Here’s the full transcript from this video:
Jamie: With that, Ryan teach us how to recognize a scam.
Ryan: All right. Well, so scams are everywhere. And as we’re coming into the holiday shopping season, they’re going to become even more common.
Ryan: And that is because the people who are behind these scams, at their most crucial, basic component is that they are just really effective salespeople who are, instead of selling a legitimate product, taking advantage of the good nature of the average human being for their own personal gain.
Ryan: And that can take shape in a lot of different ways, especially when you’re dealing with things over the Internet.
Ryan: So today we are going to talk about how you can recognize online scams.
Ryan: So just quick thumbs up, are you able to see my screen here? Alright.
Ryan: Anyone want to take a wild guess at how much money is lost in the United States ever in the last year to scams?
Jamie: I’d say 50 million.
Ryan: How much?
Jamie: 50 million.
Ryan: 50 billion, OK.
Ryan: Payge, you have a guess?
Payge: I would have to say it’s probably more than that. I got scammed earlier this year, so and that was probably for around 1000. So, if you are, you know, easily doing this to all over the world, I feel like it might be more like, let’s say 2 billion.
Ryan: OK.
Payge: For, 200 billion, I mean, sorry.
Ryan: No, that’s OK. It is not quite that high, although it is staggering.
Payge: Oh, really?
Ryan: In 2021, let’s get it to come up here. There we go, $5.8 billion was lost to fraud in the United States. And the scary part? That’s a 70% increase from 2020, so scams were prevalent prior to 2020, but it, they were less than a $2 billion total amount that Americans were losing to fraud. Once everything was forced online. During the COVID pandemic, that number just exploded. People who don’t normally use the Internet or their smartphone or their compute to transact, business were being forced to for the first time, and so scammers took advantage of that.
Ryan: Uhm, so I want to talk about some of the most common online scams that exist.
Ryan: I have two lists for this.
Ryan: The first one we’re going to talk about is things that are targeting consumers. I’m also going to talk about things that are targeting businesses, but the first common scam is impersonation.
Ryan: This takes, this type of scam takes shape a couple of different ways. They may pose themselves as the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, a utility company, somebody that you would recognize when you hear the name of that agency, and they pretend to be that entity, and, in hopes of being able to get money out of you.
Ryan: So, either it’s the Social Security Administration that contacts you and says that there’s been questionable or fraudulent activity tied to your Social Security number or someone saying that they’re from the Internal Revenue Service and that you owe money and have to pay it right away to address a delinquent tax issue.
Ryan: Or, more horrifying, hear that someone poses as your local utility company and informs you that you have an unpaid balance, and if you don’t pay it immediately, they’re going to cut off the utility to your home.
Ryan: Uhm, next is refund scams.
Ryan: So, you may have gotten an e-mail before that says something like you have authorized the purchase of the newest iPhone and it displays a price and says that unless you call them or click a link that you’re going to be charged for that.
Ryan: The unfortunate person who contacts that person is then led along, through a string of manipulation, where they’re tricked into thinking that that company over refunded the amount, and so that it gets really insidious really fast, the amount of money that you could lose to that type of scam is really just limited to what bank balances you have, because these scammers manipulate you into gaining access to your computer, ask you to log into your bank, and then pull some kind of rabbit out of the hat tricks to make you think that they have sent you money, when in fact they haven’t sent you anything.
Ryan: And the refund scam works in a way that they give you back way more than the initial amount that they said they were going to charge you. And what they’ll do is, after they supposedly give you this massive refund, they want you to return it to them, and a lot, if you’ve made it that far along into the scam, they’ve built some rapport for you, so that when they tell you, please help me or I’ll lose my job, you kind of feel bad for that person because you may have spent the next, or the past half hour, hour or so getting to know that person as they bait you along in that scam.
Ryan: The next thing is advanced payments.
Ryan: So, this is commonly seen with animal breeders when advertised on social media. Also, with contractors after big storms hit an area sometimes, so a few years ago here in central IN when we had a big hail event, there were a lot of contractors that fled into Indianapolis and were giving people a really good quote on fixing the damages, but insisted on the full payment up front, only to completely disappear after that.
Ryan: Work from home scams.
