09.30.26 Financial Scam Prevention / Travel Updates

Today, I'm gonna begin with a scary, scary warning about a woman who had her entire life savings drained in just minutes.

And then later, on a happier note, I wanna talk about travel opportunities that are out there that you need to know about.

So let's go to just a terribly sad story that's being wash, rinse, repeat over and over and over again.

People are now using technology to con people into thinking there's a problem with their accounts when there's not.

Scamming people, there was a story that an ABC television affiliate did in the San Francisco Bay Area about a Bay Area woman who lost all her life savings that she had invested with Charles Schwab.

And how did it happen? This story we're hearing different wrinkles of over and over again involving banks, credit unions, and brokerages, where someone gets notified by security at the bank or brokerage or credit union that there has been a data leak, security leak about their account, or there's activity on their account.

The MO changes a little bit, but the core of it is where you're being notified by a bank or brokerage or credit union employee that there's a problem with a thief trying to get at your money.

And what they're doing is they're actually predicting the future because they are the thief.

They are the thief.

Here's the thing.

You are protected from theft of funds from your account at a bank or credit union.

It's a little fuzzier with the brokerages, the investment community.

But most organizations, if just out of the blue you're not even aware of it, somebody comes in and is able to hack into your account and steal your money, then in theory, you are to be protected, again, under the law with banks and credit unions and under company policy usually published with the various financial houses, the brokerages, even though the law doesn't clearly require it.

But this is the gray area where there is no protection, and it's where someone impersonates the financial institution.

The caller ID on your phone will pop up as Charles Schwab in the case of this story that the ABC affiliate did with whatever organization you bank with, credit union with, invest with.

The caller ID will look like it's from there.

You may even see a spoofed text coming from a known number at a financial institution.

The thing is, the criminals are so practiced at creating a sense of urgency, "Your money's at risk right now.

We need you to take these steps." And so often what they are is from prior breaches that have happened.

You know, we get these notices of various breaches from time to time of all different organizations, credit bureaus, whoever else.

The thieves already know so much about you, and so they impersonate the financial institution, tell you about the threat.

They already know your accounts.

Then they tell you they're gonna send you a, a code, and you just need to give them that code.

All they need in many cases is that two-factor authentication code, and then before you even realize what's happened, they have swept the money out of your account, wherever it is.

So here's the thing.