The Finance Bible

#81 Protecting Yourself from Cyber Scams Part 2

• Zeke Guenthroth and Oscar Don

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Have you ever been duped by an email promising a job or a too-good-to-be-true offer? Join us as we unravel the intricacies of internet and email scams, examining everything from phishing emails to suspicious job offers for remote workers in the Philippines. We recount our personal run-ins with these scams, sharing tales of misleading ads on streaming sites and WhatsApp messages from people pretending to be local contacts. We also discuss how Android devices can help manage the influx of pop-up ads that plague our digital experiences, and take a brief detour to discuss the rescheduled boxing match between Tyson and Jake Paul, underscoring how internet scams and advertising influence our daily lives.

Shifting the focus to the crypto world, we expose how scams have become a primary method of financial fraud, especially targeting older men through romantic deceptions. Hear the gut-wrenching story of one man who lost $140,000 to such a scam. We highlight the regional impact of these scams, pinpointing New South Wales and Victoria in Australia as significant hotspots, and reveal how imposter scams have led to Americans losing a jaw-dropping $10 billion in 2023 alone. This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to understand the global scale of scams and learn the red flags to guard against.

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.

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Speaker 1:

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.

Speaker 1:

The next one along is email. Yeah, that's like phishing stuff. Yeah, we just cop that all the time. Like even now, I get emails. I get emails every day about, um, remote workers in like the philippines. So I actually did that. Yeah, I get that as well. I get more of my like old email. But yeah, in in my ar one, I get like 50 emails a day about workers in the Philippines and how I can hire them. Just have an email here from a job offer. Oh, unreal, take it. What a bargain, tammy. Oh, what a gentleman. What is going on here? It's so good and I get a sorry man, I'm leaving. I'm leaving the company. Yeah, take the offer.

Speaker 1:

I get collection emails from collection companies that are like we'll work for you to collect the money that people owe you, so you send us your invoices and we'll collect them. Oh, my invoice, yeah. So like, if we have a client, if they're unpaid yeah, that hasn't paid it and they collect it for us and give it to us and I'm like, okay, that could be legit, but also, 90% here it's not. So it's about knee-bath. Yeah, mike and Chase, look at them, just go knock on their door and fight them, yeah, I suppose. So, oh, yeah, there's so many rogue businesses. I think it's actually a good one, because if you were like, oh, it's legitimate, it's dope, pay us 20 bucks an hour and we'll basically be your internal collections. What's it called? I don't know, it's a different company every day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I get heaps of weird ones on there, and then internet, and then internet. So I dare say that it'd just be ads on the internet, maybe some penis enlargement pills and stuff, probably. Yeah, ads on On naughty websites. Naughty websites Surely no one actually falls for them, though. Like they're next level Take this pill and you'll grow 11 inches, like it's not. Yeah, yeah, I don't think people would fall for them, but then people would, though. That's actually I remember I'll keep names hidden for this, but I remember back in high school one one of my mates was interacting with those kind of ads.

Speaker 1:

He was like mate, how cool is this? And I was like mate, it's not. Was he taking the pills? It's not legit. No, no, no, Interacting with his like. He clicked on the ad and he was like oh, yeah, yeah, everything.

Speaker 1:

I was like mate, there's no way. He's like what do you mean? I was have that, if that was a thing, like it's not a thing. And he's like oh, I don't know, it could be worth a try. And I'm like chill out, it's like 15, I wonder what the pill would actually be.

Speaker 1:

Probably just, probably, don't even actually get any. Probably just take. Yeah, you probably just pay for it and never comes. Yeah, stuck in, stuck in shipping. Yeah, same with like the um, what do they do? The facetiming people and the local girls in your area and all of that kind of stuff? Oh yeah, like chaos.