Ryan: These are everywhere and it boils down to at the most basic point, not all work at home opportunities are scams. So, you just really have to ask some very specific questions, because some of these work at home opportunities are actually tricking you into laundering money and sending it overseas to people who are getting money from Americans.
Ryan: And thus, that could leave you in a legal position where you’re the American that was participating in the scam. And that could invite some very, very serious criminal consequences here in the United States.
Ryan: Next emergency scams.
Ryan: So, imagine you’re sitting at home in the evening and your phone rings and you pick it up and it’s someone who claims to be a family member and that they’re in trouble and they need your help right now.
Ryan: Imagine how horrifying that must sound to the person who receives that call.
Ryan: Well, scammers know that, and they’re trying to depend on throwing you just enough off balance so that you think you’re helping a member of your family or someone that you know closely, when in fact you’re just giving money to scammers.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about some of the common business scams that are out there, the first one being phishing.
Ryan: Now, phishing isn’t exclusive to business. Phishing presents itself in a lot of ways, but most commonly emails, where if you were to click a link, it could either install a program on your computer that can get your passwords when you log into your online accounts, like your bank, like Amazon, social media accounts or anything else.
Ryan: Also, phishing campaigns are meant to collect more information about the victim so that the next scam that they use, that scammer knows a lot more about you so they can try and tailor make that scam to trick you into thinking it’s legitimate.
Ryan: Next, fake invoices.
Ryan: This is a huge problem for small businesses because you may receive an e-mail that says you have an unpaid balance for either something you ordered or a contractor who did some work for you, or just any number of places that might try and present itself as a legitimate invoice, only to, if you pay it, you’ve sent the money to a scammer, or even worse, if you were to send them a check, now they have your routing and account numbers and they can really start to do some damage to your business.
Ryan: Non-existent advertising, so this one is not quite as, as prevalent as it used to be.
Ryan: Someone would contact you and claim to be from Yellow Pages or another directory and offer you a large package in which you pay for advertising that either doesn’t exist or doesn’t have the kind of online traffic that they claimed for it that it would have for you.
Ryan: Unordered office supplies.
Ryan: So, this scam operates in which a high-pressure sales tactic is used when contacting a business. They pose as a vendor you may already do business with and tell you that it’s time to reorder supplies or try and talk you into ordering a much larger quantity than you would normally need, only to receive an invoice when those show up for a way higher price per unit than they really should be.
Ryan: There have also been other examples where businesses receive supplies that they’ve never ordered along with that ridiculously high invoice, so it’s really important to, when you receive a phone call from someone offering to sell you office supplies, just hang up on them immediately.
Ryan: Nothing good can come of that. Either you, either they trick you into really authorizing that order or they send you more supplies than you need, but either way they are charging you way more per unit than the actual retail price should be.
Ryan: Credit lines and lending.
Ryan: So, businesses are always looking for the ability to take that next step, maybe it’s to expand the footprint of your business or maybe it’s the cash flow to be able to hire some additional employees, any number of reasons that that small business owners are out there looking for funding, and there are just as many scam opportunities out there that are promising guaranteed approval or expedited approval, or brokers claiming to match you with the right loan product.
Ryan: Businesses can lose a lot of money in credit line and lending scams and I’ll talk about here in a little bit how you can spot some of those.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about how these scams work. So regardless of what type of scam it is, they all have a couple of things in common.
Ryan: And so, I want to share with you some of these things that make scams as effective as they are, and the first thing is data collection.
Ryan: Scammers operate just like legitimate sales professionals, in that, the more they know about the person they’re contacting, the better their chances are of achieving their goal.
Ryan: In this case, it’s to scam people to take things that that do not belong to them.
Ryan: Next is they use a name that you would recognize. So, that’s why the impostor scams are such a problem because everybody recognizes the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft.
Ryan: They are posing as agents of entities that you would recognize because you have legitimately had reasons to do business with those companies.
Ryan: Next, they create urgency. So, urgency is where they try and get you to take action before you’ve had a chance to critically think about what’s going on.
Ryan: That’s why the scammers that target the elderly depend on them being able to take action right now and not hanging up the phone and contacting someone to ask them before they proceed.
Ryan: They want you to take the action right now because there’s an imminent risk to your safety or you’ll be threatened with arrest or other legal repercussions.
