Latest / She's On The Money / Scamdelous (how to avoid being scammed)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
- 0:23Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Scams we hear about
- 0:27Speaker 2: them on the news all the time, mainly on a
- 0:30Speaker 2: current Affair, and a big shout out to Tracy Grimshaw
- 0:32Speaker 2: if she.
- 0:32Speaker 3: Is listening now.
- 0:34Speaker 2: While these stories do tug at the heartstrings, ultimately we
- 0:38Speaker 2: all kind of assume it will never happen to us
- 0:41Speaker 2: because we're way too smart to get sucked into a scam.
- 0:43Speaker 4: Do people still watch courn Affair?
- 0:45Speaker 3: I think so cute?
- 0:47Speaker 4: Do?
- 0:47Speaker 3: I don't know?
- 0:48Speaker 4: You carry on?
- 0:48Speaker 3: That's sorry, poll the group.
- 0:50Speaker 2: The thing is, though, guys, scamming can happen to anyone
- 0:54Speaker 2: of any age, intellect, and background, including She's on the
- 0:57Speaker 2: Money listeners. So today we want to run you through
- 0:59Speaker 2: all you need to know when it comes to scams
- 1:01Speaker 2: so you can avoid a falling victim to this hideous
- 1:04Speaker 2: type of crime. My name is Georgia King, and joining
- 1:08Speaker 2: me today to talk through how we can safeguard our
- 1:10Speaker 2: finances and ourselves from scams is financial advisor Victoria Divine.
- 1:16Speaker 2: I had a phone call the other day from someone
- 1:19Speaker 2: claiming to be from the ATO.
- 1:21Speaker 4: They weren't spoiler.
- 1:22Speaker 2: It was an automated message and it said I would
- 1:25Speaker 2: be arrested if I didn't transfer money for some overdue
- 1:29Speaker 2: tax and I was like, I have to say, God.
- 1:31Speaker 4: Did you how realistic was it? And it wasn't a recording.
- 1:35Speaker 4: It was actually someone saying he was calling from the ATO. Yeah,
- 1:39Speaker 4: And quite evidently he was not because they don't speak
- 1:42Speaker 4: in the tone of voice he was speaking in right
- 1:45Speaker 4: when I said, okay, well validate my information and he
- 1:49Speaker 4: was like, oh, I didn't know how, And I said,
- 1:52Speaker 4: oh my gosh, I don't even have a job. I
- 1:54Speaker 4: just played along with it. It's a terrible idea, but
- 1:57Speaker 4: you know, we're actually going to teach you about real
- 1:59Speaker 4: scam avoidance. It's not the victoriated line method.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Well, but that's the thing, be that these are so realistic.
- 2:05Speaker 2: Like I'm a I consider myself to be a smart, young,
- 2:08Speaker 2: strapping lass but I was like, Mom, I'm gonna get arrested.
- 2:13Speaker 3: They're coming for me.
- 2:16Speaker 4: So if the ATO were genuinely coming for you and
- 2:19Speaker 4: they already had your mobile number, I guarantee you would
- 2:22Speaker 4: have heard about this before. No one and I repeat,
- 2:25Speaker 4: no one is ever going to call you and be like, hey,
- 2:27Speaker 4: if you don't transfer me money for some overdue tracks,
- 2:30Speaker 4: you're going to be arrested. That's not going to happen.
- 2:32Speaker 2: Well, that's what my mum said. I'm still kind of
- 2:35Speaker 2: suss on it.
- 2:35Speaker 4: Though, So in that situation, let's take this situation as
- 2:39Speaker 4: any exactible. I know we're going to get into it
- 2:41Speaker 4: in more depth, yep, But in this situation, you'd say,
- 2:44Speaker 4: no problems, thank you so much. Mister. I think you're
- 2:47Speaker 4: a scammer. What's your landline. I'm going to call you
- 2:50Speaker 4: back on that and ask them for their landline. Then
- 2:54Speaker 4: if they do give you that, great, that's a very
- 2:56Speaker 4: positive step. Google it is it actually the ATO? If not,
- 3:02Speaker 4: just call there one eight hundred number and say, hey,
- 3:04Speaker 4: I was just on the phone to somebody at the ATO.
- 3:07Speaker 4: They said I was going to be arrested. Be worried.
- 3:10Speaker 4: Can you guys let me know what's going on? So
- 3:13Speaker 4: my advice is immediately hang up and then call that
- 3:16Speaker 4: authority back asap if you're concerned about it. Obviously I
- 3:21Speaker 4: knew that was a scam, so I definitely didn't bother
- 3:23Speaker 4: following anybody up. But if you're worried, call that proper
- 3:27Speaker 4: authority on their one eight hundred number. Not talk to
- 3:30Speaker 4: that person on the phone, because often even if you say, hey,
- 3:34Speaker 4: can you validate my identification, they're like, okay, give me
- 3:37Speaker 4: your full name. No no, no, no no, you're now giving
- 3:40Speaker 4: them the information that they need. So don't do that.
- 3:44Speaker 3: Oh my god. Okay, so call.
- 3:45Speaker 4: Them, and the girl that picks up or the boy
- 3:47Speaker 4: that picks up is going to go, oh my gosh, Georgia,
- 3:49Speaker 4: I know that's a common scam. I'm so sorry you
- 3:51Speaker 4: got stuck. Okay, they'll let you know.
- 3:52Speaker 3: Don't know. Don't call mom.
- 3:54Speaker 4: I mean you could call mom, I call my literally everything.
- 3:58Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, moving a lot.
- 4:00Speaker 2: How common are scams in Australia, because it's not just
- 4:03Speaker 2: you and I are getting these calls, right.
