In this episode, Erica Wright, financial advisor at South Shore Retirement Services, is joined by special guest Carrie Pasquarello, Co-founder and CEO of Global Secure Resources. This episode focuses on empowering listeners with eye-opening information and strategies to identify, prevent, and respond to various scams. With an industry worth billions and sophisticated tactics evolving every day, the team sheds light on how one could safeguard their finances, particularly in retirement. A particular emphasis is placed on understanding emotional triggers, common red flags, and proactive measures to protect oneself and loved ones.
Segment 1. Welcome and Introduction:
Segment 2. Overview of Scams and Emotional Triggers:
Segment 3. Common Tactics and Approaches by Scammers:
Segment 4. Red Flags and Immediate Actions:
Segment 5. Real-Life Scenarios and Preventative Measures:
Segment 6. Specific Scams Targeting Retirees:
Segment 7. Statistics and the Bigger Picture:
Segment 8. Proactive Steps and Protective Measures:
Segment 10. Conclusion
Jordan Rich [00:00:02]:
Welcome. This is the Retire South Shore Radio Podcast produced by South Shore Retirement Services, inviting you to get started on the path toward your dream retirement. Today. Mark Roulette, Damon La Tenzi and Erica Wright are investment advisors. Enjoy today's podcast.
Erica Wright [00:00:17]:
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Retire South Shore Radio. My name is Erica Wright. I'm an advisor with South Shore Retirement Services. Today we're going to do the show a little bit different. Generally you guys are joined with me and Damon, or me and Mark, my two colleagues and fellow advisors, advisors here. But today they're both out of town. We've got Mark visiting his family in Dublin and Damon is on a little vacation with his family.
Erica Wright [00:00:38]:
So they left me in charge of the radio. And we have brought on a special guest and is a really different show today. But I'm very, very excited to introduce our community of listeners to a very special friend of mine, Carrie Pasquarello. She is a speaker, author, and CEO and founder of Global Secure Resources. She manages the development of security standards and emergency action plans, safety protocols and crisis intervention strategies that are used by businesses and nonprofits and individual consumers all over the place. She speaks on the topic of scam prevention, online student safety, travel safety and employee safety. Carrie lived abroad for about twelve years in Europe and Asia, and she draws from all that experience work in the private sector and with the US Department of State. And she shares a lot of real life lessons.
Erica Wright [00:01:20]:
And we've had some really amazing discussions about some things that she knows that we want to pass along to our listeners. Today we're going to talk about how to scam proof your retirement strategies to help keep your savings and yourself secure. So Carrie, with all that, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:01:34]:
Hello and thank you so much for having me today. This is really a special topic because we want people to be proactive, prepared and protected as they go into their retirement. So thank you.
Erica Wright [00:01:45]:
We're so glad to have you here. It's very exciting for us to have a guest on the radio show. We've had such great conversations just offline, you and I, over the years and just talking about these things. I'm kind of a nerd and I have a law enforcement family background, so I love talking about this stuff and just being aware of it. And I don't think that the general population really might have an understanding of a lot of the things that are going on today. And it can make it very easy to become a target of a scam or not so well intentioned person in your life.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:02:14]:
Absolutely. And let's just think about over the past five years, we've had individuals lose up to $37 billion in the United States.
Erica Wright [00:02:25]:
That's a lot.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:02:25]:
Yes. And so Massachusetts is ranked number twelve with total losses from 2020 at about $235 million.
Erica Wright [00:02:38]:
Wow. That's a lot of money.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:02:40]:
That is a lot of money. And what's really interesting is every single year it's more and more and more.
Erica Wright [00:02:45]:
They get craftier and craftier with their strategies.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:02:48]:
That's right. In 2022, we had losses of over $10 billion. And from 2022 to 23, we lost over $12 billion. Each year, it's more. So I'm not too sure what 2024 is going to bring us, but we have to strategize our safety.
