The Finance Bible
The Finance Bible podcast is your ultimate resource for financial freedom, personal growth, and business success. Hosted by Zeke Guenthroth and Oscar Don, this podcast is designed to help you achieve your goals through actionable insights, expert advice, and practical strategies.
Each week, we bring you fresh episodes packed with valuable tips on a wide range of topics, including investing, property investment, saving, budgeting, shares, cryptocurrency, inflation, interest rates, wealth building, and debt management. But that’s not all—we also dive deep into personal growth strategies and business success tips, helping you develop the mindset and skills needed to thrive in every area of your life.
Whether you’re just starting your financial journey, working to grow your business, or striving to improve personally, The Finance Bible equips you with the tools to create lasting success. It’s more than a podcast—it’s your guide to building a better future.
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The information provided in this podcast is general in nature and does not constitute personal financial advice. It does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation, or needs. Always consider whether the information is appropriate to your circumstances and seek advice from a qualified professional if needed.
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The Finance Bible
#80 Have you been scammed? Part 1
Ever wondered how an adrenaline-pumping skydive compares to the heart-stopping moment you realise you've been scammed? Join us as Zeke kicks off with a hilarious tale from his wild weekend that blends birthday fun with the ultimate skydiving adventure. We then shift gears to confront the sobering reality of financial scams in Australia. With a staggering 18.5% increase in reported scams between 2022 and 2023, impacting over 601,000 Aussies and racking up a colossal $22.7 billion in losses, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to stay safe.
We dive deep into the world of job and employment scams, sharing personal stories that reveal just how deceptively these cons are orchestrated. From receiving too-good-to-be-true job offers on WhatsApp to getting duped while selling a PS3 on eBay, we expose the clever tactics scammers use to empty your pockets. Plus, we dish out some fun tips on how to toy with scam callers, inspired by YouTubers who make a sport of exposing these fraudsters. And just to keep things light, we wrap up by comparing the thrill of skydiving to bungee jumping, urging our listeners to take on their own adrenaline-fueled adventures. Don't miss out on this rollercoaster of an episode!
For any enquiries or to connect with Oscar, Zeke, or their company, Asset Road, listeners can visit the following links:
The advice shared on The Finance Bible is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. The Finance Bible exists purely for educational / entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.
Welcome back to another episode of the Finance Firewall podcast. Zeke here and your co-host, oscar. But before we get into it, please note that nothing in this podcast should ever be considered as personal financial advice. Of course, if that is what you are seeking, reach out. We'll get you in touch with the correct professionals. Get the job done properly, sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Let's get into it and welcome back to another episode.
Speaker 1:Today, we're just going to be talking about something a little different. We're going to be talking about scams, scams the amount of money that Sorry guys, the laptop's going wild in the background and I'll also apologize my voice at the moment a little bit iffy I'll say Is that because you were screaming while you were falling out of a plane, perhaps two days ago? No, it's actually a long story for all the listeners out there. I had a bit of a birthday bash over the weekend and it was 24 hours of madness and then, five hours after wrapping that up, I went skydiving and then, 12 hours later, we're on a plane to Oscar to film a podcast for you guys. Here we are. My voice is a to film a podcast for you guys. So here we are. My voice is a little bit croaky, oh goodness me. But before we get into your topic today of scams, very, very exciting, 80th episode, 80th episode. So 80 episodes, 80 countries. So I just thought I'd throw that one out there. It's actually 84 countries right now. We are streaming in as I'm bringing up the stats as we speak.
Speaker 1:But please, let's talk about some scams. I feel like you've been a victim of a few scams in the past, hence why you wanted to really bring it up. I can confirm, unfortunately, I haven't fallen victim to any scams yet, so I can't really shed a personal insight, but what we're going to do today is play a game called Stat Attack. Stat Attack yes, I'm just going to verbally assault Oscar with statistics and we're just going to get his honest reaction and feedback and then talk about the we need the camera, we should. We actually need the camera, we should. We actually need a camera. Well, that is coming soon. That is coming soon. Yeah, we're just going to see his genuine reaction and then we're going to discuss a bit more in-depth scams and basically what you guys need to watch out for as listeners and how to avoid getting-. Scammed. Scammed, yeah, so we'll just jump right in In 2023, there was a large number of scams reported over Australia compared to 2022.
Speaker 1:In fact, there was an 18.5% increase in that calendar year. The previous number was 507,000, and so now it's 601,000. That's half a million Aussies getting done. Do you have an age of it? I do have age breakdowns. Yes, I think the older individuals are probably the bracket which are getting done more frequently. I'd say yeah. Well, what do you reckon the portions are Like?