- 4:04Speaker 4: No, it's not. Unfortunately, there are too many scams and
- 4:07Speaker 4: unfortunately they are all too common. In twenty twenty, one
- 4:11Speaker 4: hundred and seventy six million dollars was lost on scams,
- 4:15Speaker 4: which is up a total of twenty three point one
- 4:18Speaker 4: percent if we compare that to twenty nineteen stats, and
- 4:21Speaker 4: that of course was due to the increased time that
- 4:23Speaker 4: we are actually spending online recently and that is, my friends,
- 4:27Speaker 4: a lot of money. And that's not only scams that
- 4:30Speaker 4: we've been reported, do you Apparently only thirteen percent of
- 4:33Speaker 4: victims actually make a report, according to a company called
- 4:36Speaker 4: scam Watch, which is run by the Australian Competition and
- 4:39Speaker 4: Consumer Commission or the ah trouble C. So it's safe
- 4:42Speaker 4: to assume that much more money has actually been lost,
- 4:44Speaker 4: which is wild.
- 4:45Speaker 2: It is wild, And I guess it makes sense that
- 4:48Speaker 2: last year so much money was lost because obviously it
- 4:51Speaker 2: was the pandemic and as you said, we were spending
- 4:52Speaker 2: so much time online because we had not a lot
- 4:55Speaker 2: else to do, and they really targeted us for that.
- 4:58Speaker 4: Absolutely, And do you know what's scary? More than sixty
- 5:01Speaker 4: three million dollars has already been lost this year and
- 5:03Speaker 4: it's only May.
- 5:05Speaker 3: What that's a lot of cash, God, is a lot
- 5:08Speaker 3: of money.
- 5:08Speaker 4: That is a lot of dollar us.
- 5:10Speaker 2: Georgia King, it's really sad this topic.
- 5:14Speaker 4: I think it's really sad. But I also think it's
- 5:16Speaker 4: really important because it can help us have empowered conversations,
- 5:20Speaker 4: Like I don't think a lot of people in the moment,
- 5:23Speaker 4: especially when they pick up the phone and someone says
- 5:25Speaker 4: I'm from the ato, and if you don't pay us
- 5:27Speaker 4: right now, you're going to go to jail. You're gonna
- 5:30Speaker 4: be a bit stressed. But I think the most important
- 5:32Speaker 4: thing here is actually to go Okay, no, here's what
- 5:35Speaker 4: I'm gonna do. Thank you so much for calling. I
- 5:37Speaker 4: can see that you've got a valid point. If they do.
- 5:40Speaker 4: If they don't, who cares to just say that? Hang
- 5:43Speaker 4: up and call them directly from their landline. For me,
- 5:46Speaker 4: that is probably the best way to go about it
- 5:49Speaker 4: if they call you. But some are a lot slipperier
- 5:52Speaker 4: than that, and they actually get into your inbox and
- 5:54Speaker 4: you don't even realize how scammy they are.
- 5:57Speaker 2: Well, that's it, Feast, so tell me it's This is
- 6:00Speaker 2: obviously ATO style scams. So masking is government cooperations to
- 6:06Speaker 2: try and get your money, get your personal details, whatever.
- 6:09Speaker 4: Lots of types of scam.
- 6:10Speaker 3: Talk me through them.
- 6:11Speaker 4: Okay, are you ready for this? Because there are a
- 6:14Speaker 4: lot of different types of scams, which is kind of
- 6:16Speaker 4: pervy like. As long as you've never been bitten by them,
- 6:19Speaker 4: this could be a really interesting episode. But if you have,
- 6:22Speaker 4: you'll be like, oh my gosh, Victoria, please stuff talking.
- 6:24Speaker 4: But one that everybody is probably seen is those prize
- 6:28Speaker 4: winning scams. So, for example, you might have received a
- 6:31Speaker 4: message from an unknown number congratulating you on winning their competition,
- 6:35Speaker 4: and all you need to do to claim your fifty
- 6:37Speaker 4: thousand dollar prize is click the link and give them
- 6:39Speaker 4: all your personal details, which should be true, too good
- 6:43Speaker 4: to be true, because it is too good to be true.
- 6:45Speaker 4: And then they'll use your personal details and you know
- 6:47Speaker 4: what are they going to do with that?
- 6:48Speaker 3: What still my money?
- 6:50Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. They're going to probably pretend to be you,
- 6:54Speaker 4: which is terrifying. There's another type of scam, which is
- 6:58Speaker 4: more of a transactional buying scam, so maybe on like Facebook,
- 7:02Speaker 4: Marketplace or eBay where people are selling false scords and
- 7:05Speaker 4: taking your money and running. And I've actually seen this
- 7:07Speaker 4: a fair bit on places like gum tree recently. Really yes,
- 7:11Speaker 4: especially during COVID, you know what, advertising pets, which is
- 7:17Speaker 4: really sad because a lot of people during COVID really
- 7:19Speaker 4: want pets. So they're like, yep, I totally get that
- 7:22Speaker 4: you can't see me. I will, you know, follow all
- 7:25Speaker 4: the social distancing rules. I'll transfer my five thousand dollars
- 7:28Speaker 4: for my you know, spoodle thing that everybody's buying at
- 7:31Speaker 4: the moment. That's an attack on me as well. I
- 7:33Speaker 4: just bought a golden Sheeper doodle go figure. A legit one,
- 7:37Speaker 4: by the way, wasn't a scam, but they would take
- 7:39Speaker 4: people's money and then they'd organizer pickup time and actually
- 7:42Speaker 4: never turn up, which is wild and so unfair.
- 7:45Speaker 2: They really capitalize on trends, it seems, because that's what
- 7:49Speaker 2: everyone was buying last year, isn't that Yeah, yep.
