0:00 who are you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to people making money I'm your host Kevin bemel and we're here every Wednesday at 10:00 Pacific time to talk about job hunting building business wealth building all of the financial issues of life and and how
0:35 to stay on top of them and prosper so today I'm welcoming back my friend Tom Karens um Tom was uh on the show gosh now I don't remember it was uh it was it was you were talking about reverse mortgages as I recall last time we on the show Tom well on retirement we talked about trying to get a you know self-actualize your retirement through using your real estate assets yeah so um so um Tom Tom is and I are working on a project and we were talking one day a few months ago and he and he told me
1:10 about the presentation that he does on um how to avoid getting scammed and I thought this this is a huge topic um I know my bank just did a seminar on the most common frauds that are perpetrated against bank accounts um so and and you know to to wire money these days it's no longer a simple matter they're they they always call for a verbal confirmation now so all of all of you know everybody is very aware of the of of getting scammed and and I think it's very
1:45 important with everything so many things online um we're all so we're all very vulnerable so so Tom I really appreciate you coming on the show today and to talk about this subject well great thanks for having me Kevin I really appreciate and and I think it's a it's a really important uh subject for uh you know for older adults um and so you'll see part of the presentation uh not part of it the presentation's been put together by the cfpb and the FDIC together so um obviously some people higher up than us
2:21 think it's a really important topic as well so let's let's go ahead and jump right into it um bring up the uh presentation and um why don't you uh take it away well great um so the so we're going to talk about the presentation name is Money smart it's a it's a whole program that as I said the cfpb and the FDIC put together and uh basically they um you can go to the next slide um they they uh have put this together to help uh older
2:57 citizens protect their assets because that's one of the important things is older citizens have assets right that's um how they got to be old so or part of how they got to be old so couple of things about this um you know are uh next slide please are you know so we want to talk about what we're trying to accomplish here uh you know we want people to understand that um you know to reduce the risk of exploitation to guard against theft um to plan for unexpected
3:32 loss all all of the items that are listed here right these are our objectiv is to try and protect people from uh losing their money to uh people that that uh have bad intentions so uh next slide please so first thing that we do is Define what is financial exploitation and you know basically it's just somebody using your or other people's resources for personal gain right that's what it is um so in terms
4:11 of uh you know next slide please so the these are the things that you know we want to guard against is the fraudulent use of of our funds by somebody else right or actions that deprive people of the their access to their money next slide please and it is I think it's it's it's we should note that while um Elder elderly people or older people are perhaps more prone to this uh these kinds of scams are perpetrated on um you know people who
4:48 are not elderly sure absolutely anyone and that's the point of the slide anyone can be the victim of this right so it's not just older people but older people in particular um actually let's go to the next slide older people in particular are are targets of this because um you know because of their standing in the world right they they have assets they uh you know they tend to be trusting and polite they tend to be you know good people and also at the same time you
5:24 know they tend to be a little bit more vulnerable to entrusting other people because you start to depend on other people as as you become older and that puts you know older people really at risk exactly right and um you know the other thing too is that next slide please um older people's situations are such that they that they are at risk because maybe they have caregivers or maybe they have uh other people that are new to
6:00 them right who come into their situation to help with their um you know with with their situation of health and and well-being and not everybody's trustworthy or honest so that's you know so that's part of the reason why older adults are at risk as well is that they're in this situation um they maybe are dealing with people that they're not familiar with they they maybe perhaps have started to has a little bit of cognitive uh dissonance or just you know losing a little bit of their ability to handle
6:37 everything and or the other thing is they can also be dependent on a family member as you're going to see as we go through this um it's it's varied as to who the person who causes the uh the problem is absolutely right so let's go to the next slide so some of the um you know the example of this um you can see here it's exploitation by an agent there's investment fraud there's theft um there's a scam called a lottery
7:13 or sweep stake scam I mean I think we all know the Publisher Clearing House thing that we all grew up with right I mean there's variations of that theme that people tend to use to try and get money there's uh next slide um then there's other scams like what they call a grandparent or impostor scams um tax and debt collection romance uh telemarketer these are all uh types of um these are all types of uh scam that
7:48 uh you know that that come up and so um anyway so next slide and let's go to the next one after that so the question is who are the abusers and as we see the graphic is the is the wolf and sheep's clothing right so so um you know there's many different potential abusers in the situation and they're not just uh strangers family members and caregivers friends neighbors
8:25 or acquaintances agents um who have been given a power of attorney which we'll discuss a little bit about that later uh financial advisors those are all people in a person's Network in a senior person's Network who can be part of the scam hopefully not but but that's what can happen and then um next slide uh there's the strangers right there's the people who are strangers but uh come into contact telephone and mail scammers internet people on the internet home repair contractors uh Medicare scam
9:00 operators we're going to talk about another scam called the romance scam and so all of these are different people who who aren't necessarily friends or in the social network of the senior but who who can get access to the senior and then try to uh you know to work on um on on scamming them out of their funds and by way it seems to me that for those of us who have or deal with um elderly people maybe they are relatives or or you know do so professionally they're they're
