Meeting topic and presenter
Guest speaker was Daniel Harkness.
Daniel is a special agent in the Houston FBI office
Scams
Agent requested audience members to give examples of when they were scammed.
Meeting Attendee said she was scammed of $1900 when she tried to come to the rescue of her nephew
Meeting Attendee related he gave $400 to assist his supposed classmate of 40 years and did not realize he was scammed until he became suspicious when he was asked for a further $600.
Meeting Attendee told of potential to scam her husband when he showed interest in antique cars.
Guest Agent Harkness could relate to all these examples and said that these showed that scams are real, and that we need to be vigilant and develop behaviors that will reduce the possibility of being scammed
Scam types
There are 5 types of scams
Romantic scams prey on the lonely and those seeking affection. It is best to avoid these and to date the old fashioned way by meeting people in person and not on line. Do not send money if requested online.
Financial scams prey on those wishing to make quick money, asking the gullible to invest in gold mines with the promise of high returns. As with romantic scams, avoid these and do not send money.
Impostor scams are emails, texts or phone calls that we are led to believe are coming from government (e.g., IRS) or banks/financial institutes. Remember that real government agencies will contact you by letter and do not usually use emails or texts.
Lottery/sweepstake scams seek to convince you that you have won money and will seek you to provide personal info so that you can claim your prize or award.
Medical scams seek to convince you that you need a back brace or that drugs you never ordered are ready for pick up or that there is something you need to do with your Medicare account
How to protect yourself from scams
Do not answer phone calls from numbers you do not recognize
Do not send money if request is made online.
Be careful how you guard your personal information and do not reveal much about yourself on social media such as Facebook, Instagram etc.
Check the full email address of the sender as it can often reveal that the sender is not who they are faking to be.
Avoid phishing or clicking on links you are uncertain about.
Questions
A number of people asked how scammers get your personal info and how to avoid having your identity stolen. In addition to social media, there is a lot on the internet about many of us and, worse yet, there are companies out there who are prepared to sell your info to the bad guys
Meeting Attendee said he is in real estate and people call him whose phone numbers he does not recognize. Guest Agent Harkness responded that names of callers should generally show who they are if you have caller ID but stood by his advice not to answer calls from numbers you do not recognize. Let these anonymous callers leave a message or note the number and try to call them back to verify they are real. If you do answer the phone, you need to see it as a business risk.
Meeting Attendee asked how do we protect ourselves against AI and voice recognition. This is challenging but having a suspicious mind even if the email/text/phone call appears authentic is a good start. In fact, being the suspicious type of person will definitely help you in the long run avoid this type of scam.
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