- 7:50Speaker 4: Which makes sense, and that's why you really need to
- 7:53Speaker 4: validate any purchase that you are making online. And there
- 7:57Speaker 4: sadly are a few dating scams online. This breaks my heart, yeah,
- 8:01Speaker 4: or what people are more commonly calling cat fishing, which
- 8:05Speaker 4: are particularly devastating, often because love is involved, and that
- 8:09Speaker 4: might be a scammer setting up a fake account or
- 8:11Speaker 4: initiating a fake relationship and then exploiting the other person,
- 8:15Speaker 4: using them for money or gifts or personal details, and
- 8:18Speaker 4: they would usually want to hurry the relationship along, but
- 8:21Speaker 4: they can't ever meet that person because they're quote overseas
- 8:24Speaker 4: or working in a mine or something like that. And
- 8:27Speaker 4: once they've formed that relationship with you and the trust
- 8:30Speaker 4: is there, that's when it gets really dangerous. And they'll
- 8:33Speaker 4: start asking for money or claim that there's an emergency
- 8:36Speaker 4: and that they need your financial help and stuff. And
- 8:38Speaker 4: that's really terrifying because I think that that happens more
- 8:42Speaker 4: often than people are willing to admit, because it's a
- 8:45Speaker 4: bit embarrassing in a way, right, Yeah, No one wants
- 8:47Speaker 4: to say, hey, I got catfished.
- 8:49Speaker 2: No, because there's, yeah, there's ego involved in that. One
- 8:52Speaker 2: hundred an emotional experience to go through. Having your heartbroken
- 8:56Speaker 2: is bad enough, but coupling that with national devastation.
- 9:01Speaker 4: And I think it's really hard because you know, good
- 9:04Speaker 4: people meet other good people online, Like I met my
- 9:06Speaker 4: partner online, and I'm not ashamed of that in any way,
- 9:09Speaker 4: shape or form, but I think it's a more common
- 9:12Speaker 4: way to meet people nowadays, but also a really common
- 9:16Speaker 4: way for people to be scammed. Side note, Georgia, how
- 9:19Speaker 4: cool would it be to get a catfished money diary?
- 9:22Speaker 3: Oh? That would be very interesting.
- 9:25Speaker 4: So if you've been catfished and it's financially impacted, you
- 9:29Speaker 4: could you just start slide into my DMS in the
- 9:32Speaker 4: next week or so, because I have questions. Yeah, and
- 9:35Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure our whole community does.
- 9:38Speaker 2: Well and that would be a really helpful listen for
- 9:39Speaker 2: everyone to know exactly what to be aware of and
- 9:41Speaker 2: those little red flags that we need to.
- 9:43Speaker 4: Make back on track. Though, when it comes to scams,
- 9:46Speaker 4: there are also fake charities, fake tradees, fake investing opportunities,
- 9:50Speaker 4: computer hackings, et cetera. Literally the list goes on in
- 9:55Speaker 4: terms of the scams that are most prevalent. Scam Watch's
- 9:57Speaker 4: latest report from twenty nineteen found the greatest losses by
- 10:01Speaker 4: type of scam were number one business email compromised scams
- 10:06Speaker 4: and number two investment scams and then number three dating
- 10:09Speaker 4: roment scams. So all of the things that we want,
- 10:12Speaker 4: we want to be in business, we want to be investing,
- 10:15Speaker 4: and we want to be in love, and we're going
- 10:17Speaker 4: to be scammed on the mall Georgia. Not good, not
- 10:19Speaker 4: good at all.
- 10:20Speaker 2: And that's millions and millions and millions of dollars were
- 10:23Speaker 2: tied to those each of those headers, So it's a
- 10:26Speaker 2: lot of money that's been lost.
- 10:27Speaker 4: To each of those in total. We go back to
- 10:29Speaker 4: that stat I said at the start, I believe that
- 10:30Speaker 4: was one hundred and seventy six million dollars which was
- 10:34Speaker 4: lost in twenty twenty Wild and that was all that
- 10:37Speaker 4: people actually admitted to. Crazy.
- 10:41Speaker 2: Now, investment scams that was number two. So that's obviously
- 10:44Speaker 2: the space that you move in.
- 10:45Speaker 4: It is I do like a little investment.
- 10:48Speaker 3: What does this mean? What does that look like? What
- 10:50Speaker 3: do we need to be mindful of?
- 10:52Speaker 4: So investment scams usually occur when a scammer is masked
- 10:55Speaker 4: grading as like a stock trader or a broker or
- 10:58Speaker 4: a financial professional. Really really sad and hopefully less common
- 11:03Speaker 4: given the Royal Commission that we went through in twenty
- 11:05Speaker 4: nineteen in saying that if you're interested in finance scams
- 11:09Speaker 4: and you haven't listened to the podcast who the hell
- 11:11Speaker 4: is Hamish? Oh what are you doing with your life?
- 11:14Speaker 4: That was so juicy cost juicy? Definitely go and listen
- 11:18Speaker 4: to that. But back to financial scams and investing scams.
- 11:21Speaker 4: They will often approach you with a once in a
- 11:23Speaker 4: lifetime opportunity that will help you make money fast, but
- 11:26Speaker 4: to do that you actually need to move really quickly,
- 11:29Speaker 4: and they often use really tricky language and jargons so
- 11:32Speaker 4: that they sound super informed, and they make you reluctant
- 11:34Speaker 4: to ask questions or question the authenticity of that kind
- 11:38Speaker 4: of offer. So for me, any person who doesn't break
- 11:42Speaker 4: it down for you and actually explain an investment opportunity
- 11:46Speaker 4: and isn't willing to wait is a terrible idea, even
- 11:49Speaker 4: if it's not a scam. If someone is pressuring you
- 11:52Speaker 4: to invest and you're just not ready, they are not
- 11:54Speaker 4: the right person to invest with. My friends.
- 11:56Speaker 2: Are there fake in quote marks businesses on the stock
- 12:01Speaker 2: market or is that highly regulated? Like can we ever
- 12:04Speaker 2: accidentally invest in?
- 12:06Speaker 4: No, if you logged into the ASX and you were investing,
- 12:09Speaker 4: you're not going to get scammed there. But if you
- 12:11Speaker 4: met someone and they're like, hey, Georgia King, I am
- 12:14Speaker 4: a stockbroker, I will broke of stocks on your behalf,
- 12:18Speaker 4: that's where you've got to be a bit wary about
- 12:19Speaker 4: the authenticity of that person. And that's where the ask,
- 12:22Speaker 4: you know, financial advisory register comes in handy. So if
- 12:26Speaker 4: you are going to go see a financial advisor, you
- 12:28Speaker 4: can look them up and see if they're registered and
- 12:30Speaker 4: have any complaints against them and making sure that they're
- 12:32Speaker 4: actually qualified, et cetera. So for me, go and look
- 12:36Speaker 4: up that person and see their history. I think in
- 12:38Speaker 4: twenty twenty one, it's not too hard to see if
- 12:40Speaker 4: someone has a track record or not, but historically it's
- 12:43Speaker 4: been a lot more convoluted than it is today.
