60+ Luncheon - Avoiding Scams - September 10, 2026

All right.

Everybody hear me okay?

All right.

Thanks, Dave, for that.

Many of you know us.

We are members here, and we are thankful to be able to come up and talk to you about something that's very near and dear to us.

As Dave said, we have got uh 19 years of prosecutor's office, 23 years of police department.

In fact, we met.

Um I worked a collision investigation many years ago, and it was her first felony case.

So I like to tell people a lot of times they ask and say, Well, I catch them, she cleans them.

So uh we we we we've been through a lot, uh many years coming through this, and um this topic is is very um near and dear to us uh for a number of reasons.

Um we see this a lot, and Barrett will get into this a little bit, but we just wanted to kind of start off by uh explaining to you uh a little bit about this, some of our experiences, uh, and we've got a lot of material to cover, all right.

Uh to be certain, this um we'll try to keep it a little bit lighthearted, but you gotta understand, too, that this is very serious.

This happens here.

The whole reason we're here talking about this is because we've had experience with this.

Okay we will share some experiences.

We're gonna we we'll there's a quiz at the end.

Okay, it's okay though, it won't be held against you.

And um it is fun to be able to say, hey coach, I'm gonna quiz you this time.

So uh anyway, uh we have a lot of material to go over, so if you don't mind, please let's hold all questions and comments and stuff to the end.

We will have plenty of time.

Uh Barrett is uh from uh Baltimore, she talks really fast.

I will slow her down.

In fact, she tells everybody I slow her down.

And so as we go through this, um please hold off on that and we will get to you any questions or stories, which we know that you'll have to.

Okay, so bear it.

Thank you for that.

Don't know if I'm on.

Here's me is yours.

Okay, use mine.

Trade me.

Okay, so um, like you said, I did not grow up here.

Um my parents are born and raised in Arkansas, but I did grow up on the East Coast, so I talk a little fast.

Forgive me for that.

Uh court reporters hate to see me coming because they claim their arthritis gets real bad when I get going.

So just know that ahead of time.

Um, some of that where I grew up and how I grew up kind of plays into some of the things we're gonna talk about today, too.

But getting into this, I just want to ask, show of hands, how many of you use email?

Most of you, okay.

How about text?

All right.

How about social media?

Facebook, Instagram, something like that.

All right.

What about how many of you use online banking?

You do banking stuff online, lots of you.

All right.

What about AI?

Claude, chat, GPT, stuff like that?

Some of you do, okay.

Most of you then are familiar with the basics text, email, online banking, that kind of thing.

And all of these things, whether it's social media, AI, whatever, can be very, very useful and helpful.

Um, but they also create some vulnerabilities that you need to be aware of and take steps to protect yourself from.

That's not to say don't use them, never use them.

You just kind of need to know what's out there and how to watch out for yourself in this ever-increasing world of technology that we're in.

So when we're talking about scammers that target seniors specifically, you know, it's really easy.

Unfortunately, it's too easy for a scammer to wipe out what it took you a lifetime to build as far as savings or investments.

And unfortunately, seniors are targeted because let's be honest, the older you are, most likely, the bigger a portfolio you have, the more savings that you have, you have established credit, things that younger people don't necessarily have.

And so that makes you a valuable target to somebody that is looking to steal your money.

And you can see the stats up here.

Adults over the age of 60 reported close to 2.4 billion in fraud losses in 2024.

That's a whole lot of money being taken away.

And really, this isn't usually, these aren't like crimes of violence or things like that.

These people are just after your money, and they'll do it in any way that they can, but that is their ultimate goal, is your money.

Keep in mind, too.

Um, keep in mind, this is an industry.

Okay, these scammers, that's their job.

There is an entire industry on trying to get your money through fraud.

Most of it is overseas, most of it is not local, but there is some local instances.

Okay.

If it's the easiest way to get money, they're going to do it, the path of least resistance.

All right.

So keep that in mind.

And unfortunately, a lot of what these people are doing is taking advantage of your love for your family members, your compassion for others, and sometimes your unfamiliarity with technology.

Those three things can be an impediment for you and a way to make it easier for them to get to your money.

The other thing is, I mean, let's be honest, there's some generational differences here.

Your generation, a lot of people, you have a desire to follow the rules.

You were raised to follow the rules and do what is right.

So when you get notified that you've missed a credit card payment or you're late on a bill, your immediate instinct is, oh my gosh, I have to fix this, I have to do something about it.

And that overrides the common sense sometimes of, well, I know I paid that bill.

Let me look into this a little more.

Same thing about getting phone calls about you've missed jury duty.

You have a warrant for your arrest because you didn't pay a ticket.

The immediate response is, oh gosh, I've got to do something about it.

And one of the biggest things we want you to take away from today is it's okay to pause and look into things before you take action, okay?

So when we talk about this, there's literally a playbook for scammers, right?

One of the biggest things that they do is focus on urgency and pushing you to take action.

You know, if they get a hold of you on the phone, it's do it now.

Don't hang up the phone, stay on the phone.

You have to do this within the next 10 minutes, or something bad's gonna happen.

They're trying to catch you off guard and push you into action and not give you time to think things through.

There's also a fear element.

Well, you'll be arrested if this doesn't get taken care of, or you're gonna lose benefits, or there's a hurt family member that needs your help.

They're playing on that fear and that love you have for others and for your family to try and get you to do something.

Sometimes it's pretending to be an authority.

And I'm gonna let Wes tell a quick story about that.

Yes, I was the victim.

I got about three years ago, I had several people get in touch with me that said that they got a phone call from Captain Milam with the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office, and that they had missed jury duty or they had missed a ticket, and that they needed to get about uh$1,000 in Amazon gift cards and bring them to a location in order to drop the money.

And they all called and told me about this, so I had to uh I had to put out a uh a notice on Facebook that there are people that are calling claiming to be me.

It is not me.

And I will tell you the same thing that I told them.

If anybody calls you claiming to be Captain Milam and wants more money, you ask them for the passphrase.

The passphrase is hot dog water.

If they don't know hot dog water, it ain't me.

Okay.

They, and this, and this is what they do.

It's it's it's happened in Van Buren, it's happened uh in in Crawford County, Sebastian County.

They will call to claim and they get a name of a legitimate law enforcement, because you get that name, you go, wait a minute, I do know a mile.

And what Barrett is talking about is that urgency.

Well, we're gonna come arrest you, we're gonna come do no there is no urgency on this.

We're gonna get more into this as we get down the road with this, but keep this in mind that that's what they tried to do.

And so secrecy is another thing, telling you not to talk about it.

And he's mentioned the unusual payments, and we'll talk more about that later on.

But these kind of five things are the main things to watch out for if you're ever approached about something like this.

So let's we're gonna walk through some of the more common ones that we've seen so you can kind of get an idea of what we're talking about.