9:35 particularly vulnerable when um their family maybe lives out of state so I know a close friend of mine his father lived here in La he lived in Texas and while he could see his father's bank account um and and finally noticed some weird transactions going on um because he wasn't here he didn't know that his father's caregiver was essentially stealing money from his father and when he talked to his father about it his father got very upset because his father felt very close to the caregiver she was
10:11 taking care of him and it became a very difficult situation to resolve and in the end he got you know he he he my friend fired the caregiver but they never got the money back because the father just would not take the action necessary to do that well you funny you should mention that because uh if you go to the next slide you'll see that that's exactly one of the pr not principles but one of the factors of this situation which is why don't people report this more option more often why don't they uh protect
10:48 themselves why don't they go to the different uh resources that are available to help protect them and and it's because sometimes they feel shame or embarrassment um sometimes it's a family person and they just don't want to I mean it could be a grandkid or it could be a um a son or a daughter or somebody and they just are used to dealing with that person and they don't want to cause that person problem even though they're really taking advantage of them um they also are afraid that people aren't going to believe them or um or that sometimes the
11:23 person who's doing the abuse um actually they're dependent on that person and so they're very worried that if they cross that person that they're going to do even worse to them um and then also there's a lot of denial self-blame lack of awareness I mean you can see all of these different um things here and you know that kind of the personality thing that helps to cause this to take place and that's really important for anybody out there you know to understand that you need to overcome this because
12:00 you know you need to stop it from happening because it can really be expensive and uh debilitating to your financial situation so next slide so you know let's talk a little bit about that who can you count on um to help you and I mean one of the things about situation for seniors I mean they talk a lot about you know when you're talking about longevity they talk about your social network being probably the most important factor that that can help you you know keep uh mental and physical health in
12:35 your in your older years so you know that's that's your number one thing is your social network but besides that probably the number one place that you can go as a senior is Adult Protective Services and they're all around they're in every County they're in every city they're in every state and that's a very good place that if you can't figure out anywhere else to start that that's that that's a really good place to start you can also call the police but the police tend to be less able to deal with this type of situation they're much more able
13:10 to deal with physical and uh situations and you know more physical crimes so then um next slide and then the other places you can go is that if you you know wherever your accounts are you should have try to keep some kind of contact with somebody at the bank um and also uh if you have some type of situation like a automobile or um some other product that you have credit um that you know how to contact
13:46 the Creditor as well to let them know if you're seeing problems or being abused in the situation and finally they talk about going being able to go to cons the consumer finance.gov if you see the uh the address down at the bottom but I would say to you I think the number one thing for a senior would be Adult Protective Services because they will they they can do a lot of different things and they have a lot of powers right right for sure so and then the next part of this is let's talk about the different types
14:21 of professionals that you're going to uh get involved with and how you might get involved with those people so um one person is a fiduciary and a lot of times uh you know if you if you're lacking somebody else to handle your Affairs you can hire a p a professional fiduciary and by the very term of the word Uh Kevin I I know you're very familiar with it a fiduciary is somebody who has to act on faith for you that they should put your interests ahead of
14:56 theirs in how they do things right so that's a very solemn and serious relationship and and it and the person that does it takes on risks because they have this very heavy responsibility of how to act to you so it's but it but again it's only as good as the person that you get to do it right I mean if that person is really good so you want to be really careful about you know what they do you can see on the slide you know make sure that they keep records and they keep your money separate and uh
15:32 they they act in your interest right so that so that's really important to do I'll just inter here real quickly one of the things dealing with a professional fiduciary that I recommend to people is that um they make sure the fiduciary is um reporting to them on a periodic basis typically monthly so they can see what's act what the fiduciary is actually doing and if the fiduciary is uh reluctant or unwilling to do that that's a sign you probably don't want to hire that person um and the other thing is um while here in California
16:07 fiduciaries have to carry a license in the rest of the country they don't um but you can you can go to an organization like the um um uh Alliance of independent trustees or the independent trustees Alliance I should say and that's a that's an organization in which I'm a member and we self- police so if we find out that a member has acted um improperly um we're going to take action against that member um in addition to what um you know anyone whose Affairs that member is is handling
16:43 uh will you know will be able to do as well so um couple of tips there for dealing with fiduciaries yeah no it's it's a very important relationship so you don't take it lightly and you um you know you need to really consult with with people that you know and trust before you decide to use somebody um then the next thing we wanted to cover is a power of attorney um and that you know that can be a fairly lengthy discussion but but really quickly a power of attorney is somebody
17:18 that you would decide uh could help make decisions for you and it gives them powers to do certain things on your behalf uh depending on you know what your status is at any given time um it's it's fairly inexpensive to create an attorney can can do it for you again a very important relationship and one that you don't do lightly and then also um you can go to the next slide Kevin um so some of the