- 12:47Speaker 2: Okay, this is a throwback to an earlier episode.
- 12:50Speaker 4: I know exactly what you're about to say.
- 12:52Speaker 2: Would you consider MLM to be a scam?
- 12:55Speaker 4: Absolutely? And I've spoken about this so many times. There
- 12:59Speaker 4: are a number of reason, right, and please don't think
- 13:01Speaker 4: that for even two seconds. I think that MLMs are
- 13:04Speaker 4: a scam for absolutely everybody. There's like a one percent
- 13:07Speaker 4: of those scams that they're making money, but they're making
- 13:10Speaker 4: money off scamming people, so like that's not a thing.
- 13:13Speaker 2: For anyone who doesn't know. MLMs are multiple schemes yea.
- 13:18Speaker 4: And to me, I do genuinely believe that they are
- 13:20Speaker 4: pyramid schemes parading as sheep, so you know, instead of
- 13:24Speaker 4: having an actual pyramid scheme, they always always always sell
- 13:27Speaker 4: a product. So that could be essentral oils, it could
- 13:30Speaker 4: be you know, workout stuff, it could be well like
- 13:33Speaker 4: kitchen where it could be literally anything, but usually actually
- 13:37Speaker 4: not even usually Georgia. Always there is a product associated
- 13:41Speaker 4: with it to masquerade this pyramid scheme. And that's what
- 13:44Speaker 4: they'll say, someone says, or if you say to someone, hey, Georgia,
- 13:47Speaker 4: that's a pyramid scheme. They'll be like, no, but we've
- 13:49Speaker 4: sell a product, and you'll be like, you are still
- 13:52Speaker 4: a scam, my friend. But the reason I think that
- 13:55Speaker 4: is scammy is because so many people get lulled into
- 13:58Speaker 4: this false sense of security where they think, oh, I'm
- 14:01Speaker 4: gonna run my own business and I'm actually gonna have
- 14:03Speaker 4: this really great support network and I'm going to do
- 14:05Speaker 4: all these cool things, when in reality, it's going to
- 14:08Speaker 4: cost you more than what you're actually making from it,
- 14:11Speaker 4: and it's not a good thing at all because they
- 14:13Speaker 4: own your entire IP and you don't actually get your
- 14:17Speaker 4: own business. You're so reliant on somebody else. So my
- 14:20Speaker 4: opinion there is, if you want to be a business owner,
- 14:22Speaker 4: go join the Business Bible. Obviously not being promotional here,
- 14:26Speaker 4: I genuinely believe you should go and join the Business
- 14:29Speaker 4: Bible instead of joining a MLM that is going to
- 14:32Speaker 4: lead you now on the wrong track.
- 14:33Speaker 2: Love that, and also go back and listen to our
- 14:36Speaker 2: MLM episode I think.
- 14:38Speaker 3: From season three, Season three, Season three.
- 14:40Speaker 4: Imagine having that many seasons that we get confused and
- 14:43Speaker 4: how cool we.
- 14:44Speaker 2: Are doing as a business owner, how worrying are scams
- 14:50Speaker 2: for you, because I feel like they would kind of
- 14:52Speaker 2: be a threat to you as well, not just as
- 14:54Speaker 2: an individual but as a business owner.
- 14:56Speaker 4: Absolutely, and they are quite concerning. And I've actually seen
- 15:00Speaker 4: a few friends, not recently, but in the last couple
- 15:02Speaker 4: of years, I guess that's recently have a hacker come
- 15:07Speaker 4: into their computer system and change invoices, so you pay
- 15:11Speaker 4: money to a separate bank account. And these friends worked
- 15:15Speaker 4: in the real estate industry, so these amounts of money
- 15:18Speaker 4: were people's home deposits.
- 15:20Speaker 3: Oh my god.
- 15:21Speaker 4: Yeah, So what would happen is they'd send the bank
- 15:24Speaker 4: details through to the person who needed to pay the
- 15:27Speaker 4: home deposit, and then they'd pay them. It'd all be
- 15:29Speaker 4: well and good, and they'd be like, yeah, paid it,
- 15:31Speaker 4: no problems, and then the real estate agent would say, great,
- 15:33Speaker 4: thank you so much, Georgia, congratulations. We'll send you the
- 15:36Speaker 4: receipt once he hits the account, because usually those things
- 15:39Speaker 4: aren't instant because it's such a big transfer, and then
- 15:42Speaker 4: a couple of days later they'll be like, oh, it's
- 15:43Speaker 4: not there, but then a couple of days later it's
- 15:46Speaker 4: too late. So for me, if you are transferring a
- 15:50Speaker 4: home deposit, I would absolutely just call the real estate
- 15:53Speaker 4: agent and go, hey, don't want to be a pest,
- 15:55Speaker 4: but could you just confirm your BSBAN account number before
- 15:57Speaker 4: I make this transfer? Yea, just to get it verbally
- 16:00Speaker 4: as well. And I know a couple of people who
- 16:03Speaker 4: work in real estate who will only do it verbally
- 16:05Speaker 4: and get you to like write it down and then
- 16:07Speaker 4: spell it out because so many times this happens and
- 16:10Speaker 4: it's terrifying. But that's all about security as well. So
- 16:14Speaker 4: here it cheese on money and Zella, we have psycho
- 16:17Speaker 4: levels of security.
- 16:18Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, I can't imagine you'd
- 16:20Speaker 2: just be like, yeah, whatever, send it through fun.
