WFHB

Here are two more “classic” scams that have been practiced since time immemorial, and are still very much in use today — because they still work, in one variation or another. Both are “team” scams, and need at least two crooks to make them work. The victim must not know that the two are connected — and these scams are especially dangerous because they use both greed and fear to snare the sucker. Know the pattern, and you’ll know when to beware.

There are millions of scams going around all over the world today, but they are really variations on a small number of “con games.” If you know the basic ways in which fraudsters push your fear button, or your greed button, you can learn to spot a swindle even after some crook tries to make it look new and different. Here are two famous ones, known as the Fiddle Game and the Glim Drop from earlier versions which are still being used in in one way or another to fool you into paying a lot of money for something worthless.

Phony messages coming in as emails or texts are getting harder to spot, because they no longer have funny language or bad spelling, thanks probably to Artificial Intelligence programs used by crooks. And there’s bad news for people who use “digital wallets” like Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Cybercriminals (apparently in China) have hacked into the digital wallets of some 115,000,000 Americans — and they’ve gotten around all the built-in security. Headsup, watch out, and beware.

There’s a new scam going around that’s very scary, because it contains a lot of your personal information — harvested on the Dark Web — and even a photograph of the house you live in! The scammer makes frightening threats and demands payment…or else. It’s not really as dangerous as it looks, but it’s so sophisticated it could fool almost anyone. Keep up, and tell your friends — here’s how to avoid being ripped off.

There are a lot of scams coming from Russia today, especially on the internet. Regardless of who’s doing them or why, you need to be aware and on the alert for attempts to steal your personal information, break into your credit card accounts, or fool you into helping their swindles. And here’s another warning about the wave of emails from all over that are trying to trick you in to responding.

Indiana University Credit Union customers are being hit by telephone scammers — do you have an account there? Do you know someone who does? Telephone phonies and email scammers are running rampant these days. You need to understand what they’re trying to do — and we need you to help spread the word to people who don’t hear Better Beware.

Three current scams — and the first one hits close to home. I got a fake email saying WFHB had cancelled my Box.com account, which was of course not true. But someone is targeting emails on the wfhb.org domain. Right now, two other con games are happening a lot — one involving accounts with Apple, the Apple store, and Apple Pay; the other is a telephone game where some thief pretends to be a member of the local police. Here’s a headsup on all three.

One astonishingly successful way scammers steal people’s money is to tell a lie so huge that people think it must be true, because nobody would dare say such a thing if it wasn’t. This technique has succeeded many times in the past, and the stories are kind of like an opposite phenomenon: they can be very hard to believe, but are actually completely true! Here is why you need to check the facts, every time, and never assume there’s a lie that’s too big to be told.

Back in 1776, John Adams predicted — correctly! — that July 4th would become a national holiday. Today, it’s easy to predict that scammers and swindlers will try to celebrate by scatttering traps for you, all wrapped in the good old red-white-and-blue, of course. Here’s a quick look at some of the most common con games that pop up along with firework stands, and the basic ways to keep your money safe. When it comes to setting off fireworks, though, staying safe is entirely up to you! So be careful, and have a happy Independence Day.

“You pilot always into an unknown future — facts are your single clue.”

Today, too many people don’t make up their own minds. They just decide who they’re going to believe. This can be very dangerous! It opens you up to all kinds of scams and swindles, and can lead you to make bad decisions about anything you do in life. Let’s think about how to know what information you can trust…decide whose opinions you can believe…and how to make up your own mind, instead of letting someone else do it for you.