So the fake family emergency, or what we're seeing more and more is like the grandparent scam.

Somebody pretends to be a family member, um, usually a grandchild, and they'll call and say, Oh, hey, I'm a friend of your grandson so-and-so.

He's been arrested, he needs bail money.

Can you send it?

You know, and some of you are gonna go, Okay, my grandkid would never get arrested, so no, I know you're lying.

Some of you may go, okay, this could be legitimate.

Um, you know, seriously.

And again, it's playing into that love for your family and the fear of something bad happening to them if you don't act.

And so they will call and say, your grandson's in jail, he needs bail money, we need you to send us this much, and they'll give you an account or tell you to get gift cards or whatever the case may be.

Sometimes it's an accident, sometimes it's an arrest, or they're stuck traveling in an airport.

Um, and usually they will have real names.

Again, for those of you with social media, I would encourage you when you leave here, if you use social media this afternoon, get in your settings and see what privacy settings you have on there.

Lock them down, make it so that only friends can see your posted information.

And if they want, I'll show them after.

Yes, he can show you when we're done if you need to.

But you know, you can set it so that only people that you have clicked and said, yes, they're my friend, can see what you post and what you talk about.

You need to do that.

Because if you don't, anybody can see your pictures so they know how many kids you have, how many grandkids you have, where you went on your last vacation.

If you have tagged them, if they have social media and you tag your grandchildren, then they know their names, they know their friends' names.

Which which, by the way, when you go on vacation, do not post pictures of yourself on your vacation while you're at vacation.

Because what that does is if your social media accounts are set to public, which after today they're not going to be, right?

Okay, if it's set to that public, when you post that, that broadcasts to everybody in the world that you're not home.

Okay, she's really going to get into the kids' part, so I'm gonna let her have that.

But for me, for doing all the vacation checks and everything, when you do that, you're broadcasting that you're not home.

We were on vacation two weeks.

This is our first week back.

You haven't seen a picture yet of us on vacation.

But tonight, you better believe it.

So again, check those social media accounts.

If you do get a phone call like this, don't volunteer information.

You know, if they say call they're calling about a grandchild or a child and maybe they get the name a little wrong, don't correct them because that's your first clue that they're trying to scam you.

Don't ever give out more info than you need to to somebody that you don't know because you're just giving them more ammunition to use.

For instance, do you have the time?

Do you have the time?

No.

He's incorrect.

Let's try again.

Do you have the time?

No.

You see?

Don't give more information out than you need.

I say, do you have the time?

Well, yes, it's 1230.

Yes or no?

Don't give out that information.

That's just a real quick, down and dirty example that we use to think in terms of giving out information.

Okay.

So if you get a call like this where somebody is saying someone you know or love has been in an accident or needs bail or whatever, stop.

Okay?

Hang up.

Say, I need to verify this.

And they're gonna say, no, you don't, we have to do it now, we have to do it now.

First flag.

That is your first flag.

And this is where my being raised on the East Coast is gonna come in.

I started school in New Jersey and I finished most of it outside Washington, D.C.

Hang up on them.

All right?

It's okay, it's not rude.

I know so many of us were raised, my grandmother would probably just keel over if she heard me saying that, you know.

But we're raised to be polite, we're raised to be helpful, and hanging up on somebody feels kind of mean.

In these situations, do it.

Because here's the thing: if it is a legitimate call, first of all, they'll call you back.

But second of all, you'll be able to verify it.

So if they call saying they're your grandchild, well, you call that grandchild, and if you can't get a hold of them, you call their parent and say, hey, I just got this call, what's going on?

And that'll either confirm yes, something's wrong, and then you can work out how to help them, or I have no idea what you're talking about, and you realize that you were trying they were trying to scam you, okay?

So do not ever be afraid to hang up the phone on somebody mid-sentence.

You are not a bad person, it is not being rude, it may save you a lot of heartache in the end.

You're being cautious.

Yes.

So this is along with that, something new that we are starting to see, unfortunately, in the world of artificial intelligence and AI, is it does not take much to get a recording of somebody talking and duplicate it.

Okay?

You can do that.

You can spoof someone's voice if you have a recording of them speaking.

My brother did it for fun with uh a character on a TV show.

He recorded it, spoofed his voice, and now his Alexa talks in that person's voice all the time.

It's kind of cool for your home stuff, but it's freaky when you think about it here because that means somebody could get a recording of a family member or a friend and spoof their voice and make it sound like they're the ones calling you.

Again, passphrase.

Which is frightening.

Okay.

So one of the biggest tips we have there with your family or any close friends that you help look out for, or if you're a caregiver for someone who's older, you have a family password.

Whatever it is, it could be hot dog water.

I mean, you know, something silly that people aren't gonna think of.

Not your dog's name, you know, not somebody's nickname, not your favorite color, something totally random and weird that only your family knows.

Because that way, when you get that phone call and they're saying, hey, it's your grandson Timmy, I need help, you can go, okay, what's the passcode?

And if he can't give it to you, you hang that phone up right then.

You do not pass go, do not collect$200, you're done.

Okay?

Don't use hot dog water, that's mine.

Yeah, you can't, he says you can't use hot dog water, that's his.

But you get the point.

Um, anytime you get a call from anyone, family, friend, stranger, doesn't matter.

Anytime you get a call asking for emergency money or needing money in a hurry, always be suspicious.

Okay.

Flag two.

I know sometimes that can be a hard thing to do.

Um, and having done what I have done for 19 years, unfortunately now my bent is to always be suspicious first.

And sometimes that is hard because you don't want to be that way with people.

You want to think people are good, but they're not.

And unfortunately, doing this job as long as we have, that's what we've learned.

And so if anyone is making a request like that, be suspicious.

Ask questions.

If you ask them questions and they start arguing with you or fighting back, hang up the phone.

Anytime they push back on you trying to get information to verify what they're telling you, it's a scam, hang up the phone.

Um, make sure that family passcode or phrase, whatever it is, it's not posted online anywhere, that nobody shares it outside the family.

If it's somebody they're claiming to be somebody you know, say, hey, I'm busy, I'll call you right back and hang up the phone.

And then call that person from your phone number that you have for them and find out if it's legitimate.

If they pick up and say, Yeah, that wasn't me calling, great, then you can go on about your business.

Most of the time, though, they're gonna say, I don't know what you're talking about.

And now you know you've been potentially scammed.

So again, don't feel bad about hanging up.

Don't let embarrassment or fear stop you from double checking a story, okay?

It's okay to fact-check somebody, you know, and if they get mad at you for it and they're truly a friend or family member, when you explain it later why you did it, they'll understand.

But if they're a scammer that are gonna argue with you about it, and that's how you know it's fake.

Something else to be aware of Medicare scams.