17:53 risks of a power of attorney is that that person might take more Authority than you actually want them to do um because you've given them the the ability to do that uh they can misuse your funds and they can do actions that you haven't necessarily authorized because you've given them the permission to do that um and then I'm sorry go ahead Kevin um and then one other thing um you know to talk about there's in power of attorneys there's a big difference between a standard power of attorney and
18:30 a durable power of attorney and the difference is is that a durable power of attorney can stay in effect even if you lose the capacity to continue to make decisions so again that's super important uh distinction and super important for you to understand who it is that you're giving this right to because you may end up in a situation where you're not capable of making decisions and that person's going to have total authority to do that so even over your healthare decisions right yes that's right so
19:09 um next slide oh you got it just stay there so you know when you're doing that trust but verify right the old Ronald Reagan thing um uh you know and basically as you look at the slide just be really careful about who you do this with and really realize that you as long as you have capacity you can change cancel or revoke it at any time and in particular one of the things that they really want to emphasize is do not give this power to your caregivers or helpers because you
19:44 because they're there to give you care and help not to manage your financial decisions try to find somebody who you feel very comfortable with has the cap capacity and the capability to handle your finance and in particular be really careful about someone who you haven't met that long who suddenly comes along and all of a sudden they become your power of attorney right that's not a good situation um next slide and then uh in general a really important principle is start thinking about planning ahead on all of this
20:20 stuff make sure you've thought about it that you kind of develop a plan and really start to put that in place because that's going to really help you it's it's sometimes it's too late when everything starts happening and you don't have the plan in place it's too late to to to then you know uh to start trying to accomplish it at that time and these things you're talking about durable Powers of Attorney and such these interesting these are all part of a properly constructed estate plan I
20:55 think we think of an estate plan as what's going to happen after we die but a a properly constituted estate plan deals with the situation even before you know we're we're dead it deals with what what'll happen if we become incapacitated or or just are unable to handle our Affairs you know properly so all of that should should be dealt with as part of an estate plan sure absolutely very well said um can we go to slide 25 now um
21:34 so the next aspect we want to talk about is abuse by caregivers and inhome helpers so this is a really big issue that happens constantly and it's part of the reason is because the people who are are caregivers are in the situation they move from situation to situation and some of them developed really good skills at taking care of people and others of them develop really good skills at how to scam people and get their money so you you want to be really careful about um who your caregivers are
22:12 who your inhome helpers and you know that they're not kind of uh colluding with your family members to to get your money right that's that's another and you you'll see as we go through this some other Safeguard so next slide so here's talking about some safeguards uh you know you want to be careful with your financial documents uh get receipts monitor your bank accounts and uh try to do as much as you can automatically to where somebody doesn't
22:48 have the chance to get involved in it um on your behalf um next slide and then also really be careful about you know the recommendation is don't let your caregivers open your bills don't let them pay your bills don't let them handle your finances get family members or professionals or fiduciaries to to do that for you and in particular never give anybody your credit or ATM cards I mean if if might feel like it's convenient and it's handy
23:23 for you to do that every now and then it's a really bad idea at particularly as the older you get because you're not going to be able to to monitor all of it and uh you know that's how people can get their hands in your pocket so really be careful of that next slide and then also last thing you can get a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com that's a good idea to see because if somebody's opening up credit on your behalf and you might not know it um
23:58 uh and then just in general secure your valuables and uh and really watch your financial statements so next slide please so now uh we're going to talk a little bit about some of the uh specifics of different scams that happen so the first one we're going to talk about is a romance scam um some people feel that all romance is a scam but anyway um in in the context that we're talking about it's somebody who tries to play on your
24:33 emotions to get your money that's basically what it is and they do a lot of different things they you know they use a false identity they try and build trust um once they start to feel like they they've gotten into your emotional um you know uh good graces that they'll then start asking for money so really be careful about you know in any in any type of relationship you form and these people come from all different places right they'll come online they'll come
25:08 um in person they'll come in different places but the minute that somebody starts to want money out of you um realize what that potentially is right that it's not necessarily a great romance but it's just somebody trying to get some money from you next slide and here's some of the things they do right they'll claim they need money for surgery or medical bill you know they'll ask uh they'll tell you they have some you know uh debts in the past
25:43 or gambling or problems or whatever um they'll also ask you for money to travel like to try and play play on the fact that yeah sure if you're if you're involved with somebody you'd want to see them all of these things that they'll they'll try to do right the whole idea that you need to see is that a really good uh true emotional relationship does not revolve around you giving the money all the time so when you see somebody trying to do that you know try to recognize that that's really what it is um next
26:21 slide and this is how they try to get at this is where they come from so they'll come from social media dating apps websites text messages um you know they'll try and make themselves be out something that maybe they're not they don't really have the capability of being like somebody that just seems too good to be true um they you know people steal photos and that type of thing to do this so it's you really want to be careful um on the online thing you know to be really wary