Erica Wright [00:03:04]:
There's no way you can 100% guarantee any of these things. You're never going to fall into a scam because it happens to people, everyday people who are, you know, smart, educated with it, technology, you know, tech savvy. It happens to people all day long. But the best thing, like we've talked about is just being aware of what's going on and, you know, protecting yourself in every way you can.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:03:22]:
Sure. And I always go back to a story about Michelle Anderson, who lost her whole entire life savings and her retirement. Her and her husband were just two weeks away from retirement and they were scammed. And she was a smart, intelligent, savvy woman, and they got her. But she didn't know the red flags. She didn't know the key indicators, and that's why we're here today.
Erica Wright [00:03:43]:
That's absolutely right. Yeah, we're going to go over all of that. We've got a couple different things we're going to focus on today. We're going to talk about the top scams for retirees and different tactics and technology that the scammers are using, how to spot red flags, and what to do if you become a victim of a scam or you suspect that you're a victim of a scam. Carrie, I know you are filled with all sorts of great information, and I know my little synopsis, my little blurb that I gave about you. The information doesn't quite do your resume and your background justice. So can you tell us a little bit more about how you know the things you know and what you've been doing, like, throughout your career?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:04:14]:
Sure. So just a little bit about me and what I've done. I spent twelve years living overseas working for the state Department and also with the private sector. And one of the most important things that I saw working with the state Department were how to stay safe, how to strategize your safety and go forward being proactive, prepared, and protected. And so taking all that information and knowledge, I started a business, global secure resources, where I focused on strategizing safety for others. That also led me to write a book. It's called study abroad safety, a parent's guide to safely sending your child abroad, which has all sorts of strategies on how to keep your young ones safe. I've worked on legislation here in Massachusetts.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:04:56]:
I have developed an individual threat assessment plan or a student safety assessment that covers 15 critical things you should know before you go to stay safe. And there's much more. But I love community awareness and prevention programs. That's where I focus on strategizing other people's safety. And it really comes down to getting in front of people, talking about how they can close their safety gap.
Erica Wright [00:05:18]:
That's so interesting. I think this is such a, such an important topic. And especially, you know, we sit down, Mark and Damon and I sit down with people all the time, and we get to hear, you know, their dreams. And oftentimes their dreams involve travel things. We want to see the world. We want to do this. And I do hear quite often, I want to go travel and I want to see the world. But right now, everything seems too crazy, and I'm a little bit too scared, too.
Erica Wright [00:05:39]:
So this sounds like something that being aware of things might seem like. You probably maybe add that stuff back to your bucket list, as long as you do it in a safe way.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:05:45]:
Absolutely. We love travel. We love getting out there. And, you know, it's interesting because 2024 had a turbulent start. We had earthquakes in Japan. We had volcanoes in Iceland. We had issues with airplanes. But we also have over 100,000 flights taking off daily.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:06:05]:
More than 6 million people traveling. And it's a big boom. And so I know we can go out there, see the world, and do it safer.
Erica Wright [00:06:12]:
Today I'm joined by a very special guest and friend of mine, Carrie Pasquarello. She is a CEO and founder of Global Secure Resources. Today we're talking about how to scan proof your retirement, offering strategies to help keep you and your savings secure during retirement. So, Carrie, I'm really excited to dig into this topic. Let's start out with just giving an overview of some top scams that people need to be aware of.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:06:31]:
Sure. Absolutely. Because scams are a billion dollar business, and the uninformed are the targets. They're the ones that scammers are looking for every single day. So we have a number of different scams that are happening right now. We have the grandparents scam. We have tech support scam. We have government impersonation scams right here in Boston.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:06:52]:
We have ATM scams. We have so many different scams we can dive into. What should we go?
Erica Wright [00:06:57]:
Where should we start? Let's start with the government scams. I think this is what you had mentioned with Michelle Anderson.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:07:03]:
Yes, absolutely. Now, this was a tragic situation because she was a smart, savvy woman. She got a couple of calls that were left on her voicemail saying that her Social Security number had been compromised. She panicked. She dialed that number back really quickly, and lo and behold, an IR's agent answered. He said he was ready to help.