You know, sometimes you may get a call or an email saying it's from Medicare or a government office saying, hey, we need to update your file, or hey, there's been a problem on your account.

Um, hey, we need to send you a replacement card.

What's your address and your Medicare account number?

Never ever give that out.

Okay.

Um never give bank information out over the phone or an email to anybody.

If they say they are Medicare calling and there's a problem, again, hang up, get your Medicare card or whatever information you have and call that number that's listed on the official document and say, look, I got this call, can you tell me if this is real?

And they'll let you know.

Um, don't trust caller ID.

I again, this is probably the Yankee in me where up there people don't talk to each other and all.

You know, if I don't recognize a phone number, I don't answer it ever.

Ever.

Because they can spam phone numbers.

If you've ever traveled to a different state or time zone, you'll start getting numbers from different states.

Like we were in Colorado last week.

This week I'm getting numbers from Colorado and Utah spam calling me because my phone hit a tower out there, and so they think I'm there, and now they're calling.

So if it is not somebody that is in your contacts on your phone, even if it pops up and says Medicare office, let it go.

If it's real, they'll leave a voicemail and you can call them back.

If it's fake, they won't do anything.

I do want to add to that.

Um, here recently, and I don't know if anybody has experienced this, there's a new group out there that is spoofing 479 numbers.

And I'm getting a lot of 479 numbers from Gentry, Arkansas, or Gary, Arkansas, or something like that.

Folks, let me tell you something.

Two weeks ago, I got a call from Walmart.

Walmart called me, and I'm like, ooh, prescriptions.

Pick it up.

Yes, hey, we're calling about this nice little loan, and you're like, okay?

Because they tell you don't answer the phone.

Right?

We have come to the point now, and she more so than me, because well, anyway.

Um we don't answer any phone calls.

That's what voicemail.

Okay?

I tell people if you really want to get a hold of me, leave a voicemail or text me.

Okay, and I will call you right back because of the the where we're at today.

Okay.

You know that the old joke is the science fiction movies of the 80s and the 90s never trained you that we would be in the 2000s and 20s hiding from robots and refusing to answer the call, you know?

So just keep that in mind.

And I will say too, this may be harder with home phones if you still have a landline phone.

Um, a lot of the reason I like doing this kind of presentation is, you know, my grandfather he passed away three years ago.

He was 93 when he died, and he had a home phone that he refused to let us get rid of, even though he was getting nothing but spam junk calls all the time.

Because to him, that landline phone was what he always had.

You know, the cell phone was not really his thing.

And we ended up just unplugging it at the wall because he was getting spam calls, and in his mind, if the phone rang, he needed to answer it.

And he would answer it, and then all of this stuff would happen.

And he was hard of hearing, we're hearing aids my whole life as long as I'd known him, and so he couldn't always hear, and there was no telling what he might say or information he might give, thinking it was a real legitimate call, and so we just unplugged the phone from the wall.

So if you don't have call right on your home phone, be careful of the home phone.

Again, if you can let it go to a voicemail, let it go to a voicemail just to avoid the hassle of dealing with this kind of stuff.

One of the biggest things our office sees, unfortunately, is um scams from in-home care workers.

If you have an in-home care worker that comes to your house, be very, very cautious.

And again, I hate to have to say this, but unfortunately, it's just the reality of things.

Do not leave debit cards, credit cards, bank information laying out where it's visible.

Do not leave your purse or your wallet out where anyone can get to it.

Um, we have a case that's pending right now where the in-home care person was allowed to use the debit card of the person they were caring for to buy groceries, you know, regular weekly supplies, medication.

Unfortunately, they took that as an open invite to Amazon shopping trip.

Um, and then went from there, you know, because they had the debit card, were able to access bank information and ended up making.

To get into this person's trust account.

And the amount of loss is in the six figures, and the victim is 99 and not doing well, and we're trying to figure out how to do a deposition to take her testimony so we can still prosecute this person if she passes away.

So when I say be wary of in-home care, that includes family because this was a family member.

So you have to be very careful of who you allow in your home, what you allow them to have access to.

You know, again, it can be a long time before things are discovered like this, and it was another family member that figured it out months and months later.

So I would also say, you know, if you care for someone or you have an in-home care worker, or you know somebody that does, this is advice from my boss, the elected prosecutor, check your bank account at minimum every other day and look for charges that don't need to be there.

You know, a lot of times if someone is trying to use a card that they have taken without permission, they'll hit it for a small amount first to see if it goes through.

So you may have a charge for a dollar or like three or five dollars, and they do that to make sure the card works before they hit it for the big purchase of several hundred or thousand dollars.

So if you online bank or if you're helping somebody with online banking, whatever, however, you access your bank info, check it frequently if you have people in your home to make sure that nothing's gone missing and they haven't accessed any account they're not supposed to be accessing.

I'll add to that too, um, repairs.

If you call away nutrition, uh air conditioner.

Um watch them like a hawk.

All right, don't let them go wandering around the house by themselves.

Okay?

They're there to do a job, and you're gonna supervise that job.

You may not know exactly you may not know anything about what they're doing, but you're gonna sit there with them the entire time, escort them through your home.

Before they get there, be sure to make a real quick check.

Like Barrett said, there's there's nothing laying out bank statements, debit cards, any type of identifying information out there.

Okay?

Um, because for the same reason that the M home care workers, you've got the people that come into your home for repair that you've invited into their home that may be looking to uh take advantage of you.

Okay.

This kind of goes along with the Medicare stuff, but also, you know, you get these scammers pretending to be Social Security.

Um, the bigger one that we see is the government, like we talked about earlier.

You get the phone call.

This is Officer So-and-so, you missed jury duty, you have a warrant out for your arrest.

We need$500 at this account to clear this warrant.

Okay.

Again, I understand, you know, when that kind of thing happens, you freak out thinking, oh my gosh, what did I miss?

But I would encourage you, pause for a minute.

Say, can I get your name and number and I'll call you back?

When they argue with you, that's your clue number one that it's a scam.

But think about it, you know, the chances that you actually missed the notification in the mail and didn't show up for jury duty are just about zero, right?

Do you issue warrants for missing jury duty?

And we do not issue warrants for missing jury duty, okay?

I can just tell you that.

That doesn't mean skip jury duty, okay?

Because we need good jurors, we have problems with that.

So if you get one, please show up.

Um, but no, we don't arrest you for not coming in jury duty, okay?

So keep that in mind too, that just because they say I'm officer so-and-so, and here's my badge number, or they use official sounding language or titles doesn't mean they're real, okay?

Which again is the time that you can say, I need your full name and a phone number.

If they balk, it's a scam, hang up the phone.

All right.

Don't ever transfer money or give out information to somebody that you haven't verified who they are.

If they say they're social security and there's a problem on your account, say, okay, give me a minute, I'm gonna go get my stuff and I'll call you back.