26:57 about who who you're dealing with and on a app like Facebook or whatever there's people that will come from all sorts of different places you really want to keep your uh your you know your friends closer right but not let your enemies get so close um anyway next one and then um they can also so we were talking about online in person this can all happen as well somebody just gets you know you meet them somewhere at a a church thing or some kind of social
27:33 thing you get started and then next thing you know the key to it is is that you need to really be cognizant to see if you feel like every time you're getting together they're trying to get their hand in your pocket uh see that for what it is right that's that's what's really important and you know you might think that this is like oh yeah not doesn't happen it happens the time believe me um I I could tell you some really stories uh about this but um so some other warning signs NE next
28:10 slide Kevin um you know if they're ovally complimentary and flirtatious shower you with attention want you to keep the relationship a secret that's a really big warning sign there um and show unusual interest in your finances right that's that's what you're really looking for um to see if if it holds the test of a true relationship or a scam um and next slide and this is how you know some things you can do if you feel that this
28:48 is happening to you and and again this goes back to what we talked about previously when the whole idea is that you need to not feel um reluctant to talk to somebody about this right don't feel embarrassed or whatever because the faster you can um you know get somebody else involved uh get some authorities involved or whatever the better chance you have of preserving absolutely you know your money right but if you look at these these are all common sense things to do if you start to think that this is happening to you right stop talking to
29:23 them um get you know get in touch with somebody and social network and let them know what's going on right talk to the bank and let them know that if you've sent them some money right and report them to all of the different agencies that you can as soon as possible so those are all things to do uh so now we're going to talk about investment fraud so let's go to the next slide there and um again you know this is uh something that happens to seniors all the time
29:58 and some things to to really be looking for is people that have misleading designations they say oh I'm a Senor expert I'm this I'm that um you know that that's something to look at uh Ponzi schemes are something where people get investment schemes get money from people and then they pay money out to the initial investors while they get more money from somebody else and and then they spend your money so be really care careful about Investments that you get involved in you have to look for unscrupulous
30:33 advisors um and a lot of times it'll be somebody who's in your network and they call it an affinity fraud right where they where they're like well yeah I'm I'm the same as you right I belong to the golf club like you I belong to the uh you know to the uh silver Travelers club or whatever um that that's Affinity fraud that's people that are try to get into your pocket by saying I'm just like you absolutely right so um and you got to and look for people trying to sell you inappropriate or fraudulent
31:09 Financial products like annuities not to say that all annuities are bad some annuities are really good but there are very inappropriate ones as well the ones that people make really big commissions on um so here's some things the next couple of slides uh you can just roll through them a couple seconds each places that you can go to check if you're using a financial advisor you can check on their background um you can uh you can go to the next one um but the main thing I would say to you
31:44 is just work within your social network right don't just work with people that you don't know anything about so that's what's really important and uh yeah you're on and then then down to the last slide which is timing is critical the longer it takes for you to report this the less chance you're going to have of ever getting any of your money back so that's really really important don't let embarrassment or fear stop you from reporting this right take immediate action and and get
32:20 it done um and then the next few slides um let's go to 42 um just we can talk about different pointers about you know what to do about Investments but the main thing is you know in all of these things the details in these slides the important thing is to find somebody who you have you know you decide to work with them because of knowledge of what they've done right referrals are
32:55 typically the best as long as you have decent friends in your network referrals from those friends can be the best way of of finding some of the stuff out there are some things that that protect money and some of Institutions FDI insurance covers $250,000 per account um but that protects you if the bank goes under or right gets lost it doesn't protect you from fraud yep so anyway you can roll through the next couple
33:37 Kevin okay and next we're going to talk about some telephone and internet scams that come up and uh these some of these are outrageous and you wouldn't believe they could possibly happen but so the first one we're going to talk about next slide is um the grandparent scam so the whole idea of this is that somebody gets your information they they know who your grandkids are and they try to mimic or imitate who the grandkids are they create a situation where they
34:12 call and tell you that they're in trouble they need money please don't tell you know my mother don't tell my father and just send me the money so anytime somebody's telling you just send me the money the hairs on the back of your neck should stand up right that's just something um and I can tell you I I know of a situation recently a person who has millions of dollars of of funds um who got inv involved with a with somebody and they were telling them oh I need go to the bank and get this cash
34:47 the person did it twice before the person at the bank finally told him wait a minute I think something's wrong he's this person was getting like8 or $9,000 out of the bank and bringing it outside and handing it to somebody well in the end of the day you know $36,000 later gone out the window right so you want to be really observant of the fact if any money is leaving your hands be really skeptical about how that's happening so we talked about the grandparent scam