Speaker 1:In terms of the amount lost in funds, how much do you think people between 25 and 34 lost? Just under 2 mil. Yep, 1.8 mil. Bang. That's elite. Elite that I knew that, not elite that I knew that. Actually, out of the, he's got it up actually. No, I don't. He's had a quick cheat. Mate. You close on that? I was just having a look at some stats as well. Oh, criminal.
Speaker 1:On the actual timeline of what ages were affected the most, where do you think that 25 to 34 actually fell like? Were they the? The highest range? Were they second highest? The third highest? I think that'd probably be. I honestly think they'd probably be like third highest. Why is that? Yeah, a lot of them are younger. I feel like when you're 25 to 34, you're in that age, when you're able to taking a bit more risk and, yeah, obviously, well, from my experience and others my mates growing up when you're younger, you think you can, if you can make a quick buck, if you're thinking you're going to make a bit of money for doing something like like in the scam or something like investing this or something, you might just take the leap and then all of a sudden, you got scammed. Yeah, fair enough. Well, they were second highest. Oh, there you go behind over 65. Yeah, it's pretty tough because over 65 they they haven't really been brought up like if, if you're I'm talking like 80 plus, if you haven't been brought up with technology and you might get a text saying that this is your daughter transferring your money, which that text was going around last year. Yeah, but they wouldn't think twice. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:The interesting thing how much do you think in terms of financial loss as a country? We had in 2023? So what? 2 mil, 25, probably like 15 to 20 mil. Total financial loss in 2023 to scams was 22.7 billion. So let's break it down. Like, what type of scams I have? I have that, um, no-transcript. Another one the. Yeah, I do, it's a.
Speaker 1:Throw out a statistic in an episode of statistics. Yeah, we'll just get everyone loving it. In America, the number was 10 billion. That is that doesn't like. That's horrible. Doesn't surprise me, though 10 billion it's ridiculous. In one year, that is ridiculous. 6 billion of that, investment scams this is so this america right now. They're those two stats. Yeah, I'm not focusing on america today, I've only googled australian. I just have to know that one investment would always be number one.
Speaker 1:People always want to make a like. If they can get rich quick, they're going to do that. That's it. It's Before you go into the other ones.
Speaker 1:It's the really obvious messages you get on WhatsApp from a lady called Susan. She's got a really fake photo as a WhatsApp DP and she's messaging you saying well, you're attractive, I can help you make money through crypto investing. Click this link. But people who are older and not used to that would fall for it. It's really funny, actually, like even being in the industry, like you and I obviously in the industry, we're industry professionals and I get a load of like texts, instagram, facebook, everything of people trying to get me to do crypto, or even if we're running like ads on Facebook, on the yeah, we get scams on there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, messages saying you're going to Ten messages a day. Oh, we're going to delete your ad or your post because it doesn't follow guidelines. And I'm like, oh, I've been done with that before. Yeah, as in, my posts have been deleted and I never got one of them. No, yeah, as in, my posts have been deleted and I never got one of them. No, so straight away. No, they're porkies.
Speaker 1:I've been getting a few texts at the moment from LinkedIn like the toll. Yeah, I get a lot of toll. And it's like you've got overdue, you've got an overdue fee. If you don't pay this, it's going to be cancelled. Click on the link. It's like that's the first one I forgot. I was like, oh damn, got to fix this up. But now it's like, well, if that did happen, I'm sure you'd get an actual email. Yeah, or a phone call, the next one after investment scams, what do you think? Number two is Online dating. Oh, yeah, is it? Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what. And I'll have to be careful when I say they scam on my like, is it obviously people pretending to be attractive women or something? Dating and romance, so it doesn't necessarily have to be online.
Speaker 1:When I worked at a former bank, the number of calls we got from people like that that's sending money over Between 50 and 80, that are sending money to people in like the Philippines and Africa and stuff. What's the other one where I can't say his name on the podcast? A former work colleague, a short man, I think, toowoomba. Where is his girlfriend? Russia? No, I'm trascastan. Kazakhstan. Yes, that was the place. Yeah, a lot of them in kazakhstan. Um, yeah, there's a lot of a lot of them. And they'd call up and they go hey, mate, a bit of an embarrassing one for you. I think I've been done.
