Scam Squad

405 episodes — Page 8 of 9

VERY COMPLEX IRS SCAMS

There are so many IRS scams today, mostly because it is so easy to hack into tax preparation services computers and steal sensitive data on you. Expert Laurel Sykes tells Patti and the rest of us about the leading types of IRS scams now being thrown at us at the peak and frenzy time of the tax season.

Apr 3, 20197 min

LOTTERY SCAM AND EXTORTION

Telephone scammer picks the wrong victim, a former CIA and FBI dept head, and gets extradited and a lengthy prison sentence

Mar 21, 20196 min

UTILITY BILL SCAM

Beware of calls from fake utility collections reps. Crooks saying that you haven't paid your utility bill will try to get you to send them money asap under the threat of cutting off your utilities. Learn what to do.

Mar 14, 20196 min

FAKE RENTAL SCAM

Beware of unrealistic low priced rental ads you see on Craigslist and other scam plagued housing rental sites. Chances are a crook who are not the real landlords are trying to get you to send money to them instead of the real property owner.

Mar 14, 20197 min

TAX RETURN THEFT

We have been seeing an increase in tax return theft where the crooks steal your identity to file early in your name and steal your tax return money before you probably have a chance to file your return. Learn how to prevent this.

Feb 8, 20199 min

THE MONEY MULE

Crooks are always looking to make friends with goodhearted, innocent people so that they can trick them into being a money mule who will unknowingly launder thousands of dollars of illegally obtained money for them. Learn how to avoid being tricked into being used by crooks who need to launder their illegal money.

Jan 29, 20197 min

FAKE SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE SCAM

Well selected and trained scammers operating out of India were arrested for running a phony Social Security office scam. The scammers were selected and trained to have little or no foreign accents and called threatening prosecution unless you pay out up to $3,400 to fix the problem.

Jan 22, 20196 min

UKRAINIAN PACKAGE ROMANCE SCAM

Beware of anything to do with receiving packages from the Ukraine on behalf of a friend or relative or anyone. Since US involvement in overthrowing the democratically elected government in Ukraine and replacing it with a facist neo-nazi regime, you cannot trust anyone who has anything to do with Ukraine. Be very suspicious of anything Ukrainian or anything from Ukraine. Don't get involved, it is very dangerous.

Jan 18, 20199 min

FAKE WEBSITE PAYMENT SCAMS

While Vicki is on vacation, Patti and Laurel discuss talk online scams that happen while you are paying onlline. There are many fake websites out there that have url names which are similar to real businesses, but people accidentally misspell the url slightly and are sometimes fooled into thinking the fake business they are on is real and thus give out personal information. When their package doesn't arrive, they then discover they misspelled the business url and got scammed into giving out their credit card information to crooks that plundered their accounts.

Jan 7, 20198 min

RISKS OF OTHERS MANAGING OUR MONEY

What are the risks and safeguards when we depend on family, friends, and others to help us manage our money as we become weaker, more forgetful, and frail. Laurel Sykes, Vice President of Montecito Bank and Trust tells hosts Patti Teel and Vicki Johnson all about it in this week's episode of Scam Squad.

Dec 9, 201814 min

ELDER ABUSE SIGNS

Many modern families do not visit their elderly relatives as often as they would like or should in order to see if they are being treated well by their caretakers. With massive budget cuts and deregulation, corporate greed and computer automation, elder abuse is rapidly rising as more and more elderly relatives become isolated and forgotten about except for the quick drop-by during the Holiday Season. Vicki and Patti have a huge list of big red flags to look for when dropping by to visit elderly relatives.

Dec 4, 20186 min

The Phony Debt Collector Scam

The Phony Debt Collector Scam has been hitting us hard the past few weeks. Crooks will call and claim that you owe money for all kinds of things. and then threaten to wreck your credit standing and even threaten to have the police put you in jail. Patti and Vicki tell us how to know real debt collectors from fraudulent ones and give out phone numbers of agencies that fight against scams like this.

Nov 19, 20188 min

The Fix Your Dented Car Scam

Beware of people who approach you in parking lots that offer to fix the dents in your car right there in the parking lot for a cut rate price. Almost all of them are cons and scammers that will quote you a low price, but will find ways and excuses for jacking the price up really high. When they're done, changes are they fixed more dents that were agreed upon and will insist that you pay a small fortune for the work they did. They will also often say that you had agreed to pay a much higher price that you really did. When you complain, they become very aggressive and threatening and always pick people they know they can beat up if you don't agree to pay them what they are now demanding. Listen to our elderly guest who went through a very, very scary ordeal with one of these scumbag cons that extorted her out of hundreds of dollars.