Erica Wright [00:07:27]:
Her, which is amazing, because that never happens. If you ever. That probably should be a red flag right there. If you ever call a government agency and somebody answers the phone willing to help you right away, that should probably be a red flag right there.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:07:37]:
And so he went on to tell her that a drug cartel was using her Social Security number, opening up bank accounts. And because this was a criminal investigation, he was going to change and transfer the call over to a drug enforcement agent. So as soon as he did this, he was in control of who she was speaking with. The agent got on the phone. He said who he was. He said something really interesting. He said, write my name down and google me so you'll know exactly who you're speaking with. So you'll know this is legitimate.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:08:10]:
So there she did. She googled his name, and his picture popped up. And sure enough, he was the agent in charge in Texas, and that is where a car was found with her Social Security number inside and all this bank information. Wow.
Erica Wright [00:08:23]:
So that's really elaborate story they had to go along with all of this.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:08:26]:
Absolutely elaborate. And so at this point, she was so scared, but he told her, you can't tell anybody about this. This is a secret operation. You have two ways to proceed. You can either a, help us find these criminals and get them, or we're gonna go after you. He next sent her an arrest warrant.
Erica Wright [00:08:46]:
Wow.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:08:46]:
It had her name, her date of birth. It had her phone number, it had her Social Security number, and he said they were ready to come get her. Which way does she want to proceed?
Erica Wright [00:08:56]:
Wow.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:08:57]:
That is crazy. He was able to manipulate her to go into the bank and get all of her money into an account and wire transfer it to a safe DEA account.
Erica Wright [00:09:08]:
Oh, wow.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:09:09]:
In Hong Kong.
Erica Wright [00:09:10]:
In Hong Kong. Okay, there sounds like there may have been some red flags, but if you're, if you're being pressured and you're scared, those things might not be registered as red flags at the time.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:09:19]:
Right. And unfortunately, the DEA and the IR's did a press release on this specific scam the year before. And unfortunately, many people aren't up to date on the top scams. She missed it and unfortunately, she lost her retirement and her life savings. Absolutely horrifying.
Erica Wright [00:09:38]:
Yeah, that is, that is very scary. It happens to everyday people, but it's not something that you hear of happening that often. But you don't want to be that one in a million case or that one in a couple hundred thousand case even.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:09:48]:
Well, and as you look at the past five years losing $37 billion, it's happening often. And this is why our community awareness and prevention program is so critical. We need to be able to share this information with others to make sure that they can protect their information and their money.
Erica Wright [00:10:05]:
There's definitely a lot of, a lot of information that people need to know and things we can cover. We'll get a little bit deeper into the red flags and what to do if you encounter something like this. We don't want to terrify people and leave them thinking that we're not going to help them or give them some things to help themselves with. But what are some more scams that we should be on the lookout for?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:10:19]:
Right. And just to stay on that same thread, this is to prepare, not to scare. That's our whole premise is making sure we're sharing this information with others on how to be proactive, prepared and protected. But yeah, there's the grandparents scam. There's the tech scam. Even the. So the tech scam, you could have the screen of death where your screen turns black, and then all of a sudden you have a pop up with a win 800 number that they can help you. Okay.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:10:45]:
I have the best strategy for that. Take big deep breath, turn off your computer, walk away from your computer. A few minutes later, turn it back on, it should be gone. This is a way of trying to get people afraid, but once they know that tactic, they can avoid it. So that's wonderful. Now, as we talk about grandparent scams, this is a big one. I think I've mentioned this before to you when we were talking before, is that oftentimes these scams will go state to state to state. So, for instance, when a scam is happening in a state, it'll saturate that state and then it'll end because people are like, onto it.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:11:23]:
So then it'll go to another state. And so after five years, it'll circle back, and once again, we're facing the grandparents scam again.
Erica Wright [00:11:30]:
Okay. Like a cyclical nature of the way things happen. That's interesting.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:11:34]:
Exactly. And so parents, grandparents are getting these calls saying that their grandson or granddaughter is incarcerated and they have to help them. And the grandchild will say, please don't tell mom and dad. Once again, another key indicator. And then they'll pass the phone quickly to bail spawn men who will get the parents, the grandparents, very scared that they have to pay money to get the child out of jail. And this is the grandparents scam. A lot of money lost with the grandparents scam. Now there's so many others.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:12:04]:
But recently we've had the ATM scam, where somebody will use an ATM, walk away, and a nice person will yell, saying that you left money behind only to have you reintroduce your ATM card so that you can end the transaction, because that's what the person says you have to do. But while you're doing that, they're recording your password, and they'll snag the ATM card as it comes out to hand it back to you. But they're quick. They give you a dummy card. Now they have your card, they have your password, and they'll proceed to take a lot of money out of your account. One woman just lost 14,000 just last week in Boston.