Speaker 1:

Um, you even get a little WhatsApp, though. You get like stuff like that all the time. You do. Yeah, it's just ridiculous.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, even on like, not even like R-rated sites, like, if you're in, like, for example, sometimes if I'm like streaming the sporting event, like over the states, I go on like a streaming website. Oh, yeah, they pop up non-stop there. Yeah, like, just like ads which you like, click the link and then click back and then, yeah, you're gonna keep clicking to try and get through and press play. Eventually. That was actually um complete separate topic here. Oh, but I was talking to one of my mates about it the other day and that's why Androids are good, because you can literally just click it and then click one button on the Android and it keeps putting you back in the original and you know how it's like time-based, oh, the button on the bottom, how it has the backspace. Yeah, yeah, true, yeah, because you know how it's time-based, like if you click it and then you click it again three seconds later and it just keeps putting you back in the ads. You can just go like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I learned that when I was streaming some boxing I believe Good fight, actually USC boxing, good fight, I guess. Speaking of fights, buddy old mate's pulled out. No boxing, all fine, I guess. Alright, speaking of fights, buddy old mate's pulled out. Nah, he's back in, is he Tyson? Yeah, they've rescheduled. Oh, for when? I don't, I didn't actually read the post. Yeah, I just saw that he was out and there was a video of Jake Paul very upset and he's newly renovated pool deck. Yes, poor man must be very upsetting. Yeah, nah, it would be. Well, it'll be the biggest fight ever. Like Netflix live streaming, an event. Like there's chaos. That's insane, it's actually huge. But, yeah, internet scams even.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like when you're watching videos, the ads pop up. I remember back in the day you'd be streaming on like Pirate Bay or NOS video yeah, pirate Bay, that on. Like Pirate Bay or Nos Video yeah, pirate Bay, that's right. Gorilla Beard and all that, yes, and you're just watching your TV shows. You're like click bang, click bang, click bang, yeah, and you get like 45 different types Downloads, everything. It was so funny, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Mobile applications, oh yeah, would that be apps? I'm thinking like pop-ups. Yeah, it could be pop-ups. I don't know what it would be because it couldn't be apps, could it? Oh, you know what? It's probably apps where you pay, oh, yeah. Or like you pay to play, or like if you lose a life, you might have to pay five bucks, but that's not really a scam. Yeah, that's not a scam, because that's how you're actually committing to it, unless it's, um, like download the app and it's not the actual app. Yeah, yeah, there you go. They create freak, fake mobile apps that look like the legitimate apps that contain malicious code. Well, there you go.

Speaker 1:

I've never seen that it makes sense. I guess, like um, I know for a fact like shopping, like online shopping, which is how it would work with apps. I guess, similarly, if you there's websites out there, right, that they're like a shop and they'll have a product, and then scam will make the exact same website, have the exact same product, but they'll have like all the SEO and everything, because it's the exact same, it works. But if they put a sale on that product for more than the actual website, they go to first on Google Shopping, yeah, right, and then everyone clicks on that and pays for it. So, on the app store, I guess it worked too. Like for paid apps, if you make the exact same looking one and it's free, then everyone's going to install that, yeah, and then it just takes data charges and stuff, like whatever.

Speaker 1:

I had an experience last year when you and I weren't paying ourselves with the business. We were finding ways to make ends meet, just like an internet. I got a message on WhatsApp from this, let's say, this website and this app, which was like a travel app which does reviews for like travel destination stuff, and basically I knew from the start it was a scam, but I just went along with it and it was like you've got to write or like give reviews, like write, you know, just random reviews, like it's obviously bot reviews and I'm just helping them out, and then if you write like 150, they will give you 100 bucks or it was like in Bitcoin at the time. So you've got to like put in your crypto wallet address to them. So I made like a fake crypto wallet address, send that through to them. I was like because, because some scams pay you the first time and then you're hooked and you do it again, then they take everything. So I'm like, if they pay me the first time, I'll just run. So, anyway, long story short, I did it for like an hour, two hours, just for fun, and then they paid me 200 bucks. Yeah, yeah, like literally a 200 us. Did they message you after that to do more or did you? Yeah, I blocked them and ran off, transferred the money I put in my bank account. That's unreal because like, and it was 100 a scam scam, 100% a scam. But there's obviously people who do stuff like that and then like, oh, I just made this money, let's keep going, and then they've linked it to an actual account where all your money is and then they just go see ya, drain the whole wallet. Scam the scammer Massive.

