The Expert Podcast

…Sadly we're still seeing a large number of online scams that are taking money from victims A lot of it still has to do with digital currency or cryptocurrency or Bitcoin Usually it's not actually Bitcoin it's other types of digital currency or crypto. And then what happens is a victim will be contacted either through social media a dating site text message spam or some other method. And there'll be a conversation that'll start sometimes that has nothing to do with investing or, sending money It has to do with something else maybe a social conversation It may be a dating conversation. it might be somebody saying it's a wrong number. We've. a lot of clients that have said I just got this random text said Hey is Joel there? And they say well no Joe's not here. This is the wrong number And then they'll say well, where do I send the money from his investment And then it gets the curiosity of that person. raised up and they start asking questions. No matter how you get into these scams. What'll happen is they'll keep asking for money What we're seeing more and more. Which is very troubling. Our victims are starting to borrow money. Take out loans to put in to these scams or what you were think Well why would a victim. Borrow money to send to one of these scams Well here's how it works. The scammer. He says look. If you put in $3,000 they start with a relatively low number 1000 2,003,000. you can double your money in a month. So you put in 3000. And. They send you back a statement that says Hey your 3000 is now $5,000. Now it's $5,500 They show it going up. And sometimes the victim will say okay I want to take it out now And they said well we said, a month you have to wait a month for cause it's locked up for a month That's the story they tell. And that buys them some time to continue the conversation. So what happens during that month? Well, what they'll say is you know your account now is up over $6,000. If you get your account to 10,000…It will double again and you'll have 20. So they'll ask you for another $4,000…And sometimes you'll say I don't have that much money and they'll tell you that they're going to loan you the money. They'll say if you come up with a thousand. We'll loan you the other three…So what they're doing is. they're pretending to give you money It's not even real money This is all like monopoly money They're just making up numbers on the statement. But when they tell you that they're loaning you money It makes you feel special that you have somebody willing to take. A chance with you to give you credit. So now they loan you 3000 You put in a thousand. Now your accounts at 10,000 and they send you a statement that says look your account is now $18,000. You know if you had your account. At 30,000…It will double again and you'll be at 60. Or sometimes they'll say it'll triple and you'll have a hundred thousand. So can you come up with another 10,000 No I can't. Well those says the loan another 3000, and they'll tell you to go get a loan a personal loan, a credit card loan. Home equity loan take money out of your 401k whatever it is to cover the difference. And if you…balk at that or resist it they'll say look, we're loaning you money. So isn't it fair that you go borrow money somewhere else too We can't loan you all the money. and look how much you already made and you think it's a no brainer. You already doubled your money. But the amount that's showing on your statement It's just fake. They just made up the statement on a word processor. But the fact that they're using psychology. To tell you that you're first of all your profits are going up Second of all that they're loaning you money They're doing you a favor makes you feel kind of. Entitled. And maybe even, somewhat. Obligated to them To borrow more money…Over the last few months. 50% of the fraud victims We've spoken to have borrowed money from third parties. their bank. Credit card advance home equity loan, borrowed money from the 401k. To put into the scam. So now when the scam blows up, Not only did they lose cash out of their pocket, but now they have loans that they have to make payments on…So…be aware that this is a more aggressive stance The fraudsters are taking. To make you take out loans to put into their scam…so they can get more money out of your pocket…