Erica Wright [00:12:43]:
We all use ATM's. Like, where there aren't a lot of, like, my. I've actually never been, strangely enough, I've never been to a branch of my bank. It's only. It's a military bank, so it only exists in one state. I use ATM's all the time, and if somebody told me I left money behind, I would go back and grab it. And I'm pretty self aware, I think, and I'm generally trying to keep myself safe, so that's something I could even fall victim to.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:13:01]:
And I have to say, another big one is the romance scam. People befriending you on Facebook. And it's so interesting because the other day I had a Facebook request, and I went in, and I always do this as I take the picture, and I put it through an AI process to find out if that picture has been used in other scams. Of course, as soon as I did that, my AI process reviews over 6 billion pictures on the Internet. And sure enough, it popped up. He was a scammer trying to get into my Facebook. That's how they start their relationships.
Erica Wright [00:13:33]:
This is Erica Wright from tire South Shore radio. Today I am here with a special guest and friend of mine, Carrie Pasquarello. She is the CEO and co-founder of Global Secure Resources, and she helps people be safe out there in the world. That's what you do. So let's talk a little bit more, Carrie, about the tactics and technology that scammers are using these days.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:13:52]:
Sure. And there's so many that they're using to trick people. But let's cover two. The first would be social engineering, and the the next will be spoof cards. Now, social engineering uses psychology and manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes and really giving away personal information or sensitive information. And what makes social engineering especially dangerous is that it relies on human error rather than malicious malware. And so they are making those calls. They're getting you to talk, they're getting into your life and trying to find out more about you.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:14:32]:
There's a lot of places they can find out information about you online. They'll go to Facebook, they'll go to your business. Some people even look through your trash can. So there's a lot of places that people are getting this information so that they can scam you. And as we talked about Michelle Anderson, that's exactly what they did to her. They were able to find out every piece of information they needed to produce this government impersonation scam on her. Now, the next tool or tactic that we use and that we look at is the spoof cardinal. Unfortunately, the spoof card is available to anybody.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:15:08]:
You can purchase it online for anywhere from nine dollars to ninety nine dollars, depending on what benefits you want with it. So, for instance, I could purchase like that full package and be able to change my name on your caller id. I could change my telephone number. I could change my voice. I can make it a male voice. I can make it a female. I could make it a different voice. I could also make it go straight into your voicemail.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:15:34]:
These are the technologies and tactics that scammers are using today.
Erica Wright [00:15:38]:
So get the spoof card. I'm just trying to make sure I understand this. So it's a card that they can purchase and the numbers will show up on. If they were calling me, they would show up on my phone as if it looks like it's coming from the IR's or from a government website. They can change it to anything from what I want. That right?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:15:54]:
Yes. It's an app. And so within this app, you'll be able to manipulate so much information so that the person who's getting that call from you? Might think it's the police department. They might think it's the sheriff's office. They might think it's DEA or the.
Erica Wright [00:16:08]:
IR's calling or even your bank, your financial institution calling you, including your bank.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:16:13]:
That's why it's so important to have those numbers at hand and that every single call you get have to be suspicious of that person calling.
Erica Wright [00:16:22]:
Taking all of these different tactics and approaching every call, having to prove themselves, I guess, is the way you'd have to look at it, right?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:16:29]:
Absolutely. And when we think about that, one interesting fact is we have over 129 million spoof calls that are going out. Scam calls that are going out every single day. That's about 1400 a second. That is so many spoof calls are coming.
Erica Wright [00:16:46]:
I guess if you're a scammer, even if one of those people picks up the phone and engages in a conversation with you, that you have a window to get into those people and get into their money or their lives. That's terrifying.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:16:57]:
Absolutely. But once again, being prepared, not scared. That's what it's all about. We want to empower people with strategies, tools and techniques to stay safe and save their money.