And then you get the social security number off of your information you have at home and call that number to verify.

Real quick, don't don't call the number they give you.

Yeah.

If it's social security number, go find the social security number off his phone and call that number, not the number I they give you.

Okay.

Um, you know, when we're talking about the government, I have a very close friend of mine that is a CEO of a bank.

And she called me, what, about a year ago?

And a guy called and said that he was uh deputy so-and-so of the United States Marshals Service, and that you had the jury duty and you missed jury duty, and we're coming to arrest you.

And I was on the phone for him for 20 minutes, identified myself.

These guys are very believable.

And when I would ask the questions, he'd get matter and matter and matter, and I was having fun.

You know, like, oh, really?

What's the warrant number?

Well, it's this I said, well, cool, our warrant numbers don't start like that.

Well, this is the federal government.

I said, Well, I know, well, I'm state government.

Well, you don't know anything about federal government.

I said, Yes, I do.

You know, and it's just this whole big thing, okay?

When we're talking about the official words, when they start talking about warrants, arrests, jury duties, citations, things like that, that fear comes in.

They say, Well, I've got a warrant for your arrest because of a uh ticket that you didn't pay.

And you go, Oh my gosh, did I get a ticket?

Did we, you know, stuff like that?

Okay, in that instance, hang up, call and verify.

And call a reputable, you know, um police department, sheriff's department, call the courts, the district court clerk, circuit court clerk, verify from those sources, not the people that call you.

Okay?

One thing that we talked about, that she talks about, if you're ever sued, you will get an official summons and complaint via certified mail and service.

Okay?

Some guy named Ted calling you for a lawsuit that you're in, but you can claim it right now by sending you a whole bunch of Apple phone cards.

Okay?

And that's it, and it goes in that into that fear.

Every time that I run into this, it's this fear.

A gentleman came up to the police department and said that he realized it halfway through what he was doing because he was scared.

He put$5,000 worth of Amazon gift cards into a kiosk because he thought the Fort Smith Police Department was going to come arrest him if he didn't for missing jury duty.

And he realized that wait a minute, why would the police department want Amazon gift cards not at the police department?

If you have Amazon gift cards, you want to give them away.

Mindum4320 at gmail.com.

Okay?

But if you you see what I mean?

You pay your fines at the courthouse.

The Sebastian County courts have a website to pay fines.

You're gonna know if you have a fine.

You're gonna know if you're being sued.

Nobody, nobody, nobody is gonna call you on your cell phone and tell you you're in trouble.

Courts, government rely on standard communication through certified mail.

Um, you know, they may call you and say whatever, but you can always come and do that.

They're never going to threaten to come and get you.

Never once in 23 years of me arresting people did I call them and go, hey Bob, I'm gonna come rest you.

What I do, it doesn't matter.

I'm gonna come rest you.

Well, you're gonna come rest me, you won't know.

Okay?

I never did that.

Most people I arrested deserved it, and it was right here in my person in my presence.

Oh, well, we're gonna come and arrest you.

You tell them, fine, see you soon.

Okay?

All right.

All right, so talking about banking, anytime you get something that says there has been an unauthorized purchase on your account or someone has used your account without permission, your first instinct should always be to call your bank on whatever phone number they have on your statement.

Okay, don't click if it's an email, don't click any links, don't respond to any emails.

Um, you know, it's possible if it's a phone call, they may have the name of your bank and maybe even the last four of your bank account.

The thing is, the way a lot of these scammers and hackers work is they can get like partial accounts, and it's just all they're trying to do is luck of the draw.

They're trying to get one that works, you know.

So they'll do anything they can to call, and maybe some of the numbers are right, maybe not, but it sounds close enough, and they're just hoping that to you you get so upset and worked up that it sounds good enough that you do whatever they say.

And so again, verify, hang up the phone, call your bank with the number you know.

Never move money to a different account based on a phone call or an email ever.

Because all they're having you do is transfer money into their account, and once it's there, you're never getting it back, okay?

Um, and that's one of the biggest problems that we see.

You know, once money has been transferred, it's so hard to chase it down that the chances of recovery are very, very slim.

So never ever transfer money into an account.

Never click on a link that says it's from the bank.

If you think there's an issue with your bank account, either go to the bank in person or call the bank on the statement number and talk to somebody that way.

But don't ever have somebody come to you and say, Oh, there's something wrong with your bank account info, and then you take action because it's gonna be a scam.

And they're gonna be very, they're gonna be very good at this.

Like I said, this is an industry.

They're gonna get branding for your bank, they're gonna get email addresses for your bank, they're gonna have all the links and everything.

It looks like an official email.

And what we're gonna talk about at the end of this is ways to get around that.

Something just doesn't look right.

Okay.

So fake tech support.

And this is one I think that is very prevalent, especially if you are somebody that isn't very comfortable with technology or isn't tech savvy.

It's very easy to get a pop-up email or a text or something that says your computer's been compromised, your bank account's been compromised, and you can click on this link for customer service support and we'll help you.

No.

Okay.

I am not a very techie person.

He is.

I'm not.

So I know that about myself, and whenever I have an issue that something's weird tech-wise, I go to him because he knows how to deal with it.

So if you are not comfortable with tech, you know, if you've got a family member, a grandchild especially that understands how to do all that stuff, if you think something's wrong, go to them and say, Hey, I got this, does it look right or something's not working right?

Will you help me fix it?

Don't ever click any kind of pop-up ads or links or anything like that.

Um, because they may be impersonating tech support.

They can do that, you know, they can get on there and you click a link saying tech support for this problem, and they're in a chat with you telling you what to do, and then they may say, Well, you have to pay for this service, transfer us this much money.

No, that's not how that works.

So anytime you get something like that or you get a pop-up that says, Oh, your computer has a virus, call this number, don't ever do it.

Go to a trusted person, family member, or take it to a legitimate like computer repair place, you know, Best Buy or one of the locals that can look at it for you and tell you if there's a problem.

Never ever give out your passwords to anything.

You know, if you get one of these and you're on tech support and they're asking for your passwords, don't ever do it.

Don't ever let them remote in to your computer and take over the computer under the guise of fixing the problem.

None of that because you're just giving them access to all your information.

So don't ever do any of those things unless it's through somebody you trust or a legitimate business that can do that.

Um, if anything is unfamiliar when you're online doing stuff, if it's something that you don't really know what it is, don't click it.

All right, just don't click it.

That's the easiest way to avoid this.

You know, use two-factor authentication.

I hate it, but hey, it serves a purpose.

You know, if you have that option on accounts, especially financial accounts of any kind, use that and always vary your passwords, change your passwords.

I love my mother, but she uses the same password for everything.

Like any five of us kids can go in her house and get on a device and it's the same password, and we all know it.

And as much as we try to get her to change it, she never does.

