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