Erica Wright [00:17:07]:
Carrie, I have one question. Can you go back to talk about social engineering for 1 minute? Just to give us a quick what is it? Because it sounds like a really fancy term, but it doesn't seem like the concept is as complicated as it is in my brain. Can you clarify for that?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:17:20]:
Sure. Okay, so social engineering is the term used for malicious activity. So what they're doing is they're trying to ask questions. I don't know if you've ever seen a quiz online. They'll send you a quiz asking, for what high school did you go to? What elementary school did you go to? What's your favorite pet? All these things. They're trying to get information that you might be using when you log on to your bank or other information that can be used to find out more about you. Once they have that information about where you went to school or where you're working, then they can send you an email and ask more about that. They want to know where are you working these days? What's that telephone number? What's your email address? Once they have those types of pieces of information, then they can start looking for ways to get you engaged with a conversation with them.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:18:17]:
They might even send pop ups your ways, something interesting for you to click on. Clickbait is another thing that they're looking for. Once you click on their clickbait, maybe they're going to be adding malware into your computer. There's a whole list of things that people can do once they social engineer you, getting vital information out of you and how they can use it against you to try to scam you and get money from you.
Erica Wright [00:18:41]:
Every once in a while, a client will call in and say, hey, I got this phone call. Does this sound right to you? So it's important, you know, if you have any questions like that, as a general listener, you can always give us a call. You can always reach out to us. 781-579-8224 if you have questions generally about retirement or anything about something we talked about today, feel free to give us a ring. 781-579-8224 today I'm here with CEO and founder of Global Secure Resources, my friend, Carrie Pasquarello. We're talking today about scam prevention and awareness and how you can protect yourself and your retirement from being a victim of scams that are so common and unfortunate. Today, we talked a little bit about this on the break. Carrie.
Erica Wright [00:19:21]:
One of the things that South Shore Retirement offers is we have much more of, I think, much more in depth client relationships with the people that we serve. And oftentimes we are the phone call that people make to say, hey, this doesn't make sense. Or, hey, I got this phone call. Not everybody has that network around them of people that are keeping an eye on them or helping them with these things. Can we talk a little bit more about that red flags and what to be aware of? When should you reach out and pick up that phone and make a phone call if something feels funny?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:19:51]:
Right? So the key indicators are red flags. I always like to talk about four, and they have to do with being pressured, having emotions, making you pay, and keeping something a secret. Now, it's interesting. All four of these red flags were in the story that I share about Michelle, who had lost her whole entire retirement plan. So she was pressured to call. She was pressured to act quickly. Quickly, she was pressured to send the money.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:20:21]:
She was scared that a drug cartel was using her Social Security number. She was scared when they sent an arrest warrant to her email. All of these things were socially engineered, and they were the red flags that appeared. And unfortunately, she didn't know these red flags. But now we're sharing them right now, and you share them with all your clients as well, because we need to have that support group to be able to call somebody just to bounce things off, just like you said, Eriche, that's so wonderful. But as we go into a little bit more about each of these red flags and what they really mean to somebody, if we talk about pressure, somebody's calling you and they're saying, you have to do something for me right now. You have to go onto this website, you need to click on something. You need to pay this bill right now or we're sending an arrest warrant over.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:21:09]:
These are the pressures that you might feel. Once again, you feel that. Understand, that's a red flag for scams. Next, emotion. Are you feeling really super happy or very, very scared? So somebody might call you and say, you just want a million dollars and now you're super excited? Well, that's an emotion that I'm saying. It's a red flag. Stop. And just think about these signs.
Erica Wright [00:21:31]:
Sounds a little bit too good to be true.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:21:33]:
Too good to be true. And the same goes with if you're all of a sudden feeling like a pit in your stomach and you're super afraid, nobody's going to be calling you from the IRS, the DEA, or a local police department to make you feel afraid. So once again, keep indicator. This is a red flag. Next: paying. Somebody cold calls you and you're not expecting them to call, and they call and they're asking you for money. That is a red flag in itself. Stop. Hang up.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:22:02]:
And we always talk about something called slam the scam. This is what I want people to do after any of these red flags come up. Hang up the phone. Just hang it up. We need to actually have muscle memory to hang up on scammers. And now the last one was a secret. If anybody tells you to keep a secret, understand that is a huge red flag. Once again, that was one of the red flags that Michelle had.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:22:26]:
They told her to keep it as a secret from her husband. And nobody will ever tell you to keep a secret unless it's a scammer. And we know it's a lucrative business, $37 billion over the last five years. It's lucrative. So if they can get into your, you know, have a conversation with you over the phone, that's one step closer to them getting some money. So we have to slam the scam.
