The Expert Podcast

…Many times the reason that a conflict exists is because of some type of scam or fraud frauds take many forms Sometimes it's a scam online Sometimes it's a Ponzi scheme Sometimes it's a corporate fraud or embezzlement. We'll talk about a couple of them including some that have to do with a fake law enforcement call Some of them have to do with fig Bitcoin investments. And this one here is an employee of a car dealership. The embezzled $1.3 million from their employer and what they basically did. Was they created fake companies and had a billing scheme So this person worked for the company as a freelance advertise. and marketing. agents. And they were tasked with doing advertising for the dealership And what they did was created a bunch of fake companies that said here are companies that did work for the dealership. And invoices. And they charged his employer. Over a million dollars to pay these fake internet companies. And. Siphoned off the money. Come to find out these weren't even real companies They were owned by them owned by the fraudster as a shell company…Trying to pretend they were legitimate advertising and market firms. Well that's not what happened They were just. Thin air and the money just went to this. employee. Another form of fraud is when you're approached by somebody. Who claims to have an investment? A lot of times this occurs online through Instagram. dating site, some employment site. And you'll get a message out of the blue that says Hey I just made all this money on this, investment. Sometimes on a dating site it'll be somebody you're conversing with who shows up in a conversation that says, Hey, I'm making all this money I'm going away for vacation this weekend Or I just bought this new car or I'm going out to dinner with my friends because I made $10,000 on this investment And they'll show pictures on social media. Of their luxury vacation or their new car or their fancy dinner with champagne bottles. And what it does It tries to get the other party who you're talking to. To ask well gee how'd you make this money? Well I put my money into this. Investment in Bitcoin in bonds whatever. And I doubled my money in two weeks. And so the person who you're conversing with will ask well how did you do that? And so then they'll send you a link and they'll say well this is where I put my money. And then you'll go to that link. And now you have a referral from somebody who you think you can trust because you think you're in a dating relationship with them. And you see they prove that they made this money Cause they have pictures of their vacation on some guests What it's all a scam. This person is not really who you think you're talking to It's a scammer who has these fake investments. And because of the fact that you're maybe enamored by this person or you're trying to show off to this person or because they're faking you out with this. social media representation Maybe they have stock photos of somebody on vacation Maybe they rented a car for a day. Now you send them 10, 15, 20 $30,000 as an investment. But they won't stop there. Once you send them 20,000 or 30,000. They'll say Hey look your account now is up to 75,000 You put in 30 it more than double. You have 75,000 in the account right now. Look here's your statement. And they send you an official looking account statement and they say look, if you hit a hundred thousand in your account, The a hundred thousand automatically doubles because you get some kind of bonus. So…all you gotta do is get it to a hundred So now you send a hundred. And then all of a sudden they show you a statement for 200,000 and you're thinking you put in 40,000 and you have 200,000, you're making. A lot of money. And they'll keep asking for money this way, right up until the point that you asked for some back Hey wait a minute. I made all this profit. I want to take some out. As soon as you start asking to take money out, then they're going to say well you have to pay taxes. If you want to take out 200,000, you have to pay 10% taxes. So send us 20 grand. He sent them 20 grand. And then it's well there's an audit fee of 5,000 They'll keep asking you for money for different things until you either realize it's a scam get mad at them or run out of money. One of the three. Another type of scam. Is where you get a phone call from somebody who claims to be in a position of authority a police department. IRS tax auditor and says look, you're in big trouble. We have a warrant Your file has been, flagged for an audit or for enforcement or for prosecution…You're fine are overdue You owe 14,000 in fines. You have to pay immediately. And they'll talk you into paying that money Sometimes they'll tell you it's a relative. Who's been arrested that needs bond money. And they'll know a little bit about you They'll go on your LinkedIn your social media to find out where you live, maybe what kind of house you have, maybe your car and they'll use that information. To help their conversation extract money from you. So. We. C hundreds of victims of these scams every week. We know it's very difficult. If you have had this type of experience, put your message below let us know what your story is about how you've been scammed and what kind of conflict that created for.