35:22 next slide um one of the big things that people do is they use agencies particularly the IRS and they will call you and say I'm calling from the IRS you owe taxes if you don't do this right away You're G to get in you know more trouble than you've ever gotten in in your life they try to put you in an emotional prison to where and you feel the only way you can get out is to give them money and the thing to understand about this is that these agencies are never going to call you for
35:58 money right the IRS will never pick up the phone and say Hey Kevin you owe us money give it to us right away that's not how they work right they have a whole different criteria of how they do things they really start with letters and send them out to to people and you know the and the whole thing is is that if you have your network set up properly have people that can help you with this stuff so that when someone says hey you need money you have a very comfortable phone call to make to somebody else to
36:33 say you know th this will work and I can tell you somebody did this to me like a week and a half ago they called me I belong to an association I'm the membership director they called me and said oh the president needs to get this money to the uh speaker for tonight's uh meeting and she she's away from her you know phone and she's away she's not doesn't have the ability to transfer it she needs you to do this and she'll reimburse you tonight I mean and you know like for the first 10 seconds I was
37:08 like oh my God I gotta help and then I just thought wait a minute you know um having read through these slides um it saved me anyway so uh next slide um so this is things they do though they send bogus emails they mimic a call they and they'll just threaten you right that's these that's all the mo and if you go to the next slide Kevin um so in particular for the IRS these are all things that are true
37:44 they always send a written notification they never ask for payment over the phone and they never request your financial information by email so if any of those things are happening that's not the IRS that's somebody else right right and next slide um here's some things you can do if you owe if you feel like you owe taxes there's an 800 number you can call and if you don't owe the taxes you can you can report them as well and then um okay
38:20 so next slide then we talk about Lottery and sweep stake scams these are things where they send you information tell you you won something um so so here's basically the scam is you won something but you have to pay us first before you get your prize ridiculous that's unbelievable like like you don't need anybody in your life who want you to pay for the privilege of getting a prize exactly because that's not really a prize and there's no guarantee that they're going
38:55 to send you the money yeah right um and keep in mind uh next slide um you know some tips on this think just think about it if you didn't enter the contest to begin with right if you can't remember that you entered this contest what how do you think you won and and never pay to play right and never be suspicious of anybody that's telling you wire funds or get funds or they tell you to get you know uh money cards or something like that right anything like that just be really really
39:30 skeptical there's a new one going around the last few months I get text messages telling me that I owe money for tolls for using some toll road right and you know the first time it happened I thought oh well maybe a friend of mine was using I know a friend of mine had used my car and I thought well maybe he used a toll road right so I called him up and he said yeah I did use a toll road but I I paid anyway long story short I now periodically get these and they're coming from foreign phone numbers so they're clear it's clearly a scam and if
40:05 I were to click through on that link you know first of all they would probably have access to everything on my phone now but you know they're they're just that's it's clearly a scam it's it's they're people are ingenious about scamming yeah well the internet just opened up a whole new you know world of doing this it's the same type type of uh you know methods but now they have a lot of more instruments to use and a lot and it takes it much farther away um I I always remember this commercial on TV I thought it was very effective because I
40:40 don't know if you remember the Nigerian scam where they would say that there was a prince in Nigeria and he had you know got money and you needed to send him some money and he'd send you millions of dollars and I they did that commercial on TV as if the person was on the bus right you're on a bus and the other person's on the bus and he's saying to you oh hey I'm a Nigerian prince and I'm trying to and you realize how absurd it would be right but but on the internet it makes it seem you know much more palatable or whatever I don't know anyway uh let's go to the next
41:17 slide um and so we're gonna you know we're just going to kind to Rifle through the several different scams Phantom Deb collection they're going to C you and say you owe some money you know pay it um obviously if you can't remember what you did you you don't have any familiarity with it you should really be very skeptical um sometimes they'll pose as law enforcement agents but the whole thing is the same um you know and then yeah that's it's just always trying to make you feel like put you in a mental prison is really what
41:54 they try to do and then the only way to get out out is for you to pay them money um so when you feel like you're in that situation just stop and don't don't do anything because you're not in a prison you're just you know the subject of somebody trying to get your money um and here's some safeguards for we can go to the next slide um you know if somebody starts doing this to you try and get the whole idea is to turn it on them make them give you the information right ask for things in writing try and
42:31 get their name address and phone number you'll see that it breaks down really fast at that point because they don't they don't have the information or they don't want to give you their information so that's one of the ways whenever you feel like they're putting you in this situation it's like turn it on them and start asking for information you'll find it breaks down really quickly uh next slide um is a is a charity scan so same deal oh we you know we represent the um you know Tunas of the Pacific Ocean or whatever um we you know we uh
43:10 we're trying to get money from you and this is particularly again uh seniors are very uh much in the Wheelhouse of the people of Charity scams because they are nice people right seniors are nice people they've lived their whole life they have experience they're they have assets and they tend to be to to want to do good right everybody wants to do good and so a charity scam is really right you know on the Wheelhouse of of somebody trying to get money from Seniors uh