Erica Wright [00:22:51]:
A good thing to remember, slam the scam. I like that. Everything I'm hearing, it seems like these scams and their approaches are so sophisticated, like you wouldn't necessarily think that somebody would go to so much trouble. But it is, like you said, a multi billion dollar industry that they're going to go to great lengths because they can, I guess, make easy money.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:23:07]:
Right. And, you know, all we have to do is look at a few famous scammers. We have FTX Sam Bankman free. We have Elizabeth Holmes, we have Bernie Madoff. And what's interesting about these three scammers that took billions of dollars from investors and others was they were elevated by publications. They were on Forbes, they were in Forbes magazine, giving them credibility. And so, once again, if something's too good to be true, we need to step back and really do our own research, make sure that we have a group of people that we can bounce things off of and understand. If something's too good to be true, it probably is.
Erica Wright [00:23:48]:
Right? You had mentioned something earlier about paying and emotions, and we had talked about, briefly about a scam that people are coming to your house in person. That happens all the time.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:23:59]:
Unfortunately, we have cold call scammers that will come and knock on a door. They'll say that they are working on a neighbor's house, and they just wanted to offer their services. Maybe they'll paint your house. Maybe they'll give you a new roof, and it's a great price. All they need to do is take a look at, you know, your roof. If they could go up and take a peek. And we had somebody that this had happened to, and as soon as the scammer got on the roof, he had a tool in and made a hole in the person's roof. So they, these scammers are clever, and they're out there and they're trying to get money from you, and they'll do it any possible way they can.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:24:37]:
They'll ask for a down payment, you'll give them a down payment, and then, poof, they're gone, never to return.
Erica Wright [00:24:43]:
Okay. Makes sense.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:24:44]:
So there's a lot of scams out there. All I say is never open the door to a stranger. I talk about this even in my travel briefings. We never want to open the door to, you know, your hotel to somebody that you're not expecting. But it's the same thing when you're at home. You don't need to answer the door. Right.
Erica Wright [00:25:01]:
And we get so comfortable in our own space and in our own homes that we, we think that this isn't going to happen to us. So I can see how it would be very easy to fall into some of these things. And just something like you said, just being aware of it and knowing what's out there and knowing. Knowledge is power. As cheesy as it sounds, that knowledge, knowing what's going on is power. And in addition to that, having a team on your side that can help you through these things. If you have questions, just give us a call. 781-579-8224 you know, by no means are we scam consultants or don't have the knowledge that Carrie has, but we are at least, you know, here.
Erica Wright [00:25:35]:
And we can answer things like, we know what to expect from certain financial institutions if who you're gonna get a text from and under what context. And not to be, you know, not to be expecting people or someone like Fidelity to reach out to you via email or phone call or text like that. So today we have our special guest, Carrie Pasquarello of Global secure resources here learning about scams and how we can avoid them and avoid becoming a victim of them. So, Carrie, let's talk some more about avoidance and how to avoid these things.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:26:02]:
I always start with, you have to know the risk to avoid the risk. That's my key phrase for everybody. So let's think. Let's make sure that we trust our instinct. We want to have a certain level of skepticism. We want to make sure that we're monitoring our accounts, that we're using really strong passwords or pass phrases. We don't want to trust the caller id because we already know that one of the techniques that they use is the spoof card. So don't trust the caller id.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:26:33]:
Block spam messages, get on, get yourself on the do not call list. But I have to mention the do not call list. Scammers don't listen to it.