Ryan: But the whole point of it is, they try and throw you off so that when you’re not thinking critically, when you’re not able to ask the questions that would help you realize that what you’re dealing with isn’t legitimate, they are able to take advantage of you when they make that urgency is very prevalent.
Ryan: Next is manipulation and abuse.
Ryan: This is especially bad with the refund scam because they string you along for sometimes over an hour before they get to the actionable part of the scam.
Ryan: And so, like I said earlier, they’ll build a rapport with you over that time. They want to know about your family. They want to know your life story. So that by the time the actual part comes where you would normally think that you’re about to be taking it, taken advantage of, you may not be thinking that way because the person on the other end of that connection has made themselves into your friend, you feel for them. You’re worried about their well-being, and they know it.
Ryan: And there have even been cases in which when somebody makes it far enough into a scam that they start to question it. That’s when the scammer will turn on the abuse. They’ll call you names.
Ryan: They’ll make even stronger worded threats like, I will have you put in jail, or I will harm your family, or I will do damage to your business reputation.
Ryan: They will say some incredibly nasty things, all with the purpose of stringing you along a little longer so they can get that payout from you.
Ryan: They also use untraceable payment methods.
Ryan: So, let’s say, for example, if you were to make a payment with a credit card and you recognized later on that it was a scam, you could contact your credit card company and, in most cases, get that money back, while scammers know that, so they want you to make wire transfers into accounts or purchase gift cards or to send money using an app like Cash App or Zelle.
Ryan: Because as soon as that money or that gift card code is in their hands or in their possession, it’s, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get that money back once you’ve handed it over.
Ryan: So, now that we’ve talked about how scammers work and what scams they’re using, let’s talk about how you can protect yourself.
Ryan: So, let’s say you get an e-mail. The first thing that you need to do is check the sender’s e-mail address. So, if you receive an e-mail that is pretending to be from Amazon, look at the e-mail address that has sent it to you. Does it match the sending address of a legitimate e-mail you’ve received from Amazon? If at any circumstance, no matter what the company says they are, if it’s an at Gmail, at Hotmail, at Outlook, any of the free e-mail platforms out there, it is guaranteed a scam, because none of these legitimate businesses are relying on free e-mail platforms to send those communications.
Ryan: Next, if you see something like amazon and numbers .com (e.g. amazon1233454674.com), that’s also likely a scam. These scammers will purchase domains that could be confused for legitimate websites. So, if you were to go to a webhost today and look for a legitimate business name and then some numbers .com (e.g. bestbuy637.com). You’ll probably eventually find one, so that the unsuspecting person might mistake it as a legitimate domain.
Ryan: So, if you if you see that there’s any kind of weird spelling or numbers associated with that domain, then it is, it is almost certainly a scam, and you shouldn’t proceed any further with that message.
Ryan: Next, are you the only recipient?
Ryan: So, this one is not nearly as common as it used to be, where a scammer would send the same e-mail message to hundreds of people and you could see those other recipients in the info at the top of the e-mail of who it was sent to.
Ryan: Not as common anymore, but if you see something that is sent to more than you alone, it is guaranteed a scam. No legitimate company will lump you in the same e-mail message with other customers. It is a privacy concern and the account information is never the same from member to member.
Ryan: So, if you receive an e-mail, that’s sent to more than one person with that message, guaranteed a scam.
Ryan: Never click links or call the phone number displayed in emails.
Ryan: So, maybe you thought that the domain looked legitimate, but it still has a concerning message. Never ever, ever, under any circumstances should you click a link in that e-mail, even if you were to click the e-mail and then see it was a scam and then close it and delete the e-mail.
Ryan: Just like legitimate businesses, scammers are able to track who interacts with the e-mail messages. So, if they see that you’ve both opened and clicked the e-mail, now they know to flag your e-mail address as one that they could continue to send those messages to. And emails continue to get more sophisticated and convincing looking.
Ryan: So, you really do not want to click anything in that e-mail and when in question always go to the official website of the organization who you are seeing an e-mail for. So, if you receive something that says they’re from Amazon and you’re about to be charged, don’t click that link.
Ryan: Instead, open up your web browser, go to Amazon website and look at your account, because if it is legitimate, you would be able to see it in your orders on that website.
