Solar Scams, Pig Butchers

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this fast-moving, fraud-fighting episode of Talking Real Money, Tom Cock is joined by longtime consumer advocate Herb Weisbaum (aka The ConsumerMan) to expose two of the fastest-growing scams in the U.S.: predatory solar sales and the “pig butchering” crypto scam. Herb details the dangerous combination of shady sales reps and shadowy financing pushing overpriced, underperforming solar systems door-to-door. Then, the duo dives into long-con crypto scams, deepfake romance cons, and the weaponization of AI for fraud. Herb doesn’t hold back—calling crypto “sheer stupidity” and buy-now-pay-later schemes a gateway to regret. It’s a wild, enlightening ride full of practical advice and a few laughs at the crooks’ expense. 0:44 The ConsumerMan joins the show—cape at the dry cleaner, fraud cape that is 1:30 Solar sales scams: door-to-door hustlers + shady financiers 2:37 Solar “deals” that aren’t: pressure sales, fake savings, buried contract terms 5:35 Solar installations gone wrong—and sometimes never installed at all 6:55 Why good contractors don’t knock on doors 8:20 Know the difference between credits and cash—solar isn’t “free” 9:26 Pig butchering crypto scams explained 10:40 Fake trading platforms that “show” fake returns 11:50 AI-powered fraud: deepfake voices, faces, and video chats 13:26 Romance scams that clean people out—millions lost 14:15 Don’t respond to unsolicited texts or calls—ever 15:11 Former SEC officials: crypto exists for crime and tax evasion 16:44 Crypto isn’t investment—it’s gambling with digital vapor 17:25 Insurance crisis: companies fleeing, premiums surging 18:41 Regulators letting insurers raise rates without scrutiny 19:29 Consumer quiz: what to do first if you’re scammed 21:18 Why you should never pay with Zelle or a debit card 22:30 Getting teens a credit card the right way 23:43 Coming soon: Buy Now, Pay Later scams (Costco’s in now too) 24:48 Where to find Herb’s work—Checkbook, Consumerpedia, and ConsumerMan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:23.3	like you sign up for your one dollar a month trial at shopify dot com slash setup reality radio for a really
0:36.8	great future.
0:38.0	We're talking real money.
0:40.8	Hey, thank you for being part of Talking Real Money here every day, trying to help you figure out money, not make mistakes that you make.
0:48.9	Put it in its place.
0:50.3	Live with it, but don't let it make you go crazy.
0:53.8	And that's what we see every day. And one of the things
0:55.8	that we run into on a regular basis is protecting yourself against fraud. There's all kinds of
1:02.5	it out there. There's all kinds of people that want to steal your money. And while he didn't fly in with
1:07.6	his cape today, because apparently gave the cape the day off. It's a dry cleaner.
1:11.0	It's a dry cleaner, which makes sense.
1:13.2	We are so proud to have and proud to be affiliated with all these years.
1:18.2	The consumer man, Herb Weisbaum, thank you for being on Talking Real Money.
1:21.9	It is always a pleasure to be with you, Tom.
1:23.6	It's great to have you.
1:24.5	It's great to have you as a friend.
1:25.7	I've got to say, too. So I appreciate all those
1:27.6	things. But there are a thousand topics, and you write so well for this checkbook and the podcast,
1:33.8	and you always got the stuff out there. But the one that came to mind recently for me, because
1:37.6	I listened to a podcast about these people that get hired and they bring them into town,
1:43.1	and then they loose them on the neighborhood
	...

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