43:45 so you can see on the slide things that they do if we go to the next slide Kevin um you know they're going to pressure you to donate immediately and they want cash or buyer and never do that because you want if you are going to actually give money to a charity you want to make sure you have a record of it so you can at least deducted on your taxes if if that works for you um and then they try and get your account of rooting numbers and uh in information and sometimes they'll you know sometimes the Charities will have a scam uh contest right that they'll tell
44:21 you you want or whatever next slide so again um if you are going to go along with this at all start asking for information right that's the most important thing turn the situation against them I go to the next slide please um and you want to try to make sure next SL yeah thanks Kevin um you know you want to try to make sure that it's tax deductible and that the organization is is tax exempt as well
44:57 so and and again uh next slide make sure that you pay in some way that you have a record of it that will that will at least help you write it off and it might help you recover your money in a situation if they've right especially with a credit card because you can always report credit card fraud and yeah that's correct yes and the credit card company is then responsible to go back to them um so that's a really good point Kevin that if you're going to donate a lot of times do it on a credit card um then
45:32 some other scams uh is a thing they call spoofing or fishing where they'll create something an email a text or whatever and try and excite you to to action uh you know to do something and that you want to really try to stay away it's like the email one of the things with email is really look at the address because a lot of times the email will look really really great but when you actually look at the address it'll say you know from Joe Gmail or something
46:09 like that well you know Joe at gmail is not sending emails for the uh AT&T Erse right yeah I get used to checking the email address anytime I get an email from you know from someone that looks genuine but I don't know I'll check the email and the URL is oftentimes just a string of numbers or something it's clearly a scam yeah right and if you just want to roll through the next couple of uh couple of ones just you know you there's always language that can show you that
46:46 this isn't fraud a lot of times they'll have typos and that kind of thing that should really uh get your guard up as well um use good security software don't email financial information if you can avoid it um and be really careful about opening attachments right and shut your PC off when you're not using it all those are all really good things that you can do um next slide and don't give control of your computer to third party that's one of the things I can tell you I sit here as a victim of that where I thought I was
47:22 working with uh I use Google Drive a lot I thought I was working with Google like I even called the number myself I ended up with somebody else next thing I know they're on my computer they're starting to tell me oh yeah do this do that that's when I finally cut on and and shut it down but you know it can be late because they can put stuff on your computer that then allows them to get back into it later on right so you want to be really careful don't really turn it over unless you really know who that is um and don't just rely on caller ID and and uh and in particular if somebody
47:58 says oh we're tech support oh that you have a problem Microsoft has this problem Google has this problem it's like do not just simply accept that as face value really look into it to make sure that um and and nine times out of 10 I can tell you Google's not reaching out to you Microsoft's not reaching out to you about some big problems they have just you right you know and the other thing with what they call fishing which is you know somebody sends you an email and then
48:33 tries to get you to click on something um you know they're just don't open it if you see it if it looks suspicious just delete it at worst if it's really somebody trying to get to you and they're really legitimate they'll find a way right they'll either send you another one or they'll call you they'll do something so don't just click on this Stu willly andilly that's kind of if it's a big company a lot of them have email addresses specifically where you can send fishing attempts in their that are done in their name and then they will follow up on them and and do what
49:09 they can to to close that one down so I know financial institutions in particular um oftentimes they'll the email addresses are fishing at you know and then the financial institution's name thing like that so sometimes I will look that up and forward the emails to them so they can see what's going on in their name right so I I think we sufficiently covered fishing so if you can roll through the fishing slides um you know and and on identity theft you just want to be really careful right
49:44 your social security number is really important your birth date's important your credit cards and account numbers do not give those to people right that's once they get those you know particularly your social security number once they got that there's all kinds of things that they can start to do so you really want to stay I know in my business we I tell people do not email me documents with this information in it because emails can be intercepted I use a platform called Dropbox that allows us to uh upload documents to it and and it's all encrypted so it's virtually
50:21 impossible to steal documents from inside Dropbox and that way it's far less likely that people's identity information will be stolen right and so then um you know if we can go to uh why don't we go to like number 73 Kevin the medical identity so that's this is another whole Frontier of um of identity theft and that is somebody getting a hold of your medical information your Medicare number your uh insurance number or whatever and then using it to to you know create Mayhem
50:58 for you right and and steal money from you so if we can just go through the next couple of slides uh really quickly um you know in medical identity it's it's just uh you can get bills that you didn't receive you can get diff different things you just need to really be careful about who you give your information out to as well um and then the next Slide the uh medical identity theft how you respond to it um you want to get your file make sure
51:36 what you know that's in it write to your health provider to correct it and uh and also there's another agency called the senior medical uh Medicare Patrol in the state of California the address is below you can always contact them they're constantly on the lookout for medical identity schemes particularly I've never heard of that that's good to know yeah yeah me either so yeah so so they're there I I looked them up online last night so I know they're real right either that or they're a super good scam no I shouldn't say that