- 16:24Speaker 4: Ask poor Jess, Like, we can't even make changes to
- 16:26Speaker 4: our emails without our IT person. Get you involved, because
- 16:31Speaker 4: it is such a high level of security, which is
- 16:33Speaker 4: honestly so necessary because I also run a wealth business. Yeah,
- 16:37Speaker 4: and my clients personal details, they're really important to me
- 16:41Speaker 4: and they should never ever ever be compromised.
- 16:43Speaker 3: Yeah, love it all right.
- 16:45Speaker 2: Descanners target certain demographics of people.
- 16:48Speaker 4: Look not necessarily. It feels like that when we hear
- 16:53Speaker 4: these stories that it's always the elderly that's targeted, or
- 16:56Speaker 4: you know, the young people, or you know the people
- 16:58Speaker 4: who owe tax or whatever it is. But according to
- 17:01Speaker 4: scam Watch, there's actually no specific demographic that's targeted, and
- 17:04Speaker 4: we all really need to be super careful and vigilant
- 17:07Speaker 4: in saying that certain scams will target certain people. So
- 17:11Speaker 4: people who are on online dating apps or websites that
- 17:14Speaker 4: are targeted for romance scams, particularly if they're new to
- 17:17Speaker 4: these sites and they're not very experienced, they might not
- 17:20Speaker 4: be able to pick them up as quickly. Whereas I
- 17:22Speaker 4: think you know, you and IG if we were on
- 17:24Speaker 4: Tinder today, I think we'd pretty quickly see something and
- 17:28Speaker 4: be like, oh, that's too good to be true, or
- 17:30Speaker 4: that's a scam, or yeah, profile is not written well yeah,
- 17:33Speaker 4: but I would assume that someone who's maybe not a
- 17:35Speaker 4: millennial or gen Z or why, they might actually not
- 17:39Speaker 4: see that and not have the level of conviction when
- 17:42Speaker 4: it comes to going ah, I don't think that's actually
- 17:44Speaker 4: what they say they are.
- 17:45Speaker 2: Yeah, And if you've been out of the game, as
- 17:47Speaker 2: they say, for a long time and someone's like, hey, Candy, Candy, Okay,
- 17:52Speaker 2: you're a lovely look and lass, let's get dinner online
- 17:57Speaker 2: because I'm fake.
- 17:58Speaker 3: Like you go for it.
- 18:00Speaker 2: That was a weird spill, but you know what I mean,
- 18:03Speaker 2: they would be less suspicious, whereas we would be like, no, Derek, no, god,
- 18:08Speaker 2: that was weird. Keep on talking, Victoria handling back to you.
- 18:12Speaker 4: Okay, I really like that, but in saying that, this
- 18:14Speaker 4: is creepy and I'm totally happy to share this with
- 18:17Speaker 4: the trees on the money community. But do you know
- 18:19Speaker 4: what you can do? You can screenshot people's profiles on
- 18:23Speaker 4: dating apps. Because I met Steve on a dating app
- 18:25Speaker 4: and I did this, then I have no shame screenshot.
- 18:28Speaker 4: You can reverse search on Google from an image. You
- 18:32Speaker 4: can that, yes, yeah, okay, obviously I just did my research.
- 18:37Speaker 4: You did this with Steve, not with Steve. But it's
- 18:40Speaker 4: how I found out that a couple of profiles had
- 18:42Speaker 4: stolen pictures and were using them and they weren't theirs,
- 18:45Speaker 4: because you know, sometimes they are legit and people are
- 18:49Speaker 4: legitimate people behind the accounts, but then they're actually not
- 18:54Speaker 4: who they say.
- 18:54Speaker 3: That's fishing, isn't it.
- 18:55Speaker 4: Yeah exactly. And so if you reverse image search it
- 18:58Speaker 4: and then it comes up with like male model, you're like, well,
- 19:01Speaker 4: that's clearly not you, as the first thing on Google. Yeah,
- 19:05Speaker 4: so I used to just block and delete them. But
- 19:07Speaker 4: too many people aren't that savvy or aren't that creepy?
- 19:10Speaker 4: Not sure which one it is, but let's move on.
- 19:13Speaker 4: If you are worried about people in your life being
- 19:15Speaker 4: taken advantage of because you're not as savvy or as
- 19:18Speaker 4: creepy as I am, it's a really good idea to
- 19:21Speaker 4: point them in the direction of the scam Watch website,
- 19:24Speaker 4: which we will link in the show notes, as that
- 19:26Speaker 4: has really comprehensive lists of what kinds of behaviors that
- 19:29Speaker 4: you should be really mindful of. So obviously, if things
- 19:33Speaker 4: feel off and your gut is telling you it's not right,
- 19:36Speaker 4: nine times out of ten it's not right.
- 19:38Speaker 2: I gotta listen to your gut.
- 19:39Speaker 4: You absolutely do.
- 19:41Speaker 2: All right, We will be back just after the break
- 19:43Speaker 2: to chat how we can avoid being scammed, and very importantly,
- 19:47Speaker 2: what to do if we or if someone we know
- 19:49Speaker 2: has been scammed. Stick around friends. Alrighty, guys, don't forget
- 20:13Speaker 2: that this podcast is not the only place we chat
- 20:15Speaker 2: about scams and money.
- 20:17Speaker 3: We're also on the Facebook. One hundred and sixty three.
- 20:20Speaker 4: How old you are the Facebook?
- 20:22Speaker 2: I'm not one hundred and eight of just aged. Well,
- 20:27Speaker 2: we've got the Facebook, We've got the Instagram, We've got
- 20:29Speaker 2: the TikTok, we do the newsletter.
- 20:31Speaker 3: The other thing we.
- 20:32Speaker 2: Have is a reviews page at the bottom of iTunes
- 20:35Speaker 2: Victoria define we.
- 20:36Speaker 4: Do, and that is where you can leave lovely comments
- 20:38Speaker 4: about how delightful Georgia King's analogies are and how much
- 20:43Speaker 4: we like Jessica's laugh on the pod on Friday Drinks. So,
- 20:46Speaker 4: if you would like to leave us a lovely review,
- 20:49Speaker 4: please do so, because not everybody on the internet is
- 20:52Speaker 4: as kind.