Ryan: Next, never reply to e-mail messages for the same reason you don’t want to click links.
Ryan: You do not want to give any indication that your e-mail address is a working one to someone who’s trying to send you these messages, and replying to it lets them know that it is a real human being on the other end of it, and they’re going to continue to bombard you with that stuff.
Ryan: And next, when you know an e-mail, it just isn’t right, always report it or flag it as spam in your e-mail box.
Ryan: So, if you are using a business e-mail, you are likely using Office 365 for Business or some variation of Google for business, as a, an e-mail hosting solution.
Ryan: So, if you report that e-mail as scam or phishing, it will help their service prevent other businesses from also falling victim to it because all of these e-mail organizations keep records of what is reported as scams or phishing. So, if it notices that one e-mail address has been flagged multiple times by many people, then they’re going to help do their job to prevent future emails from even making it to people’s inbox where it could make someone a victim.
Ryan: So, next, let’s talk about what happens if you get a phone call that is a scam. Checking the number alone is not reliable.
Ryan: What I mean by that is, the robo calls that were going on around central IN a couple years ago that pretend to be from IPL and that you have a disconnect notice unless you pay them right now, they managed to spoof the phone number of IPL’s legitimate customer service line so when you picked up your phone, the number looked like it was IPL calling you.
Ryan: Scammers can spoof numbers. Now, here in the United States, the FCC has been cracking down on phone providers to verify and make sure that if a number is being spoofed that they’re able to display scam or spam, likely thus helping you identify when there’s a not legitimate phone call coming through to you.
Ryan: Next, never share account information over the phone. There is no legitimate reason that someone needs to call you just to verify your account information. Don’t give them your account number. Don’t give them the pin or secret access to your account.
Ryan: Don’t answer security questions. If they’ve called you and they need this, it’s because they’re not who they say they are.
Ryan: And when in doubt, hang up on them.
Ryan: Look up the official number for that business that you believe that that supposedly called you, and ask them what’s going on.
Ryan: Never say the word yes on one of these phone calls under any circumstances. The reason why is that the person on the other end of the phone, of the phone call could be recording it, and they could doctor the recording to supposedly let you authorize any number of different things.
Ryan: And there have been actual examples where someone has used this to be able to create a supposedly legally binding contract and then take that person to court.
Ryan: So, under any circumstances, do not say the word yes, for any reason.
Ryan: So, if you pick up the phone and they ask for your name, don’t answer yes under any circumstances.
Ryan: If they ask for your name, say who’s calling? Then they’ll have to identify themselves, but never say the word yes into any of those phone calls.
Ryan: And when you suspect that that call coming through is part of a scam, hang up on them immediately.
Ryan: So, if you answer the phone and it’s a recording, don’t bother hitting the number to connect or the other number to unsubscribe. Just hang up on them, because just like clicking links and emails or replying to them, that helps the scammers know that your phone number is a legitimate one and they’re going to queue up more phone calls.
Ryan: And those messages are going to get more sophisticated because they know there’s a person there. So, let’s talk about what happens if someone contacts you claiming to know you.
Ryan: So, this commonly takes form, in like the grandparents scam, in which an older consumer receives a phone call for the other person on the end of the line to say that that is their grandchild and they need their help.
Ryan: First, you should ask a question that only that person would know. The name of their parents, where they go to school, other information that they would share on social media is pretty easy to guess.
Ryan: So, ask for a much, much more detailed question. So for example, where did we go when you were six?
Ryan: Because likely a scammer wouldn’t know that. But if you ask what is your mother’s name, chances are the scammers are going to be able to answer that question because they use tools like Facebook and other social media networks to learn everything they can about that person before they make the phone call. They also use data collected from other sources.
Ryan: So, sometimes they purchase lists of real consumer information. Or, they’ve purchased information from other scammers where they have successfully been able to match a name and a phone number.
Ryan: Hang up immediately and call the person who claimed to call you, back at the number you have saved for them. So, don’t call the number that pops up on your phone.
Ryan: Look them up in your contacts and call that person back and ask them if they really did call you because there are some legitimate scenarios in which a family member or acquaintance may need help, but no emergency is so pressing that you can’t hang up the phone and call that person back at a phone number you know you have.