52:12 but anyway so and then a know a couple other types of uh things uh if you're at all looking at reverse mortgages you want to be really careful um you know with who you decide to work work with on that a lot of people do do uh solicit over the phone and that type of thing in my mind you're much better off finding somebody local in your neighborhood they they can really you can look them in the eye it's face to face um they'll actually have a lot of resources they can help you with as well so to me
52:47 that's a really important thing um and then the other side of it with reverse too is you just want to be really careful because one of the things that happens is is it's family members who decide they need your money and they're going to force you into taking that right they're going to really pressure you into doing this um so that they can get money from you and that's not something you particularly want to do you do not want to do it lightly you want to do it because it's something that you really feel you know is necessary for you to do so you want to be really careful with that and also uh
53:24 next slide um is um besides reverse mortgage scams is also Mortgage Assistance relief that's another whole area if you can go to the next slide Kevin um so a lot of times if you fall behind in payments or whatever um people come in and they'll tell you all kinds of stuff send me your payment I'll intercede with the lender well they're just trying to take your money right so be really careful if you're in trouble on your mortgage call somebody in
54:00 Authority call the Department of real estate call the um the state has agencies that help with Mortgage Assistance you can look them up online uh do not just work with somebody most of the people who work in that particular area are really very sketchy so be really careful about that um and then the next one uh next slide uh is contractor or Home Improvement fraud you have to be really really careful and the first thing to understand is that the person who's
54:37 involved in this they're very high pressure people they'll come to your door they'll call you on the phone they'll try to push you into situations that's how it starts the thing is as a senior who has lived their whole life who has you know maybe has a home right has some funds um when you're doing your home improvements do not let somebody from the outside push you into doing something right it should be because you've decided you want to do it and then you work through your network to find somebody who's trustworthy who's maybe
55:12 worked on the street work with your neighbors work with your friends or whatever uh and not just take the pressure right that's that's a that's a really important part of this whole thing I think it's important to note too that legitimate contractors especially right now here in California for example they don't need to use high pressure tactics they've got plenty of work so if you're getting pressured by a contractor to do some kind of work that that right there is something to be skeptical about because there are not enough people in uh in
55:48 construction right now and so you know they there's no reason to be high pressure about about getting you to commit to doing some kind of work well said um if you can go to 86 so then there's scams that Target veterans too so you want to be really careful in particular and this isn't just for veterans but people in general as well um it's a scam where they try to get your pension so you might have a pension and somebody comes in and tells
56:24 you oh it's much better to take a lum suum distribution from the pension and then as they convince you to do that they try to insert themselves in so that they get access to the money from the Lum suum and you want to be really careful about that if you go to the next slide um you know especially for veterans people that you know there are people that are out there that help you with VA forms because they're complex from time to time but those people are supposed to be accredited you can search uh on that address and um you can tell
57:00 um you know who who is accredited who isn't and in general you know the idea is if you have a pension for the most part keep your pension right keep your keep your monthly thing coming in you're far better off than than a lot of other people if you have that and don't take the lump some unless you really have some and you can always call for example organizations like the American Legion the Veterans of Foreign Wars they they consult on these for free as part of of their you know services to Veterans because that they're veteran organization so if someone's trying to
57:35 charge you to do this um you know that that almost for sure that's a scam uh because there's so many agent there's so many veteran organizations that do this as part of their mission and they don't charge Veterans for it and they don't get in they don't get into you know helping you uh actually receive the money they're just helping you process the forms and such so so if you can go to slide 90 Now Kevin um so to kind of put the ending on
58:10 this a really important thing is plan for the unexpected right if you plan ahead of time plan about the fact that you know you're probably going to have health concerns and you're going to have to spend some money on your health care right have that plan set up um get your Social Security in order right and get it on either uh a direct deposit or a direct you know Express card the more that you plan for your
58:46 future and set this up the better off you'll be because then anything where someone's trying to steal money from you is a deviation from that plan right so you don't have a plan then you then it's harder to recognize what's part of the plan and what's part of the deviation right but if you have a really well- constructed plan and somebody comes in and says oh no you shouldn't be doing that you should be doing this that's a deviation from your plan right and that should cue you off right off the bat that you uh so so that's a really
59:21 important um you know part of it and then um if if we can go to uh to line uh to slide 93 again your Social Security right get it on direct deposit or get it on Direct Express card so that you're not so somebody can't intercede and get control over your check um next slide uh you know you want to have this stuff available for you not for the not for the rster but for you um have your driver's license and government ID your
59:58 insurance cards your Social Security if you have that stuff in a secure place then you'll be able to get it when when the good guys actually need the information sure for help uh next slide um you know some other things you need have cash have a list of phone numbers uh important account numbers and uh if you have a safe deposit box make sure you know where the key is that you have control to getting the key all of this kept in a safe place where a caregiver can't get it right yes next