Speaker 1:

In crypto, isn't it Scamming? Oh yeah, that's the number one. Yeah, in crypto, isn't it scamming? Oh yeah, that's the number one. Yeah, that is ridiculous. Um, they're the, the five main categories. By the way, as just said, crypto is literally the, the main way that it happens. It's number one is crypto and number two is actual, just straight up bank account transfer. Yeah, it makes sense. It's the quickest and easiest way, really, yeah, but yeah, a lot of it's like oh, we'll pay you X, y, z in crypto and then they just take you for a ride to Poundtown and there's no trace. You can't trace it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, in terms of gender, males you reckon male A hundred percent. Is that purely for the sexual part of it? No, it doesn't matter. It's just because we're just not as like. I feel like we're a lot more riskier. We don't really. We love to run amok. Well, yeah, it's just like the older generation. I think they really increase the male percentage. I did. I had one man. Actually, you'll love this and this is probably part of why males are more than female. In fact, we're pretty much double female. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 1:

This is a weird one, he was telling me. So he got done for about 140 grand, oh my God, where he had actually met the girl on FaceTime oh yeah, and like they used to sext, and like she had sent him all these videos and whatnot. Really, yeah. And then what happened was he pretty much called me. He's like look, I made a mistake. I know it was a mistake. There was this girl I was in love with her with like facetiming or doing like naughty stuff over the like facetime and video chat, whatever you call it these days and older guy and he's anyway, I'm I'm really ashamed to admit it, but you at least.

Speaker 1:

I got a bloke when I called. You know as a bloke, like when you just get in that zone and you'll do anything. I'm sitting there trying not to laugh, put myself on mute for a minute, and he's like well, I did something and I regret it. What transfer? 140 grand. And I was like, oh my, I can't remember if it's 140 or 120, but even if it's five grand, yeah, and I was mate, it happens to the best of us. Oh, even though it doesn't, what else do you have to say to that? I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1:

It would have been funny if, like, the client was actually I shouldn't say the client if the quality assurance team were listening to that call yeah and see your response, yeah, like hey, hey, I'm this exact bloke. It's to the best of us, don't worry about it, mate, it's all right. Yeah, you have to pay guys somewhere, doesn't it? But no, I was just trying to calm the poor bloke down, like, make him feel like an idiot because you'd feel so silly it is. It is the silly act. Yeah, you know, he might have been lonely and he's fallen in love. People do do that. They do fall in love and they make it like absolute models messaging. I just love it how he's like full-blown, just going. Oh, at least I got a bloke, you'll understand, you're just in the zone and you'll do anything. It's bizarre, it happens to the best of us.

Speaker 1:

Poor bloke, honestly, what state do you reckon did the worst in terms of they spent the most? Queensland, really, why, I don't know. Okay, just guessing. Who do you reckon came second? Victoria, correct. Who do you reckon came third, wa, incorrect? Oh, so it went. New South Wales, number one, oh really, yep. Followed by Victoria, followed by Queensland, followed by WA and then overseas Australians. So Northern Territory wasn't really a target. South Australia doesn't seem like it was really a target. Yeah, new South Wales and Victoria, they copped it. They copped it bad. Wa only had a third of the amount as New South Wales Too busy. Buddy on the beach, right, yeah, surfing up. Yeah, they could be Buying good properties, making money, oh, yeah, he loves it.

Speaker 1:

Actually, I want to have a look at the American statistics. Oh, they could be another rep. They'll be Even if it was solely American, yeah, they'll be absolutely outrageous. I think they would. But we could do another ep or we could just take five minutes to make people grateful they're in Australia, not America, and they don't get scammed as much. We have American listeners that probably want to know. Well, matt, I'm actually looking right now, just because I'm on the actual podcast. We just released an episode about 10 minutes ago and the first two listeners, oh, the first six listeners actually, within two minutes, americans. Wow, texas, we've got one from New Jersey, shout out to you if you're listening We've got the Texan. We've also got one from California the Texan, we've got the Texan. And we've also got one from LA, jersey City and South Carolina. Love it, I love it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, as I said before, $10 billion American for the year of 2023, which is a billion more than last year. Jesus, absolutely ludicrous Imposter scams were actually up there as the most common. So imposter would be pretending to be someone like a bank or a government or an agency or technical supporter. Michael jackson, a celebrity, yeah, um, so a lot of imposter scams going on over there. 2.7 billion, um, in that I mean as one that it kind of confuses me, it does, it baffles me, like the, the linked one and all of that. Surely you know, like you just don't know, like surely you do, but obviously, obviously people don't, because the numbers are insane. It's ridiculous.