Speaker 1:I was talking to a lady and sent her about 90 grand. Is this an actual call? Yeah, actual call, and this happened very regularly. But, like 90 grand, was there $90,000. He's like, yeah, I sent her 90 grand and I was trying to get her to fly over here and it's been about four weeks. Unless the plane went down, I don't think she's coming.
Speaker 1:It's like, oh, poor bloke, oh and uh, yeah, poor poor man just wanted to love and be be loved and it's so. It's so common. It does actually happen a lot. I didn't realize that that really was a thing until I worked there, like the number of calls you took where you're like, yeah, I'll, so they must groom the guys for a long time before they, because obviously you're not going to send money. Yeah, they need to come over and get a visa. Yeah, it's probably like a good month of just chatting and it's like I really need some money to help me get there. Would you it me get there? Would you? It's probably started. Would you transfer me 500? And then, a couple days later, oh, thanks for that. Now I need x amount. Yeah, just snowballs.
Speaker 1:A lot of them from what they said anyway, so secondhand information. But a lot of them were like they were talking to a girl in like a war-stricken country or like a lower um socioeconomic that's the one socioeconomic country and they're trying to help them and like they're, they're trying to like get them out of this really bad situation. And you know, the first time it might be that they're getting abused, and the second time it might be like, oh, I've been kidnapped and held for ransom and I need like 20 grand. And the next time it's like, oh, I'm gonna get killed, I need a plane ticket, like right now, and. And then, yeah, it just builds up and up and up. I've seen the best ones on Facebook.
Speaker 1:It's like a fake Michael Jackson account message. I was like I'm Michael Jackson, I'm buried, I need a grant, I need like $10,000 to come back to life. Surely they don't work. Eh, it just starts with he. That's so good, that's so good, that's got to be a joke. Oh, it's so funny, so bad For people who'd buy it.
Speaker 1:It's like a fake celebrity message to a real big fanboy. They had no idea. Let's just say Hayley Beeper, for example. She messaged I'd send the money. Or Kendall Jenner for you. Oh, if it was Kendall. If it was Kendall, I'm sending her the money. Or kendall jenner for you. Oh, if it was kendall. Yeah, it was kendall. I'm, yeah, right, sending her the money. I'm, I'm over there, she's got my bank, I don't care. I'm changing my name to kendall so she can access it. Oh, yeah, you do love kendall jenner, um. The next one along is fishing. Oh, yes, so I remember. Yeah, that. Um, but, barack, when you started any like big organization, like a, you would have had it when you worked for the bank and stuff.
Speaker 1:They warn you for phishing, like the main thing they do is warn you for phishing emails all the time every single day and we used to get fake tests, like one random phishing email come through a week to test everyone to see if they click on it or not. Classic, but like, that's a massive one, that is a huge one. Yeah, one, that is a huge one. Yeah, like just fake nonsense. We used to get him at our old, um old work saying like hi, asker, it's your boss. I won't say his name. Um, I need you to pay. Yeah, please pay me this or contact me on whatsapp. Yeah, it's like what. Yeah, I need you to send me the card details. I've I've left it and I'm trying to buy something. Yeah, it's just, it's just insane. And, to be honest, if they were worded like better in different languages, like in the same language that he used, yeah, you'd think it's done it. You think it's like that? Yeah, yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1:Um, the next one along is false billing. Oh, like you've got a amex buddy overdue bill. Yeah, yeah, so that's sort of like your linked one, I guess. Yeah, it would be overdue phone bill. Yeah, I get that. I get ones about my license sometimes and like uber and stuff as well. Um, yeah, I actually get a bunch of random texts about crap, like that australian post as well. A lot of them. I've seen um back to that one about like texting it's your, I'm your daughter or something. Can you send me some money?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen I think it was a while ago, actually, probably six or twelve months back now but scammers are using ai to like do video chats as well. It's like with a photo of the person they're trying to scam to the parent. Yeah, they can do a video chat and it morphs into the face so it looks like legit. Or just call them on the phone and like make them sound like the actual person. Yeah, well, the fact we had an 18.5% increase. Like they are getting smarter. Oh, yeah, and they're getting like AI especially is making it so easy to do it. Ai, especially is making it so easy to do it.