Okay, don't do that.

Because it's very easy to figure that out, especially if you're using something like your name and the date of birth or whatever.

Um, so change it up, you know.

When you check your social media accounts this evening and lock down your privacy, go ahead and change all your passwords too while you're in there, all right?

Um, just so that way you're covered.

And again, if you are uncertain or not sure about something, please don't ever be embarrassed to ask a trusted person for help.

You know, I think sometimes people don't want to admit that they don't understand something or don't know how it works or whatever.

This is not the time to be worrying about that, you know, especially when it comes to protecting your personal identifying information or any kind of bank account or financial information.

If you aren't sure, ask for help.

This when you know, don't when you're not sure, ask for help.

And it is difficult.

We get it.

Okay.

Um this has happened, you know, two times.

Both of my parents, my mother called me.

She loves this little computer game.

She said, before I do this, I want a hundred dollars.

I said, What?

She said, I want a hundred dollars on this game.

I said, Is it a casino game?

She said, No, it's just a block game.

I said, What happened?

Well, it popped up.

It said, I get a hundred dollars and I just got to enter in my bank account.

No.

Mother.

Are you sure?

I'll give you a hundred dollars.

You know, something, you know, it's just whatever.

My father, smartest man I've ever known, calls me about six months ago.

He calls me and says, All right, I got an issue, and I'm reaching out to you.

I said, What's going on?

His computer wasn't working.

So he goes on Walmart.com and he looks in Dell Computer.

He finds a Dell computer and was like, ugh, but then they had one refurbished for less money.

So he orders a refurbished Dell computer, sends him the computer, plugs in the computer, and says, uh, you gotta download Windows 11.

Okay, so he downloads and installs Windows 11, but it wouldn't work.

So he's like, Well, what's going on?

Well, Walmart says, Well, you can't do anything about it, you can't return it, you're just gonna have to update Windows 11.

Okay, fine.

So he googles computer support.

Clicks the first thing that comes up, calls, guy answers the phone, says, Can I help you?

He says, Yeah, I've got an issue with my Windows computer, it's a Dell computer, we're trying to update Windows 11.

Okay, great.

What's your IP address?

He gives it to him.

All right, let me log in.

Okay, great, okay.

Uh now show me how do you know that this isn't working?

Well, you know, log into your bank account and show me, you know, this.

Dad goes, okay.

He just he's letting the tag go through there, and I'm like, oh and and it's like dad, that he goes, Yeah, I know, I know.

He said, What got me is when he said, All right, well, I've notified I've found 117 virus attacks on your computer, and I will need to be able to wipe it out.

But you're gonna have to go and buy$150 of Amazon gift cards and then email me the numbers and the passcodes on the discard before I can clean up your computer.

And I went, okay, because that was my first clue.

I said, throw that computer away.

Change your passwords.

Alright?

And, you know, when we when I first started, you know, the password was easy.

You know, mother's made name one.

Next month, mother's maiden name two, my name three, okay?

Come up with something, you know, chair table flag six, and then come up with something completely different.

Don't get into a pattern.

Change it often, every quarter.

All right?

Change your passwords.

Keep it going, because you get these, you know, into a pattern, people can hack it.

All right.

Um again, watch what you tell people.

If people come to you, that's your first clue.

If you go to them and then they ask you for some weird questions, that's your second clue.

Alright?

It happens, and it could be the most innocuous.

You could think, hey, Google and Walmart, what could be more solid than that?

But it happens.

Alright?

Alright, we kind of talked about this, but the credit card robocalls, if y'all are like me, you get these all the time.

I let them all go straight to voicemail, and they're all the same version of, oh, we pre-approved you for this loan that I didn't apply for.

I'm her husband, she lets me go to voicemail.

But again, don't answer the calls you don't know, delete the voicemails, you know, don't ever give information about an account or a credit card.

This one is an important one too, because when we're talking about door-to-door sales, they do happen in our area and they're not all fraudulent.

Some of them are legitimate.

And depending on where you live, different cities have different rules.

The city of Fort Smith, you have to get a permit to do door-to-door sales.

So if somebody knocks on your door to sell something, your first clue is they're gonna have like a lanyard that they have to wear, and they're gonna have a permit to do it.

And if they don't have that, don't answer the door.

This is again my Yankee here.

If I don't know the person standing at my front door, I don't answer.

She sends me.

I send him.

If he's not there, my ring doorbell is my best friend.

Because if I don't know you, I'm not opening my door.

All right.

If you need me, you know how to find me.

You don't need to knock on my door.

Um, if you're selling something, I don't need it.

I'll I'll get what I need elsewhere.

But keep in mind some of them are legitimate.

But the biggest thing to watch out for on these that are the scammers is the high pressure sales.

They're trying to push you into buying whatever it is that they're selling, whether it's a home improvement, a roof, uh, solar panels, whatever it may be.

They're really putting pressure on you to spend your money.

And no matter how friendly they are, no matter how offensive, high pressure they are, um, you know, just remember you don't have to give them anything.

You're not obligated to them in any way.

It's not, it doesn't make you a bad person if you say, I'm done, thank you, and you walk back in and shut the door in their face.

I promise you it doesn't make you rude.

Um I give them three chances.

I'm not interested.

Yeah, but well, I always just want to know I'm not interested.

But let me just tell you, I'm not interested.

If they keep on, I shut the door.

If it is something that you are interested in, again, there are legitimate people out there that do this, but again, do not let that high pressure sales pitch get to you.

Ask for the name of the company, get a written quote for whatever it is that you're doing.

Um, you know, get cancellation terms.

They gotta have it all in writing for you by law.

And, you know, ask for references.

I mean, and if they balk at any of these things that you are legitimately asking them for, that is your sign that it is a scam and you need to walk away.

Never ever give them bank information at your door or pay them cash at your door, okay?

Never ever do that.

The other thing is, and again, you know, I know a lot of times it's an opportunity to talk to somebody and you know, sometimes even share the gospel with them, but you do have to keep in the back of your mind that not everybody out there is a good person.

And so don't invite them in your home unless you feel like you trust them, because when they're there, there's two things they're looking at: your age, whether or not you live alone, if it looks like there's somebody there living with you, and what you have in your house.

And if they even just get in that front door and you make a comment that to you as annoyist, like, oh, I live alone, I'd love some help trim in the trees, if that's what they're there selling.

They know you live alone, they know you're older, and they can see in your home and see what you have, and you may be setting yourself up to be burglarized.

You know, it's it's terrible we have to think that way, but we have to think that way because these things have happened.

So be very, very cautious if you are dealing with somebody at your front door, not letting them in and making sure you verify any information they're giving you if you are interested in what they are selling or what they have for you.

One last thing.

And definitely don't disclose personal information, even if you're just chit-chatting with them, don't talk about your kids, their names, your dog's name, all that kind of stuff, because that is fuel to add to a potential scammer's arsenal to use against you later on.