60:37 slide protect your documents um if you can make electronic images for storage that's a really good thing uh try and uh try and get all of that uh in one place and again like Kevin said in a very secure place as well next slide and then and here it is uh keep it in a safe deposit box or keep it at uh at home in a fireproof safe those are really good things to do as well um and pretty much that's really about
61:14 it for now um the main thing is if it sounds too good it probably is right if you want to be just really careful if it seems like it's a deviation from the norm you know start to really retrench turn the situation if somebody puts you in an emotional state that you feel like you have to do something try and turn the situation around on them start asking them for information who are they why are they what do they possibly think that they can put you in this situation
61:49 and ask for facts because they don't have them or they don't have facts they want to tell you because then that gives acces The Who their information is so anyway be be really careful out there and um good luck with your financial future and you know I I think to to re reiterate one of the points you made that's so important is um scams oftentimes are trying to use the pressure of time to to to get you to act imp what what what ends up being imprudently because you feel pressured
62:24 to do so quickly and and if if if you're feeling pressured to act that's a good time to step back and say I shouldn't be acting um unless you absolutely are 100% sure of what the situation is um you absolutely are certain you know who you're speaking to Etc you know as they say act in haste repent and Leisure there's almost never a a time where it has to happen right this minute it has to happen today it it can almost always wait a a day or even a few days so that
63:00 things can be sorted out and handled appropriately um and and rarely does that e even in a you know a case where you know someone someone is you know in foreclosure whatever no bank is going to move so quickly that uh you know a few days are are going to mean the difference between you know being foreclosed and not that's just not how the system works so um yeah very well Tom thanks thanks so much for you know coming on and and talking about all these things they're you know they're a little bit depressing on the
63:35 one hand on the other hand it's so it's so important to be aware of the way that that people are taken advantage of especially um elderly people our parents our our grandparents uh you know Aunts Uncles Etc um or if we have uh you know relatives with special needs who are still you know somewhat independent all of these and and we ourselves I I I get scam emails all the time um we're also V vulnerable to this and we we unfortunately have to be vigilant to make sure that we're not victimized
64:11 so well and if you think it's depressing to know about it just think of how depressing it is to know about it with $40,000 Less in your bank account because you didn't figure it out until then you know I mean that's the thing is you just I think you know you just have to recognize that this is out there and um you know and really try to uh you know to work with it and know it and and not to not to dwell on it right it's not like spend every minute oh my God they're they're after me now right but to but to really just recognize it and
64:48 take the steps that are necessary so you can go on with your life and and you know be nice to your grandkids nice have a nice life that's what we all deserve as seniors so yeah for sure for sure well again thanks so much for for coming on and talking about this if you'll just um hang tight for a couple minutes I'm gonna wrap up the show and then we'll speak for a minute offline so good so first of all those of you who are watching live thank you so much for joining us always a a pleasure to know you're you know you're you're with us and uh um we very much appreciate you tuning in um and uh for those of you who
65:25 are watching ing the replay of this thanks thanks for doing so as well um you know I don't say this too often but for this particular episode I really encourage you to think about someone you know who could benefit from being aware of of how they can be victimized and send them a link to to this show and and encourage them to watch it um I just did the same thing with a webinar my bank did I I sent it to a number of my uh business associates it's it's just really important to spread this information and Tom does a great job in
66:00 explaining these things and so I I encourage you to do that if you have any thoughts comments uh criticisms you can um are the links to the social media will be in the show notes after this episode posts on on my YouTube channel and I I you know always happy to hear those those comments so uh upcoming so tomorrow at 5:00 pm is my every other week show jiggers his place we're going to sit back have a cocktail the Federalist cocktail and we're going to be talking about the Federalist Papers so there's a lot of discussion going on
66:36 right now what does the Constitution really say what does it really allow Etc so we're going to go right to the source the documents that were written uh by um uh the framers Andor um people who were involved in the ratification of the Constitution who wrote about what it really meant and we're not going to look at all 85 we're going to look at a handful of them just to give you an idea of of where you can learn about this um but it's best done over a cocktail if you want the recipe to the cocktail please go to my website baml.com sign up
67:11 for my email list and that way the morning before uh the the jiggers is Place shows you'll you'll get an email it'll have the cocktail address you can make it along with me at the beginning of the show next week on Monday at at 10: a.m. Pacific time is my show trust in Estates weekly my guest is Jolene Blackburn and she's going to be talking about funeral planning so I mentioned uh during Tom Tom's presentation that uh a welldone estate plan should deal with the issues that occur prior to to death
67:48 uh one of those issues is funeral planning so rather than leaving your loved ones in in their time of brief to deal with all those issues it can all be set up in advance so that it's done the way you want it done and and it's uh relieves your loved ones of of the burden of having to take care of that so I encourage you to tune in and and um and and and listen to the or watch the conversation between Jolene and me on Tuesday at 10: amm Pacific time is my show business lessons from the military and then a week from today we'll be back for with the next edition of people
68:24 making money so so uh Tom again one last one final thank you before we sign off thanks so much for coming on I really appreciate it being here yeah and and for all of you viewers uh wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do Marie darling you are my bell you know you are