Speaker 1:And the final, like as in number five category jobs and employment scams. That actually shocked me a little bit. Jobs scams yeah, it shocked me a little bit, but then I remembered to like I don't know if you got them, but when I was working at the former job on WhatsApp, I'd get emailed all the time. Not emailed, I'd get WhatsApp emails, whatsapp, whatsapp. Yeah, that's a weird thing, um, and they're like oh hey, I really have, I have a really good job opportunity for you. Blah, blah, blah. Did you ever know? No, I got them all the time. There's always people in like abu dhabi and stuff. Oh really, yeah, they're like work remotely. Yeah, it's always work remotely. You can make like 120 bucks an hour, yeah, and then that I don't know how it progresses from there to them getting money off. Yeah, I always wonder how does it get to that level? Yeah, and they say like oh, I need to pay you for your work. Give me your bank details and they just direct debit, like they just do a transaction and try to get however much they can.
Speaker 1:Well, I got scammed once when I was in school. Oh, no, just after school actually, I got scammed. I was selling my ps3 and on ebay and this bloke went to buy it and then he sounded like elite, like all good, and I was, like, you know, just finished school, I'm spending a lot of money. So it's like, oh, perfect, an extra 300 bucks, I can spend this wherever.
Speaker 1:Anyway, kept emailing me. I said, oh, mate. He said post it off, um, and then the funds will be released. So I posted it, gave him the tracking number and normally eBay just like switches, and then it comes through. But then he's like emailing me saying, oh, he's a screenshot of Citibank saying you've got to transfer me 50 bucks and then it'll be released. So I transferred him 50 bucks and then it's like mate, where's the money it hasn't hit? Mate, where's the money it hasn't hit? And then a week later I follow up. I'm like, mate, what's going on? He's like, oh, it's still not working. Now you've got to transfer, like 150.
Speaker 1:I transferred 150 bucks and I think the next day he just said 50 and I transferred another 50. Did it three times. Oh my God, I had no idea. I'm actually shocked. I was so mad, I love that so much. And then I just realized. So I was like, oh my God, I've been scammed and I lost 250 and a penny At a phone station.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, did you like report the address you sent it to and stuff. Oh man, 100%. Do you reckon he's done? Do you reckon he's been locked up? They're probably still out there. They're bloody dodgy. Those. What a criminal. Do those? What a criminal dogs. Have you ever been scammed again? No, no, there's a lesson one and done. One and done. That's all you need. In some he's been burnt and then his turn unreal. Yeah, you don't need many more than those lessons. That's so funny.
Speaker 1:Next one along that I want to go through is the delivery method is in how they actually do the scam right. Numbero Number one is my favorite. What Phone Phone? Yeah, I love catching them out on the phone. There was about 16,000 reports of that, which I feel like a lot of people must just not report it, because I probably received 16,000 of my own. You just call them out. I love and this is a tip for everyone out there Going along with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, go along with it. Try to get them to actually convince you, like, go along with it, keep going. And then when you say, like you get right to the payment, you tell them the wrong card number and everything and then go, hang on a minute, are you a scammer? And they get angry. Oh, they get abusive. It starts to worry on you. Yeah, it starts throwing at you. Yeah, it's so rude. The best thing.
Speaker 1:What I do in my spare time sometimes is just on YouTube, follow this bloke who just all he does is just hack into the scammers' computers, gets the cameras in the air and like, finds out their real names and speaks to them like, hacks their computer and starts calling them by their name and just see them like all rattled, like freak out, like start abusing him. Oh, it's so good, it's so fun. I actually, you know, I like to give them the opportunity to convince me to do it. If they can convince me, they're doing something wrong. You're testing their sales skills. Yeah, you might hire them, mate. It's genuinely fun. You can sell me a scam. Hey, mate, there's a job for you. Yeah, only when I've got a fair. The longer time you waste for them, the more angry they get. Oh, you don't have time these days, you're too busy jumping out of planes. There is that. Yeah, phone calls. I do love it.
Speaker 1:It was fun. Yeah, the skydiving session. Back on this now, aren't we? Second attempt. I think it's amazing that I even got to do it. Like one minute I'm out of the town. It's 2 am. The next minute I'm with the skydiving ring at the seven o'clock, like just crazy stuff. But anyone out there who hasn't done it, do a skydive. It's pretty chill, like you're not. It's not actually anywhere near as I love it. This is a trendy skydiving podcast now. Yeah, well, I mean anyone who's been bungee jumping. It's more, it's more scary. I don't know why, but skydiving for me was just like going for a walk out in the backyard. Oh, here we go. It was like it was a bit more windy, but going for a walk in the backyard, man, I reckon my heart rate went down instead of up. Oh goodness, it was crazy. Post the video to the Instagram. I couldn't. I look very, very relaxed in that.