Ryan: Next, never give your location or answer any questions for these people.
Ryan: So, just because they don’t get any money out of you, doesn’t mean that they didn’t get something that they could use to advance their scams in the future.
Ryan: So, if they, if they want to know your address, don’t share it with them.
Ryan: If they ask you any questions about your family members or acquaintances, don’t answer it for them.
Ryan: And lastly for, if they claim to know you, never just outright send them money.
Ryan: If it is a legitimate family member that needs your help, then you can hang up, call that person back at a phone number you have saved for them, or call another family member who has a way to reach them and verify, if it really is someone that you know and if they really do need your help.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about what happens if they want you to pay for something up front.
Ryan: First thing, a little bit of research can go an extremely long way, so check the Better Business Bureau. A business does not have to be Better Business Bureau accredited to have a profile on their website. The Better Business Bureau keeps records of complaints that they receive about all businesses.
Ryan: So, if you were to find a company on the Better Business Bureau, you would find any complaints that have been lodged against them, any kind of good comments that are to be said about that business. You can also look on Google for reviews of that business.
Ryan: Next, if it’s a home repair service or a longer profile service, make sure to get a written contract, because if the deal goes south, then you have a written document that shows what you were promised in exchange for that money, so that if you do unfortunately have to pursue legal action against that other entity, you have a concrete document that shows what the expectation was for the money that you paid.
Ryan: Next, be extremely cautious of out-of-town contractors. This is really common after severe weather events where contractors pop up in a new community and they offer an excellent price that seems a little low, maybe a lot low for what the service is going to be, but then they, after they give you that excellent quote, they want the money upfront, and they don’t really want to give you much more information about the, their business.
Ryan: So, be really cautious of that anytime, before you sign a contract and before you hand any money over, or do your research about that company, because chances are, it is not the first time they’ve done that.
Ryan: So, there is almost certainly a record out there somewhere, if a person is about to become scammed by that company.
Ryan: And next, never send money to those folks using apps. Once again, untraceable method of sending money. So, once you hand that money over through that app, you’re almost certainly never going to see it again. And the work that you wanted done isn’t going to happen.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about what happens if someone supposedly wants to hire you.
Ryan: Once again, just like with the out-of-town contractors and the folks you’re about to make a purchase from, do your research on that organization up front and make sure that they’re, that you understand the difference between what a job and a business opportunity is, because usually there are legitimate business opportunities out there, and they are not jobs.
Ryan: Jobs imply that you’re going to receive a wage or salary for the work you do for them. A business opportunity is you investing your time upfront to try and build a business, it does not come with a guaranteed wage in most cases.
Ryan: And next, never pay money to get a job. Now, now the difference between a job and business opportunity again, is business opportunity implies some startup costs where a job should not.
Ryan: A job is being offered to you because you provide a service in exchange for your wage or salary.
Ryan: And next, never deposit checks you get from that job to purchase business products. That is commonly part of a fake check scam.
Ryan: And if you were to deposit the check and then purchase items with that money once the bank finds out, that check is fraudulent, it’s going to be money out of your pocket, because you are the human being that deposited the check and are therefore responsible for it.
Ryan: So, if someone offers to send you a check to buy business products, it is almost certainly a scam. Not in all cases, but almost certainly a scam.
Ryan: And next, never receive or send money for business activities. This is how money laundering works in a lot of these. When a scammer successfully gets their victim to send them money, it usually is to another account here in the United States somehow.
Ryan: It’s either a Zelle account that’s connected to a person’s account that was already scammed that they gained access into, or that they are sending it to someone who’s a “work at home” agent who then wires the money to another country.
Ryan: If you do that, if you run that money through your account, it opens you up to a lot of legal trouble because you could therefore be accused of engaging in money laundering, which is a federal crime, which carries a serious prison sentence, even if you didn’t know you did it.
Ryan: You could still be found guilty and punished for that crime.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about what happens if someone is offering you credit or loans.
Ryan: Let’s check my time here, I can’t see the clock. There we go, holy crap. We’re already almost at the end here.
Ryan: So once again, do your research about the company and avoid social media posts and classified ads for lending. Legitimate financial institutions do not rely on Craigslist to cultivate new business.