- 20:53Speaker 2: No, and if you give us five stars, I think
- 20:54Speaker 2: that helps with the algorithm. I'm not one for the
- 20:57Speaker 2: technology as we know, but I think it does help.
- 21:00Speaker 2: It helps us reach more people. Yeah, Georgia King is right,
- 21:03Speaker 2: it helps us.
- 21:03Speaker 4: Build our community stay again and make sure that we
- 21:06Speaker 4: can keep the podcast going.
- 21:08Speaker 2: Yes, so please, if you have time, guys, we would
- 21:10Speaker 2: love it if you could leave us a little review.
- 21:12Speaker 4: Do you know what else we love? Georgia King? What
- 21:15Speaker 4: talking about scams? So we do.
- 21:16Speaker 3: Let's get back into it.
- 21:18Speaker 2: Okay, So we know now that scams are quite prevalent,
- 21:22Speaker 2: that they are jinking. We know what some types of
- 21:26Speaker 2: scams out there are. We only really scratch the surface
- 21:28Speaker 2: but we don't have hours, We've got minutes, So how
- 21:31Speaker 2: do we actually avoid being scammed?
- 21:34Speaker 4: All right, So it sounds really stereotypical, but stay vigilant
- 21:38Speaker 4: and be aware that scams actually exist. I think too
- 21:41Speaker 4: many of us are too trusting, which is really sweet,
- 21:44Speaker 4: and I think it's really kind that we just assume
- 21:47Speaker 4: that everybody has our best interests at hard and that's
- 21:49Speaker 4: actually not the case. So definitely always second guess things,
- 21:54Speaker 4: especially if they're over the Internet and from people you've
- 21:56Speaker 4: never met. Don't be uncreative with your passwords, so like
- 22:00Speaker 4: I can be often, and I'm sure you can be often, Georgia.
- 22:04Speaker 4: Tempting though it may be to just use the same
- 22:06Speaker 4: one across the board. That is a very easy way
- 22:08Speaker 4: of making yourself a target, so definitely do not do that.
- 22:12Speaker 4: Keep in mind, as I said Georgia before, if something
- 22:14Speaker 4: is too good to be true, probably is. If a
- 22:18Speaker 4: business or individual is requesting your details or wants to
- 22:21Speaker 4: transfer you money or vice versa, you should treat it
- 22:24Speaker 4: with suspicion. You should never ever ever send money, provide
- 22:28Speaker 4: your account details or your credit card details to anybody
- 22:31Speaker 4: you don't know. And as I said, if anybody ever
- 22:34Speaker 4: calls you hang up, call back the landline. If they
- 22:37Speaker 4: call you and say, hey, it's Virgin Money, be like, hey,
- 22:39Speaker 4: Virgin Money, so excited to have this conversation. I'll call
- 22:43Speaker 4: back your call center, no problems. And if they start
- 22:46Speaker 4: arguing with you, like, oh no, don't worry about that. No, no, no,
- 22:50Speaker 4: my friend, you have just let me know that that
- 22:52Speaker 4: is a scam, because anybody who works for some reputable
- 22:56Speaker 4: organization will know that that's you just making sure that
- 22:59Speaker 4: you're in the right place at the right time. And
- 23:02Speaker 4: on top of that, I'm not very good at this,
- 23:04Speaker 4: but that's okay. The tip is keep your socials private
- 23:07Speaker 4: if you can. It is crazy what we expose online
- 23:11Speaker 4: every day without much thought. But what the consequence is
- 23:14Speaker 4: called even beg and if you do see something suspicious,
- 23:17Speaker 4: just report it to the platform. Get it done.
- 23:20Speaker 2: Don't you think it is quite whack how much we
- 23:23Speaker 2: do expose ourselves online, Like how much we all the
- 23:26Speaker 2: images that are out there, everything we've ever said, all
- 23:29Speaker 2: of the cookies that we accept, Like, it is so bad.
- 23:33Speaker 4: It is crazy. And about eighteen months ago, just before
- 23:36Speaker 4: COVID here, yeah, somebody took all of my photos from
- 23:39Speaker 4: my Instagram.
- 23:40Speaker 3: And I remember that.
- 23:41Speaker 2: I don't. I remember when someone tried to steal shees
- 23:44Speaker 2: on the money they made.
- 23:45Speaker 4: Something a lot too. Yeah, same, same, different way. But
- 23:50Speaker 4: someone tried to bet me on Tinder. But my name
- 23:52Speaker 4: was Sarah and they lived in Richmond, Fun, which was
- 23:55Speaker 4: really creepy. And you know what, it was really weird
- 23:58Speaker 4: because my partner's best friend was literally like, what the
- 24:02Speaker 4: hell this is? You know my bestie's girlfriend.
- 24:05Speaker 3: Did he think no?
- 24:06Speaker 2: Wait, he didn't think it was you because it was Sarah. No.
- 24:08Speaker 4: And he also, I think he knows so long enough
- 24:10Speaker 4: to know that that ain't you. No, not me. I'm
- 24:13Speaker 4: obsessed with Steve, like that would never happen. But that's okay.
- 24:16Speaker 4: So he took screenshots of it and sent it to
- 24:19Speaker 4: me and was like, hey, what's this And I was like, hey,
- 24:22Speaker 4: I've got no idea, really creepy. Please match with them.
- 24:25Speaker 4: So he did, and you know, on Tinder it says
- 24:28Speaker 4: that they're local. It was someone close because they lived
- 24:31Speaker 4: like three kilometers from wherever he was, and that's creepy.
- 24:34Speaker 3: That's so weird.
- 24:36Speaker 4: So anyway, he reported them for faking a profile, et cetera.