Speaker 1:The next one along social networking, which I dare say WhatsApp, facebook, social media. Yeah, it's like the networking on the socials. Um, so, yeah, the, the old Facebook message of Michael Jackson. You've got, um, the odd WhatsApp. I still get millions of them. Hey, what's up? Yeah, my WhatsApp's really bad now with scams. I don't know how, like I'm opening up now my archives literally got shitload everywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but anyway, the point of us talking about this is not for you guys to laugh at all of this. It's for you guys to go oh, these are the kind of things that are out there and then they don't happen to you and you can get a bit of a laugh out of it. Exactly right, yeah, so if you get any random DMs from people. Maybe just think about it a little bit before you jump on and start doing a work-from-home job where you're promised $10 million an hour. I had one actually. What $10 million? No, no, no, I had one.
Speaker 1:This guy reached out and Was this recently and it was just recently? Oh, it would have been the last 12 months, but not, it would have been like 10, 11, 12, I'm not really sure. The other day he I can't remember what he was doing he was like he wanted to have a video chat with me to I don't know what it was for. It was something to do with like our work and like if they'd be a good fit for us or something. I think I might have told you about it all the way back then. And then it completely spun into like him trying to figure out like personal mentoring and all of this stuff. No, I didn't, oh well, anyway, no, you did, he was.
Speaker 1:It started off. He was like I thought he was genuinely trying to like figure out like a referral partnership for our business. And then it turned into him asking me what like personal barriers I run into when I'm doing it. Yeah, right, and then he was like writing him down and stuff. I was like what the heck was? He had a video chat with him, yeah, because it came through as a referral part. And then, um, I don't know, he started going on and on and we're just having a chat, like he had all these books in the background and everything. We were talking about the different books he reads, and that I was like, oh yeah, this is just a genuine, like actual thing. Yeah, I didn't think anything of it, I was just like it's a bit weird, but oh well.
Speaker 1:And then we did like a 45-minute thing just chatting about, like you know, self-improvement books and blah, blah, because that's obviously something we were talking about at the time on the podcast. And then, out of nowhere, I was just like, all right, so like we should probably talk business at some point, right, and he's like, yeah, so do you have like a mentor or anything? And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, do you mean? He's like, do you have a mentor? I was like I want to talk about actual business, not if I have a mentor.
Speaker 1:Now, like, come on, and he's like, oh, um, you, you'd be pretty, pretty good fit for my program, and he's trying to sell me like a personal development course. What was his company name? Do you know? No, I don't recall. It was a long time ago. Oh damn, I wish I well. And then, and then I just don't know, obviously wasn't in the meeting, no, no, no, no. And then he, um, I was like, oh, I gotta run, like been on this for an hour or whatever, um. And then he started telling me like, oh, you know, you, you'd be a really good fit. We've only got like one spot left this month, but in three months' time we'll get back in touch.
Speaker 1:And he's telling me about, like, his business that he made and all of this stuff. And it clicked for me when I questioned him about that and I was like, oh, like he was saying all these great stuff like about his business. And it was actually really smart what he was saying. And I was like, what is the business Like? What's it called? Because the product you've made which I can't remember what it was, but it was a good product I was like that's actually really cool, like I'd love to learn more about it and read it. And then he's like, oh, that's intellectual property, I can't tell you. And I was like, bro, if it's out there making money. Like what do you mean? So good, it was just such a confusing like.
Speaker 1:It might not have even been a scam, I don't know, but like was it to a podcast for Asset Rock, ar Right, he actually hit me up through WhatsApp. Oh really, yeah. And he said oh, mate, go through your WhatsApp. That it was a. I delete my WhatsApp. And he said it was a referral from someone that we've worked with in property management. Could be absolutely big. So I thought yeah. So I was like oh yeah, fair enough, so they'll just call you instead of WhatsApp message. Yeah, very-. No one sends a WhatsApp message as a first point of like yeah, but anyway, I wasted a whole hour on that. That is, that's tough. But I tell you what big commitment from them without getting money for a whole hour. Like it would have been like a two or three step thing, I think, but then maybe it was like multiple thousands of dollars.
Speaker 1:But so many people would fall for it and just be like yeah, all right, one, one spot left for the month. Come on and give me yeah, that's true, it's just a. Yeah, all right, one spot left for the month. Come on, give me a hint. Yeah, that's true, it's a classic. You know you've got one spot left. We hope you enjoyed the episode. As always, you know exactly what to do. Hit that follow button, subscribe whatever platform you listen to this podcast on. Also share it to friends, family, co-workers, whoever you think may benefit from it. But unfortunately it's the end and we'll see you next week.