So just be sure that you are keeping it polite, but not giving them anything about you personally.

To add to that, what you should probably do, and you do whatever you feel comfortable with, okay?

Simple things.

Don't answer the door and sit there and hold the door open.

Okay?

One, never ever invite them in.

Two, you step out of your door, shut the door behind you.

Okay?

Ain't nothing wrong with me talking to somebody on my front porch.

Don't let them in the house.

Okay?

That said, your home is your refuge.

That's why I said don't do something you're not comfortable with.

Okay?

So just kind of keep that in mind.

I'm gonna do the romance next.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'll do it.

Okay.

Okay, so this one real quick.

Uh this one, uh, actually, I talked to our uh officers that uh here yesterday about this, and this is kind of a new thing that you need to be worried, kind of watching out for.

These are romance or relationship scams.

These are starting to come aboard.

And becoming more prevalent, and they are becoming prevalent here.

Okay.

You've got social media.

You might get a weird message or something from somebody.

You may have had something going on in your life.

You may be a widow or a widower and or you're living at home.

And what we see is they will send a message that says, Hey, I go to church, or I'm friends with a person that goes to church with you, and I just heard that you lost your husband, or you lost your wife, and I I just recently lost my husband and my wife, and I'm kind of lonely, and and they're betting on you being this way, and they will start a conversation with you.

Now listen, it may start off nice.

These are long game odds.

It can take weeks, months, years before we get to this, but they will talk, they will be friendly, they will never ever meet you, and at some point they will ask you for money.

Okay?

And it won't be right off the bat.

Hey, I'm Ted, I'll go to I go to you know church with Wes and heard you had.

Can I have some money?

It's gonna be a while.

Okay?

They're gonna build that relationship with you.

They're gonna build a trusting relationship with you.

Sharing things back and forth.

Uh the officer that I talked to said that they have somebody in Fort Smith here that had a situation like this and is in for hundreds of thousands of dollars and refuses to admit this guy is a scammer.

Despite her family and everybody telling her otherwise, she is convinced that this guy has her in her best interest, and she will do anything she can to help you.

Okay?

It's that it's it's it's it's that easy.

And here's the deal.

This officer told me the saying that makes absolute sense.

This person has hundreds, thousands of accounts.

And every day they'll go through and they'll do everything.

If they get one out of a thousand, they've made some money.

If you just say, I don't want to have anything else to do with you, there's nothing wrong with that.

And guess what?

They drop it and they move and put somebody else in that spot.

Okay?

As Barrett said, we we we have a tendency to want to be polite, to be nice.

But you have to understand that not everybody has your best interest in heart.

This industry is about getting money.

Any and any amount and any method to get money.

All right.

And just one other thing on that.

This applies to, you know, one of the great things about this group that y'all have is fellowship, right?

And friendship and looking out for one another.

So this may not apply to you, but it might apply to somebody you know.

So if you have a friend or somebody that says, Oh, I met this person online and we've been talking and they're so nice, and he wants to come see me, but I gotta send him money to come see me, or he had this emergency and I'm gonna send him some money, but they've never met that person in real life because there's always some reason why he can't be there.

You know, lovingly tell your friend, hey, I think you might be getting scammed and talk to them about it because that's usually what they do.

They never meet them in person, and there's always some reason why, and then there's always some reason that they need money.

Um, another one, just real quick, if you're into investment and cryptocurrency, which I understand zero about, um, you know, this is one of those things like be smart about it.

Use a legitimate investment firm or a firm that works with this kind of stuff.

Don't be clicking links and you know, going off into the deep end of the internet with random stuff about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin and all of that, because that's a very easy way to scam somebody because most people don't understand how that works.

And boy, when it gets into Bitcoin and crypto, when it's gone, it is like gone, gone.

Like we can't even chase it.

The feds can't even chase it electronically to prosecute it because it's just so out there.

So be very, very cautious if you do any of that kind of stuff.

You may get, like his mom did, that pop-up about you want a hundred dollars on this game.

Y'all, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Okay, as much as it would be awesome to, you know, just get$100 for playing a computer game, probably not real.

Um just because you share the post about the RV camper, you're not gonna win it.

I'm just I have to remind my family about this every time.

You're not gonna win it if you just like and share.

Okay?

That's pro that's promoting hacking into the social media accounts.

Okay.

And anything that is legitimate, you're not gonna have to pay to get.

So if it is ever asking you for like a bank account information, you know, oh, let me pay shipping to send you a money order.

No, that's fake.

All right.

The other thing is there are charity and disaster scams.

We all know this, we've all heard about this.

Um, you know, especially when there is some kind of natural natural disaster or tragedy, the scammers are really are quick to come out of the woodwork and try and get people's money.

So, again, if you are giving to something, no matter what it is, make sure it's a reputable source.

One of the easiest ways is to give through the church.

All right, that's the easiest way because we know it's legitimate, we know where it's going, and you don't have to worry about it.

You know, some of the larger organizations in the country are probably good too, you know, Red Cross, all those big ones that go out and help.

But if you're getting like random Facebook messages or posts about sending to, you know, this or that, be very, very cautious, all right?

Um, a lot of those are just ways to get money, and they're again preying on your compassion for others and your willingness to help others as a way to get your money.

How does a disaster scam work?

I've had one personally.

How many of you remember when the bridge collapsed in Weber's Falls, Oklahoma, back in 1990?

Okay.

I worked for the television station back then.

There was a gentleman that showed up in fatigues, military dress uniform, and started ordering people, started coordinating money and logistics.

He was a nutcase that had never been in the military once.

And he was running the scene at Weber's Falls.

Google that.

That was real fun.

Remember that guy in the military outfit?

Yes, he wasn't military.

What?

So all right, so we're getting ready to kind of wrap it up here.

So just some red flags to be aware of.

Anytime you are asked for money or to do something to give money, um, you know, if they're talking about wire transfers, those are very hard to trace and hard to undo.

So if someone's saying, I need you to transfer me this money, wire me this money, that's a red flag that you need to pause and slow down what you're doing.

We he's hit on it numerous times.

If anybody ever asks you to pay in gift cards, run the other way.

All right, that is a scam.

No legitimate business, no legitimate government entity takes gift cards as payment, okay?

That's not that's not a real thing.

Same thing with crypto or Bitcoin, that's always a red flag.

Um, if someone tells you to put cash in a shoebox and leave it in your mailbox for them, don't laugh.

Why did she delete that?

Because we had somebody that did that three times before they called the police and said, I think I'm being scammed.

And on the third time we did a fake drop and we caught them.

Luckily, but she was already out 10 grand at that point.

So, if somebody tells you that, you hang up the phone and you call 911.

And they will send somebody to come help you, okay?