Ryan: Now they may purchase ads on networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. But they are not going to post in Facebook marketplace about legitimate loan products. It’s just not how their industry works.
Ryan: And next, never make an upfront payment when applying for a loan. Now certain loan products do require collateral, but they are not going to require any payment upfront for you to make the initial application for the product.
Ryan: And next, don’t reply to unsolicited emails about credit or loans with any kind of sensitive information. That information could be used to hurt you later with future scams.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about what happens if someone claims that there’s an emergency. Law enforcement is not going to contact you and notify you that you have a warrant. It’s just not going to happen.
Ryan: If the police want you, the last thing they want to do is give you a tip that they’re looking for you. Law enforcement depends on the element of surprise when trying to take someone in into custody.
Ryan: So, they are not going to call you and threaten you with arrest.
Ryan: Next, your Social Security number cannot be suspended, revoked or cancelled, so anyone who is threatening to do either of those is lying to you.
Ryan: And next, if someone claims it’s an emergency, always hang up and call that person back using the phone number that you have saved for them. No emergency is so critical that you cannot do your due diligence to verify and make sure it is the person who they say they are.
Ryan: Finally, a couple more tips.
Ryan: Never under any circumstances, should you download any remote access programs for anyone who contacts you. A company who needs to issue a refund does not need remote access to your computer.
Ryan: And no company will legitimately ask you to purchase gift cards or to send them money using an app. If they ask for either, it is a scam.
Ryan: So, what do you do if you’ve been the victim of a scam?
Ryan: The first thing you need to do is determine how much you lost. Next, contact law enforcement. So, file a police report with your local with your local police. You may also need to contact the FBI, depending on the circumstances around the loss that you’ve suffered.
Ryan: Next, contact your bank. If you’ve been scanned, scammers are going to continue to try and get more money out from you.
Ryan: So, if by contacting your bank, that’s going to put them on high alert so that they don’t have anyone unauthorized or unknowingly access your account to be able to take more money from it.
Ryan: They’ll also, the bank will also help you change your password on any online banking apps or temporarily disable the feature altogether depending on how significant the scam was.
Ryan: Next, contact the credit bureaus and put a freeze on your credit depending on the information that the scammers got from you.
Ryan: They may, they may try to open up credit cards. They may try and use your information to apply for different items or products.
Ryan: And change your online password to anything that you had saved on your computer.
Ryan: So, if you let them access your computer and you had passwords saved in your browser, they got all of them. So, you need to change your password for everything.
Ryan: So, let’s talk about how to report scams. Here’s a couple of quick links: reportfraud.ftc.gov. If you encounter a Social Security Scam: ssa.gov/scam.
Ryan: Excuse me, a couple of pages for general information about all kinds of different scams and how to report them on usa.gov/stop-scams-frauds and finally, www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/report-fraud.
Ryan: And if you want more tips about how to avoid scams and how you can protect yourself, visit INSPIREsmall.biz/tag/security.
Ryan: So alright so I know that was a lot of information in a very short time.
Ryan: So, I, I, I know we’re cutting short on time here, but I can answer any questions that you might have.
Payge: You were very thorough. I, I appreciate you going through all that, so I might have to head out here, but that was all great. I took some screenshots and definitely have a lot to do apparently.
Jamie: Very good. I, it, it’s, I, I don’t have any questions ’cause you were pretty thorough, but since we’ve been on this call, I’ve had three different people reach out and I’m pretty sure they’re all scams.
Jamie: One is a text message and phone call I’ve been getting for years asking me to sell a property that I don’t own. The other is a lady that’s been calling me forever, offering me business credit that I can guarantee that I don’t qualify for the amounts, and I know I qualify for credit, but not the amount that she’s offering. And the other one is just ridiculous. And it happens all the time.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s in the last hour. Yeah, absolutely.
Ryan: And one quick note, the FTC just this week issued a final warning to 7 telecom providers that if they do not implement, uh, procedures that the FCC has required every telecom company to implement to help you tell when someone spoofing a number, that they are no longer going to be able to provide telephone service in the United States.
Ryan: So, it looks like the days of the auto warranty scam might finally be coming to an end in this iteration.
Jamie: That would be fantastic. Yeah, excellent, awesome. All right, right. Well, let’s give Ryan a round of applause for that.