- 24:40Speaker 4: It got taken down but like the idea that someone
- 24:42Speaker 4: could screenshot my Instagram and then create a story around that,
- 24:47Speaker 4: and the profile looked legit, right because my Instagram photos,
- 24:51Speaker 4: Like if you just take a couple of you know,
- 24:52Speaker 4: selfie pictures and whatever else I've gotten there, you string
- 24:55Speaker 4: it together, it would look by my dating profile because
- 24:57Speaker 4: do you know what, that's where I got my dating
- 24:59Speaker 4: pro file fires anyway, yep, creepy.
- 25:03Speaker 2: It's a funny old world that we live in, Victoria.
- 25:06Speaker 4: Do you know what was a good thing about that?
- 25:07Speaker 2: Though?
- 25:07Speaker 4: Joja, they said I was twenty three?
- 25:10Speaker 3: Ooh girl, still still got it?
- 25:14Speaker 4: No one questioned that part of it.
- 25:18Speaker 2: Now, what should we do if we have been scammed?
- 25:21Speaker 4: Okay, I'm a big diber dobber, so you should report it. Great.
- 25:24Speaker 4: Where you're going to report it is going to be
- 25:26Speaker 4: completely dependent on what the scam is. So first things first,
- 25:30Speaker 4: you could report it to the A Triple C as
- 25:32Speaker 4: we mentioned before, And I think it's so important because
- 25:35Speaker 4: this is what's going to help other people determine if
- 25:38Speaker 4: it's a scam or not and actually alert that agency
- 25:41Speaker 4: to know that this scam is running so that they
- 25:43Speaker 4: can tell people and maybe put it on an EDM
- 25:45Speaker 4: and let people know and be like, hey, cool, if
- 25:48Speaker 4: you get an email from Sentilink or you get a
- 25:50Speaker 4: call from Centilink, it's not us, so that they can
- 25:52Speaker 4: forall warn people. And this is you actually helping, so
- 25:55Speaker 4: it's not just hey, report it because they'll take them down. Sadly,
- 26:00Speaker 4: a lot of the time you're never able to trace
- 26:01Speaker 4: these people, but you're actually protecting others, which arguably is
- 26:05Speaker 4: just as important. And then depending on the scam you
- 26:08Speaker 4: should make sure that you are securing your personal information,
- 26:12Speaker 4: So go ahead and change your pins and your passwords
- 26:14Speaker 4: and anything that you think that a scammer may be
- 26:17Speaker 4: able to access and then exploit, and just make sure
- 26:20Speaker 4: you're looking after yourself. My friends, if you or someone
- 26:23Speaker 4: you know has been through this and is suffering mentally
- 26:25Speaker 4: because of it, because this can impact you dramatically, please
- 26:29Speaker 4: reach out to the many free services we have here
- 26:32Speaker 4: in Australia like Lifeline, Beyond Blue etc. We're gonna have
- 26:36Speaker 4: a few in the show notes, or just tee up
- 26:38Speaker 4: a chat with your GP to discuss a mental health
- 26:40Speaker 4: care plan option.
- 26:41Speaker 2: The other thing that we often talk about on the
- 26:43Speaker 2: podcast is the debt free helpline.
- 26:47Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, the National Debt Helpline, that's the one.
- 26:50Speaker 4: These guys are actual legends. Will put that in there
- 26:52Speaker 4: as well. They're free. And then also the government funded
- 26:56Speaker 4: called Idcare. They provide support to victims of identity crime.
- 27:01Speaker 4: So if it's literally not just a scam and someone
- 27:03Speaker 4: has literally been pretending to be you, that is a
- 27:07Speaker 4: really great place to start. And again we will put
- 27:09Speaker 4: their details in the show notes. Do you know how
- 27:12Speaker 4: sad this is?
- 27:13Speaker 2: Though?
- 27:13Speaker 4: G about where this episode has come from. This episode
- 27:17Speaker 4: has literally come from so many people dming us more
- 27:20Speaker 4: recently saying hey I was a bit by this scam,
- 27:22Speaker 4: or hey I think this is a scam. So I
- 27:25Speaker 4: definitely know they are a little bit more prevalent at
- 27:27Speaker 4: the moment, and I genuinely think coming out of COVID,
- 27:31Speaker 4: people are a little bit more trusting because we've created
- 27:33Speaker 4: that sense of community for COVID, and we're more likely
- 27:36Speaker 4: to go you know what, You're right the ato they
- 27:38Speaker 4: would call me because there's no way they'd just send
- 27:40Speaker 4: a letter because I can't go in and see them, like,
- 27:43Speaker 4: we are so much more likely to accept that something
- 27:47Speaker 4: is online. But I think we just need to stay
- 27:49Speaker 4: really vigilant and just really aware of our circumstances.
- 27:52Speaker 2: It's also something that we just don't really talk about
- 27:55Speaker 2: that much beyond like having different passwords for each platform
- 27:59Speaker 2: and baking, etc. Like when they said I was going
- 28:02Speaker 2: to get arrested, I was like, this is it for
- 28:04Speaker 2: g Yeah, I got a throw sheets on the money away,
- 28:07Speaker 2: I'm going to prison. I don't know what I've done,
- 28:10Speaker 2: but it's over.
- 28:11Speaker 4: I heard you get a call in prison and that
- 28:13Speaker 4: could have been your podcast every week, So that's okay.
- 28:16Speaker 4: We would never let you go.
- 28:18Speaker 3: Thank God.
- 28:20Speaker 2: My last question here V is will we get our
- 28:23Speaker 2: money back if we have been scammed?
- 28:25Speaker 4: No? Sorry, that is the heartbreaking part at the end
- 28:28Speaker 4: of the day. According to our friends at scam Watch,
- 28:31Speaker 4: we're not really our friends. They're just a website I've
- 28:33Speaker 4: frequented a lot.
- 28:35Speaker 2: They're also not sponsoring this podcast. They're a government website.
