Understand and Avoid Financial Scams: Phishing, Vishing, Smishing and More

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 665 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn how to spot and avoid online scams, including imposter scams, investment scams, phishing, vishing and smishing. How can you protect yourself from financial scams? What steps should you take if you fall victim to one of these schemes? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss the pressing issue of online frauds and strategies for safeguarding personal finances to help you avoid falling prey to digital tricksters. They begin with a discussion of recognizing and avoiding various scams, with tips and tricks on spotting urgent money demands, identifying false emergencies and being wary of too-good-to-be-true investment opportunities. Then, Lisa Schifferle from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau joins Sean to discuss the alarming scale of scamming in America. They discuss the importance of sharing scam experiences, recognizing payment method red flags and the necessity of being vigilant with personal information. They offer insights into the dangers of unsolicited communications, sophisticated scamming operations, and essential steps for recourse if you've been scammed. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: online scams, cryptocurrency scams, identity theft, fraud protection, internet safety, cyber fraud, financial predators, digital deception, romance scams, phishing scams, vishing, smishing, pig butchering scams, safeguarding finances, tech support scams, scam awareness, investment scams, recouping lost funds, scam red flags, Consumer Sentinel, scam complaints, social media scams, wire transfer fraud, gift card scams, scam prevention, sharing scam stories, urgent message scam, fake family emergencies, financial loss, scam targets, elder scams, digital cons, and technology scams. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Crypto scams, romance scams, tax scams, fishing, vishing, smishing.
0:06.4	Welcome to the word salad of the scam world.
0:09.1	If there's money to be made, there's a scam to be played.
0:12.2	So today we're going to help you learn to spot the scam.
0:15.3	And rule one is, if there's a fast deadline on a demand for money, it's time for some serious skepticism.
0:21.3	That's what these scammers try to do. They try to rush you into making a decision by telling
0:25.1	you something's urgent or an emergency, like the family emergency scam where those say,
0:30.6	oh, this is your grandchild and not I'm overseas, and I need you to wire money fast because I'm in jail
0:36.0	or in the hospital.
0:43.1	Welcome to Nerd Wallet's Smart Money Podcasts.
0:43.9	I'm Sean Piles.
0:45.2	And I'm Sarah Rathner.
0:49.8	And today we continue our nerdy deep dive into scams and identity theft and all the different ways that bad actors try to part you from your money.
0:53.8	In previous episodes, we've gone over the dangers and warning signs of ID theft and ID fraud.
0:59.2	And both of those involve people pretending to be you.
1:02.5	They open credit cards in your name, bank accounts in your name, health insurance coverage in your name, tax refunds in your name.
1:10.5	Are you sensing a trend? Today,
1:12.1	though, we're going to hear about the world of scams. And this is a little bit different.
1:16.7	Yeah, scammers try to convince you that they are someone trustworthy. They pretend to be the bank,
1:22.2	the credit card company, the insurance company, the IRS, and on and on. And they're usually attempting to get you to click
1:29.1	on a link to an account or to give them a password. Sometimes they're even pretending to be a
1:34.1	family member and use technologies like voice replication to get you to pay, say, a ransom demand
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NerdWallet Personal Finance, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NerdWallet Personal Finance and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.