Um, nobody is ever gonna ask you to pay gold bars or silver coins or anything that you might have at home.

And you know, you may get some of these that say, Oh, there's been a breach in your account, you need to move your money to a safe account.

That's not a thing.

Again, call your bank if you think there's been an issue and they'll tell you what to do, but don't ever do it based off a phone call or any kind of email that you get.

So, quick five-minute test to see if it's a scam.

If you're being pressured, if you are being threatened, stop, take a breath, realize that's probably a scam.

All right?

If that happens, if it's on the phone, hang up the phone.

If it's in person, say bye, nice to meet you, walk back in your house, shut the door, and lock it.

Okay.

Um, if it's an email, just delete that email.

Anytime they're asking you to do something, make sure you verify it through a legitimate source, whether that's calling a known number that you have of a person or going to your bank's you know, storefront or their website.

And again, ask somebody, all right?

You know, don't be embarrassed, don't feel ashamed, whatever.

If you think it might be a scam or you're concerned about what happened, call a trusted friend or family member, call your bank, a caregiver, call law enforcement, call somebody and say, I think this is a scam.

Can you help me out?

Okay, and then if you are a victim of one, reporting it because that helps obviously try and resolve things and lets us know what's going on.

We've talked plenty about phone safety and how to deal with that and internet and email.

Same thing with text messages, too.

You know, you ever get those random texts with a link, don't click it unless you know where it's from, okay?

Anytime you're doing that, you're giving them an end to your device, whether that's your cell phone or your computer at home, and that can lead to bigger problems.

Um, you know, again, making sure your passwords are all very strong, which I know stinks having lots of letters and numbers and things to remember, but it's better if you do.

Um, which leads me to talking about protecting your personal information.

All right.

We know don't give out your date of birth or your social or your bank account number to somebody that you don't know.

But here's another thing to keep in mind.

You know, we talked about people in your home, uh, caregivers, contractors, whatever.

You need to have a way to protect even the personal information you have in your home.

Um, I highly recommend buying one of those fireproof boxes at Walmart or one of the stores in town and keeping personal documents locked up in that.

Okay.

One of the best things that you can do is in that box with all of your sensitive information, have a list of your passwords for all your accounts for your family members.

Because boy, let me tell you what, that's really difficult if somebody passes away and nobody knows how to access any of their information and it becomes a great big mess.

So you get a little notebook, write them all down, put them in your lockbox, tell your family, hey, that's where they are.

That way they know.

Anything you're getting rid of, any old documents that you have, shred.

Shred, shred, shred.

If you don't have a shredder, there's services that you can use that will shred them for you.

Don't just throw them away, don't just dump them in the recycling.

There are people that dumpster dive and trash dive looking for stuff just like that, and they can pull your bank account number off of there, and from there, off they go.

Um again, it's worth repeating.

We talked about reviewing bank statements, credit card statements, looking for charges that you don't recognize that might be a tip-off, your number has been compromised.

Um, you know, making sure that you know who to contact at your bank if you think that there's an issue.

These are all important things that you can do to keep yourself protected.

So, what do you do if you already paid a scammer?

If you pay somebody money and you think afterwards, ooh, that might not have been real.

The first thing you have to do is take action.

Don't sit on it, don't wait.

If you think at all that you have maybe paid a scammer, you know, immediately contact your bank, okay?

Let your bank know, put a hold on your cards, put a hold on your account, they can flag your account, whatever financial institution that you use to send that money out, contact them and let them know because they can freeze everything else.

And once they do that, it might protect the rest of your assets, okay?

Um, ask if charges can be, you know, withdrawn, reversed, flagged, whatever the case may be.

If you use any kind of account to send the money, change those passwords.

Um, save all text, emails, whatever you may have related to it, save them somewhere, and then call law enforcement and report it.

Because all that information that you have saved, the police are going to need to try and investigate it and figure out what happened.

So you may even sometimes we see this scam.

You know, you pay a scammer, say they call you, give them your story, and you pay them money.

A day or two later, you may get a call from a second person saying, Hey, you've been scammed.

If you pay me a thousand dollars, I could get that money back for you.

All right?

You laugh.

They scam the scammers, but people do it all the time, and and people fall for it all the time.

Okay, so that's why it's so important to shut everything down, contact law enforcement immediately if you think you have been scammed, and let them know.

What real quick, sorry uh when you call your bank, ask them, not anybody else, to give you contact for the credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, um, and Experian.

Okay, if you feel like you've been scammed and you're reporting this, you call your credit bureaus and you tell them to put a flag on your account.

So nobody can open any else on your credit account without additional information.

Okay?

Your bank will help you with that.

And once you reported it to law enforcement and your bank, they can then alert like the AG's office, the FTC, FBI, whoever else they need to let know that this is going on, because usually they have a running tally of all these scams, and so they can do that for you.

But law enforcement and your bank are the first two things that you need to do.

And one of the best ways you can help yourself is to have a plan in place with your family.

You know, have at least two trusted people you can call before making like an unusual financial decision, you know, whether that's a family member or a friend or just somebody whose opinion you trust and whose counsel you trust, and say, hey, you know, I got this call, I'm thinking about doing this.

What do you think?

And then really listen to them if they tell you I think you're being scammed, all right?

We talked about the family code word, having that word for emergencies, any emergency at all, that will be helpful.

Um, and just you know, agreeing that no one's gonna be embarrassed, no one's gonna be judgy if you call and say I need help or hey, I've got to verify this because I'm just not sure it's real or not.

Uh review your privacy settings, encourage those in your family to review their privacy settings because you know sometimes yours may be locked down, but say you've got a grandkid on there that's open to the public, you know, if they tag you in something or you tag them, all of their people can now see you.

So talk to your family about making sure their stuff's locked down so that way it's it's as close as it can be.

And make sure you've got phone numbers for your bank, family members, Medicare, Social Security.

Make sure you have those in a place that's accessible to you so you don't have to go hunting for it in case something does happen and you think you've been scammed, or maybe you you did participate somehow in a scam.

That way you don't have to go chasing those down as you're looking for them.

And so I think we've talked through all of those.

So last little bit before we close, you know, I he's gonna give some examples of real life things that he's seen, but I also just want to say, like I said earlier, you know, watch out for one another.

If somebody is talking about transferring money or buying something or clicking on something and winning a prize, any of these things we've talked about, and you think, hey, they might be scammed, you know, say something.

That's why we have each other, you know, that's why God made the churches to help look out for one another and to be there for each other.

And, you know, sometimes people may not realize when they're doing it that it's a scam until it's too late.

And it might just take one person kind of going, you know, that sounds a little weird.

Maybe you should look into that for them to go, oh yeah, okay, maybe it does.

And then take steps to avoid being scammed.

So just keep that in mind as you're talking to your friends, family members, you know, listen to what they're saying about these kind of things.