- 28:38Speaker 4: A little government website, and they're really helpful, especially when
- 28:41Speaker 4: doing research for a scams podcast. But if you've lost
- 28:45Speaker 4: money to a scam, usually that's it and you're not
- 28:47Speaker 4: going to get your money back, which is why I'm
- 28:49Speaker 4: saying things like, please be vigilant if you are going
- 28:52Speaker 4: to transfer a house deposit, you know what. It just
- 28:54Speaker 4: takes you two seconds to pick up the phone and
- 28:56Speaker 4: call the real estate agent. Real estate agent receptionist are
- 28:59Speaker 4: usually really delightful and they will be more than happy
- 29:02Speaker 4: to help you out. You're not being annoying, and I
- 29:05Speaker 4: think so many people need to hear that because so
- 29:07Speaker 4: many people are like, Oh, I don't want to call,
- 29:08Speaker 4: I don't want to get somebody else up. No, my friend,
- 29:11Speaker 4: if it is involving money, your mental health, your actual finances,
- 29:15Speaker 4: you're not annoying anybody. Just ask the question, because if
- 29:19Speaker 4: it isn't the right thing, you will be so grateful
- 29:22Speaker 4: that you actually asked, and they'll be thinking that you're crazy,
- 29:25Speaker 4: and they'll be like, oh my gosh, that crazy thing
- 29:28Speaker 4: could have happened to you. I'm so glad you checked.
- 29:30Speaker 4: So sadly, not nine times out of ten. But if
- 29:34Speaker 4: you were scammed and paid someone by credit card, you
- 29:37Speaker 4: might be able to receive a charge back from that
- 29:39Speaker 4: credit card provider or bank, which will most likely be
- 29:42Speaker 4: a refund, but often it's a little bit more complex.
- 29:45Speaker 4: So that is something that you should look into. So
- 29:47Speaker 4: contact your credit card provider if that's how you've been scammed.
- 29:51Speaker 3: God could so much today, Victoria Devine.
- 29:54Speaker 4: It's a little bit scammy, it's a little bit fluffy,
- 29:55Speaker 4: it's a little bit different. But I genuinely think we
- 29:58Speaker 4: need to talk about these things because more often not
- 30:01Speaker 4: people are really embarrassed that they get stung. Yes, they
- 30:05Speaker 4: make you feel silly, But I think a really important
- 30:08Speaker 4: thing to point out here is scammers are so smart,
- 30:12Speaker 4: Like they've gotten to the point where when they send
- 30:14Speaker 4: you an email, that email looks so legit that you
- 30:17Speaker 4: will be questioning your questioning of it. So they are
- 30:20Speaker 4: smarter than actually anybody assumes. And I think that if
- 30:23Speaker 4: you get stung, it is not your fault. But I
- 30:26Speaker 4: think that you know, always trying to not be too
- 30:29Speaker 4: naive and not be too trusting is actually going to
- 30:32Speaker 4: be of massive benefit here.
- 30:34Speaker 2: All right, So to wrap today's show, Today, guys, we've
- 30:36Speaker 2: learned that we need to stay vigilant to avoid.
- 30:39Speaker 4: Being scammed, because it's that word a lot.
- 30:41Speaker 2: Vigilant, That is the word of the show. Even though
- 30:43Speaker 2: we think it won't happen, it definitely can happen to us.
- 30:46Speaker 2: And intellect really isn't a part of the conversation. It
- 30:48Speaker 2: happens to everyone, So we've got that. If we do
- 30:53Speaker 2: want to have a more comprehensive look at the state
- 30:55Speaker 2: of scams in Australia, definitely look at scam Watch. And
- 30:59Speaker 2: if you do need to report, this is a really
- 31:01Speaker 2: comprehensive list there.
- 31:02Speaker 4: As well, and it's really easy.
- 31:04Speaker 2: Yes, And if you have been scammed by someone over
- 31:06Speaker 2: the phone, don't call your mum, call the ATO slash
- 31:10Speaker 2: whoever the agency is claiming to.
- 31:12Speaker 4: Be, and then call us because we want to see
- 31:15Speaker 4: us and have a chat.
- 31:17Speaker 3: All right, v I do think that is all we
- 31:18Speaker 3: have time for today.
- 31:20Speaker 4: Sadly, sadly, it is all we have time for today.
- 31:23Speaker 4: But just before we head off, we'd like to acknowledge
- 31:25Speaker 4: and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal in Torres Strait Island,
- 31:28Speaker 4: to people's the traditional custodians of the lands, the waterways
- 31:31Speaker 4: and the skies all across Australia. We thank you for
- 31:34Speaker 4: sharing and for caring for the land on which we
- 31:36Speaker 4: are able to learn. We pay a respect to elders
- 31:39Speaker 4: past and present, and we share our friendship and our kindness.
- 31:42Speaker 2: And remember guys that the advice shared on She's on
- 31:44Speaker 2: the Money is general in nature and does not consider
- 31:46Speaker 2: your individual circumstances. She's on the money, exists purely for
- 31:50Speaker 2: educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make
- 31:53Speaker 2: an investment or a financial decision. And we promise Victoria
- 31:57Speaker 2: Divine is not a scammer. She's an authorized representative of
- 32:00Speaker 2: Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN three four one
- 32:04Speaker 2: three two four six three two five seven AFSL three
- 32:07Speaker 2: three nine and one five one.
- 32:09Speaker 4: And if you're not sick of hearing Georgia say that,
- 32:11Speaker 4: or maybe you're questioning me, which, to be honest, is
- 32:14Speaker 4: actually really important for you to do true, look me
- 32:17Speaker 4: up on the ask to find a financial advisorist and
- 32:19Speaker 4: you'll see I'm really legit.
- 32:20Speaker 2: Or google Forbes thirty hundred thirty.
- 32:23Speaker 3: Who's with me?
- 32:25Speaker 4: We'll see you next time.
- 32:26Speaker 3: Bye guys.
- 32:27Speaker 2: Oh wait, thanks to Tony Lodge for editing today show
- 32:29Speaker 2: and putting it together.
- 32:30Speaker 3: Welcome to the team.
- 32:31Speaker 4: Welcome to the team, Thank you for being here. We
- 32:33Speaker 4: love you.
- 32:33Speaker 3: Bye guys,