Speaker 1:

But I've had that text like hundreds of times and obviously now I know it's a scam. But the first two times I was like, because I was using tolls, I was like, oh, wow, they can't be right. Checked my link account, all good, yeah, and I've, I clicked on the link just to suss it, the logo, check them if you ever worry. You clicked on the actual link just to suss it. Oh, okay, just sounds like you love sussing it. I love sussing it the low the logos always give it away, even if there's some like blurriness, so it doesn't look a bit right. It's a scam. Yeah, like, if it's an actual link, the logo will be high res, it will look. There won't be anything dodgy with it. It'll look in place and like the design of the page will be perfect. But like little things like this, the design elements are normally a bit off. Yeah, I just checked my actual linked account. Yeah, order that that's. That's probably the first. I'd probably recommend doing that as opposed to clicking on the link. Yeah, but if you ever want to do some investigation, like myself, it's a bit of fun just clicking on it, having a gaze.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we're actually coming up to one of the biggest scams of the year in Australia, which is tax. Yes, so during tax time you get a lot of texts. I mean, I do, I don't. There was a on the radio yesterday. There was actually in the news telling everyone to the next month or two, just beware, because it's going to be a lot of like automated texts saying you've got x amount refund, click here to claim your money and people will. That's. They're going to make a lot of money off that. Yeah, they do, they'll make a lot of money. Yeah, put in your bank details to get the money. Yeah, he's 10, 10 and a half thousand dollars. Oh, I didn't know I was going to even going to get any money back. Let's click on this, yeah, and then they also do you owe X amount. You need to pay your bill before this day, otherwise you're going to have your car confiscated. Yeah, just be.

Speaker 1:

Everyone gets a bit excited for tax time because you've got the possibility of getting some money back. Yeah, they get a bit trigger happy, a bit emotional. Just take your time, speak to your accountant first. Figure out your actual refund. If you get any, the dog's background is going off. If you get any dodgy messages, you know what to do. Call Zeke, call Zeke Genius. Yeah, tax time coming up is going to be a massive scam. So just be aware of that. Don't go clicking things.

Speaker 1:

Anything you want to do with your tax, log on to myGov, check your ATO portal and everything you need will be on there. If you have an accountant, talk to them. And if you're one of the older listeners that might not be as tech savvy, you might get a little bit like oh, I'm not really sure what's going on here. If you've got like a younger sibling or family, just get them to have a look. Yeah, check it all out. Easy as that. And that goes to say, too, if you get a random call saying it's your daughter, I need help. Hi, mommy, please send me $400. It's your daughter, I need help. Hi, mommy, please send me $400. Does your daughter speak like that? Yeah, first of all, does your daughter speak like that? You should know how your daughter speaks. Get her on the blower, yeah. Just give her a call and say, hey, you all right. Yeah, ways to not get scammed Very simple.

Speaker 1:

If it's to do with impersonating anything, or if it says you owe money to something, says you owe money to something, just check that. Like check, do I actually? Yeah, you know if you do or you don't. Yeah, check your gas bill, check your length, check your tolls, check your Australia Post. Just check everything. I don't know how you'd owe money for that, but yeah, you get a lot actually on energy bills and mortgage repayments and stuff too. Yeah. And then, if you get a message from a dead celebrity, probably call it BS. Yeah, I would think so. Yeah, yeah, I would too, but if you want the fame of bringing them back, you could take the risk. I'll leave it there. Yeah, all right, until next time.

Speaker 1:

Hopefully that actually helped you guys in terms of I think if I was a listener, I'd be coming out of that very happy. You probably have an idea of some scams. I'd be on the lookout the whole day. You probably would be. Yeah, I'd be looking around. He's going to scam you dog Sitting there refreshing your text messages. You've got to download WhatsApp to see them, mate. I'm on WhatsApp now and it's just an absolute jungle. Oh, mate, I love it. Well, anyway, listeners, we'll catch you all next time. Ciao, ciao, ciao. 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.

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Oscar Don

Co-host
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Zeke Guenthroth

Co-host