You might be able to help them out a little bit.

So now for the quiz, I promised you.

I don't, you may not be able to see this, but if you can't, if you don't, it it's it's okay.

But this is a screenshot uh of an email I got last week while we were on vacation, and I said I'm gonna use this.

In fact, I emailed uh to put this on here.

So this is an email from the post office, okay?

And the email says that your delivery status update.

Okay, we attempted to deliver your package, but we're unable to complete the delivery due to an incomplete or incorrect address on the shipping label.

Okay, real or fake?

You read ahead.

Okay.

Yes, this is this is a fake one.

How do you know?

What are ways that you can do to find out whether or not these emails like this are legitimate?

This was something that I've been taught and I want to explain to you.

Because anybody can get any email address and spoof it.

Okay, email addresses could be used, uh it's called a um I blanked on the name.

Um alias.

Okay, I can take any one of my email addresses and create an alias.

At work, if you call if you email administration at rivervalley ar911.gov, it's an alias to my email address.

I see it.

Okay, so anybody can make any email address they want to.

So how do you make sure that it's not legitimate?

First and foremost, if you see one that says dot G-O-V.gov, that is a federal standard.

That's legit.

Okay?

Federal standard means any federal department has to have dot gov.

Okay?

Do you see dot gov on anything from the federal United States Postal Service?

No, you don't.

Second of all, hey, they have my email address.

Okay, go back one.

Okay, they have my email address.

Okay, great.

Have you ever seen the US Postal Service logo?

It's USPS with a logo.

This is U.S.

P dot S.

Doesn't quite look right.

In fact, some of these websites, some of these addresses can use the same lettering, but they use the Russian Cerulean alphabet that has similar looking letters.

That R looks weird.

It's because it's Cyrillian R in Russian.

Okay?

And it's the same thing in English that it looks to us, but it's got Russian letters to make it different than the legitimate email address.

If it looks weird, don't trust it.

Second thing.

It said, go back.

I'll tell you, go back, go back.

Second thing.

Hurry up.

We attempted deliver your package but are unable to complete the delivery.

We need your address.

Why would the post office need my address?

They have my address.

And why are they emailing me?

Okay?

That type of thing.

So it says verify address.

The post office is asking you to verify your address flag.

Alright?

So how do we find out for sure?

Well, if you go to the next slide, I'm gonna go in here a little bit closer.

So you've got priority mail express, Washington, DC, all of this.

And this is a close-up shot of the United States Postal Service.

Every email has the email address or the name that the email address uses.

How do you verify?

If I you clicked on that, go back to one for me.

So if you click on that West Mylam, okay, it'll give me that email address.

They were right.

But if you click on the United States Postal Service, it's no reply at dartpromo.com.

Not the post office.

Okay?

This happens all the time.

These are very easy ways that you can use to kind of sleuth out, don't just automatically assume what you get is legitimate.

Look further into it.

Check these things.

Okay?

As we talked about, you know, when you have something like this and you want to feel like that, you you know, you talk to somebody, ask, okay?

Ask one of us.

We are certainly glad to help.

Police department, sheriff's department, anywhere, okay?

Uh just let us know.

Um, you know, he talks about that I'm the public safety communications.

What that really means is I'm the 911 director for Sebastian County now.

So call me.

My number's 911.

Okay.

They'll love it when you go, I'll need to talk to Wes.

Okay.

All right.

Guys, uh I I appreciate your time.

I hope that we have been able to help you out some.

So, what we're gonna do, I realize, Dave, that we are gone all the way up to our time plus time.

Uh, I have a few minutes.

Questions, if that's okay, sir.

Okay, does anybody have any questions?

And I mean a question not so much as a this is what happened to me.

Okay, because I'm gonna come over here.

Talk for a minute about getting an email that doesn't have the unsubscribe button at the bottom of it.

Okay.

So if you get an email that doesn't have the unsubscribe button, delete it, and then you can get on the what your email account and block it.

Okay, you don't have you hit up subscribe, that's fine, but you can also block emails.

Mark it as spam, mark it as trash.

Okay, all right?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, if you have a person.

I have a person.

That, you know, things like a woman that this person really loves her and that you know how can you, if it's a family member, how can you protect that person?

Is there anything legally you can do?

Yeah, how to legally protect that person.

For legal questions, I'll pass to the attorney.

Well, like everything in the law, the answer is it depends.

Um if it is somebody that um take as much time as you're comfortable to, I just need to.

You know, one of the things that we deal with, especially dealing with, you know, say like elderly parents or whatever, is that sometimes it gets to a point where they need somebody to help make decisions for them.

And so what I would recommend, if that's the case, um, is getting a guardianship.

There are lots of attorneys in town that do family law.

You can get a guardianship over that person, which gives you the right to help make decisions for them, control their finances and bank account.

And in that situation, that would be what is most helpful is if you have somebody that is like paying money out to like a romance scam, if you were their guardian, you control their bank.

So you can stop payments and and things like that.

Um, if that's not something that's an option, you know, the best thing you can do is tell them what you think is happening and encourage them to report it.

Um, but sometimes people are just gonna do what people are gonna do.

But especially if it's somebody that is older and maybe has other issues being able to care for themselves, I would say seeking a guardianship and talking to an attorney about that is probably your best bet.

Any other questions?

Oh, I'm gonna go over here.

I can hear the microphone so everybody can hear the question.

Sure.

Okay, what's your question?

Is there any recourse for those uh spam calls that we get?

I'm on I've been on the do not call list for two years, and from what I can tell, you can't know.

Yeah.

Is is there any so is there any recourse for these people making the spam calls?

Yeah, the unfortunate thing is as quick as you can identify somebody making a spam call and the number it's coming from, they change it.

And so a lot of this is it's just computer bots, you know, they're just generating numbers and making phone calls, and so as fast as one goes out, they change to another number.

And so unfortunately, there's unless the federal government can come up with a way to stop it, there's really not a lot you can do other than, like I said, I get millions of these.

I don't answer them if they leave a voicemail, which some do, on my phone, I put delete, and it has the tab that says delete and report spam.

And I do that on every single one of those.

And sometimes for a time it will cut down the number that I'm getting.

It might ramp back up a few weeks later, but at least it helps, and I'm reporting it as spam because I know a lot of that information is what you know the federal government, FTC, and all is using to show that this is a problem.

But unfortunately, as quick as computers can generate info, they can change things, so there's not a whole lot that can be done.

Any other questions?

Okay, guys, we're gonna let Dave come back again.

Thank you so much for paying attention and listening.

I hope we're helpful.

Um we'll hang out for a little bit.

Like I said, if you want me to check your Facebook account or your social media account for privacy, got any other questions?

We'll be happy to stand by here.

We we do have to go back to work at some point, so we'll be here.