stop communication via the method that they started you with and contact your friend.
It would probably be my mom, right?
[00:18:42] Amy Nofziger: Yeah, of course you would.
I’m sure there is somebody else or something else that Amy could do to rectify the situation.
But the answer is, just, just don’t do it.
[00:19:23] Amy Nofziger: Absolutely.
[00:19:38] Bob: I am very glad to hear that phone conversations are not going away.
I would hate that.
[00:19:42] Amy Nofziger: I don’t think they are.
[00:19:43] Bob: What are your two favorite sports?
[00:19:49] Bob: Yeah, the summer Olympics are just great.
And not just a difference overall, we’re making a difference in individual people’s lives.
[00:20:40] Amy Nofziger: Well thank you, Bob, for everything you do.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch data pipe Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