Nov 13, 20189 min

GRANDPARENTS SCAM

The Grandparents Scam is an old scam that just keeps hanging on, mostly because so many of us post a lot of information about us and often our whole families on social media sites such as Facebook. This information is used by crooks in order to be so successful at pulling off the old Grandparents Scam again and again. Find out how crooks take information off your Facebook and other social media sites in order to easily con your family members into losing their entire life's savings.

Nov 5, 20187 min

PHONY TECH SUPPORT SCAM

Warning, the Phony Tech Support Scam has been running out of control lately in Santa Barbara County, costing business and individuals tens of millions of dollars. This is a very DANGEROUS SCAM because it allows crooks to get your credit card and personal information as well as wreck your computer. This week, Patti Teel and D.A. Vicki Johnson get the latest info on this scam from Laurel Sykes the Chief Risk Operator for Montecito Bank and Trust. It is very, very important that you do not miss this episode if you own or operate a computer.

Oct 31, 20189 min

MOST RECENT SCAMS BEING REPORTED LOCALLY

This week Vicki and Patti talk over the most common scams currently being called into our local Sherriff's Dept. Shockingly, according to the FBI, most of the fake kidnapping calls are coming from inmates inside the Mexican prisons and jails while an accomplist in the U.S. collects the ransom money and sends it to the Mexican mafia. Learn more by listening to this podcast.

Oct 23, 20186 min

ROMANCE SCAM NEAR MISS

Patti Teel and Deputy D.A. Vicki Johnson interview a new guest who had a near miss with a romance scam. Listen to all the horrible details of how these crooks romance women out of their entire life's savings.

Oct 15, 201811 min

ON THE FRONTLINES

This week, Patti and Vicki ask Sheriff's receptionists what it is like being first responders to phone calls from victims of all kinds of heartless and mean spirited scams and swindles such as the Sweetheart Swindles that have cheated so many senior aged women out of their entire life's savings.

Oct 8, 201811 min

BASIC PHONE SCAMS

Laurel Sykes explains the basic types of scams that are being used to defraud the public.

Oct 1, 20185 min

LATEST PHONE SCAMS

Laurel Sykes, Chief Risk Officer at Montecito Bank and Trust, shows us all of the most recent new angles crooks are using to swindle and cheat us out of money through the use of Phone Scams. Be sure to listen and learn about the most evil and heartless phone scams sweeping the nation and how you can protect yourselves from the possibility of losing your life savings to crooks. Don't miss this one.

Sep 27, 201810 min

PHONY CRUISE VACATION SCAM

Beware of phony vacation tours and cruises that offer very low prices to get you to sign up quick and very early way in advance of the start of the vacation or cruise. , When it's time for your vacation cruise, the boat and the crooks have left the port long, long time ago with your money and a very, very cold trail that's probably too hard to probably catch up and jail the crooks .

Sep 11, 20186 min

Fake Vacation Rental Scam

Learn how to avoid common scams. This week Patti and Vicki tell you how to avoid getting taken by crooks that use the Phone Vacation Rental Scam.

Sep 3, 20185 min

INTERNET BLACKMAIL EXTORTION SCAM

Today's guest on Scam Squad tells how an extortion emailer tried to blackmailer her. However, our guest was to wise to fall for the blackmail internet extortion scam. Listen to the details from today's guest on Scam Squad.

Aug 29, 201811 min

FAKE BANK TEXT MESSAGE SCAM

Crooks are sending fake bank text messages to victims who fall for them and lose money and personal information.

Aug 29, 20188 min

FAKE MEDICARE CALLER

Watch out for phony Medicare phone calls from crooks pretending to be Medicare agents asking you for all of your personal information

Aug 27, 20186 min

Laurel Sykes of Montecito Bank & Trust Shares Mystery Shopper Scam

Laurel Sykes, from Montecito Bank and Trust explains how the Mystery Shopper Scam works.

Aug 13, 201811 min

Scam Squad - Work at home scam

Work at home scam

Jul 26, 201811 min

Scam Squad - Credit Card Skimming

Scam Squad - Credit Card Skimming by Hub for Podcasting

Jul 26, 201812 min