Erica Wright [00:26:45]:
I would like to act out of being scammed, if only that easy, right?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:26:48]:
So they don't follow their regulations with the do not call list. So just keep that in the back of your mind. Why are you getting so many scam calls when you're on the scam do not call list? That's why. It's the scammers that are reaching. You also understand the emotional triggers, those key indicators. Read the email addresses. So when you get an email that's from your bank, from your financial institute, from any of your accounts, hover your mouse above the email address. Look at the full email address.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:27:24]:
Is it coming off the company email or is it an AOL, a Gmail account or some other account? Once again, if it's a business email, it has to come from a business account. So that's another key flag to look for. Look for misspellings. If you get an email and you're thinking it's from your Netflix or some account that you have read it, look for misspellings. We seem to find a lot of scam emails with really poor grammar. So that's another key indicator. Don't believe anybody when they're cold calling you and they want you to give money. Even interesting thing that we're having happen is around natural disasters.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:28:06]:
Anytime we have a tornado, hurricane, or any type of environmental issue, the scammers come out and they're placing these calls. They're asking for donations. They'll say, you know, oh, these people need your help. Are you going to help? Please donate. Let me have your credit card number and your, all your information. So once again, huge scam.
Erica Wright [00:28:29]:
They just prey on people wanting to help and wanting to, you know, to do the right thing, and then they end up getting caught up in these, in these things. It's really kind of tragic.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:28:38]:
They love kind people. They love kind hearted people that want to help this world. Those are the key people that they're looking for.
Erica Wright [00:28:47]:
You had mentioned at one point, too, when we were talking about high value targets and how generally people in the retiree age group can be much higher value targets for these scammers. Can you explain that a little bit?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:28:59]:
Sure. Well, I love the IC three FBI's crime report. It comes out once a year. So right now we're looking at the 2023 crime report. It has all the fabulous statistics. I highly recommend that each and every person downloads this PDF and reads through it because it's fascinating, it shows, and it breaks down all the scams that are happening that have been reported. And so one of the interesting things that we see is the high target number of people over 60 years old and how often they're scammed. More so than, let's say, people under 20.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:29:34]:
They break it up in a few different groups under 2020 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, and then above. So in our plus 60 group, we've had over 100,000 scams that have been perpetrated against people over 60, and they have lost over $3.4 billion. Those over 60. And why is that? It's because they've had their whole entire life to accumulate their wealth. These are the high value targets that scammers are looking for. They're looking for those kind, considerate and unaware seniors or people that are over 60 that have a lot of discretionary funds that are available for them to take.
Erica Wright [00:30:16]:
It might not be as tech savvy to recognize or to know, to hover over an email address to verify it. So that's interesting, right? This episode is full of a lot of information that I think is really important for people to hear. So if you are interested in hearing this stuff again or wanting to learn more about it, our radio shows are turned into podcasts and you can find those on our website. So you can visit retiresouthshore.com. you can download the podcast and you can also join our email list. So we have more educational events. Like those are more educational conversations. People can get ahold of those and know when they're happening.
Erica Wright [00:30:47]:
So, Carrie, one last thing I want to cover before we, before we wrap up today is can we talk about what to do if you encounter a scam?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:30:54]:
Absolutely. We want to make sure that we have resources at hand. So we want to make sure that we're reporting to the FTC any type of scams or potential scams. Now, really important thing us to talk about is oftentimes people feel embarrassed once they've been scammed and they don't want to call and report because they feel so embarrassed. Please don't feel embarrassed. Share the information with others so that they can be proactive, prepared, and protected because they understand your story. Another really interesting thing to think about is the statistics that we share are based on reports. This number that $37 billion lost over the last five years could be double.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:31:34]:
We don't know because there's people that haven't reported. So make sure that you have the FTC information that you can reach out to the FBI's IC three. There's also for identity theft, there's a great website that you can go to. It's www. Dot identitytheft Dot gov, which is another really great resource for you to have. But our goal is to prevent victimization. Our goal is to make sure that all the listeners have the strategies, tools, and techniques to stay safe, safe whether online or offline. So we want to make sure to be smart, watch out for phishing and emails and suspicious calls.
Carrie Pasquarello [00:32:13]:
We want to be the first line of defense against scams.
Erica Wright [00:32:17]:
If you could summarize one piece of advice for our listeners, what would that be today?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:32:22]:
I would say that the uninformed are the targets. They're the ones that scammers are hoping to meet. And so we want to be proactive, prepared and protected, and fight back and stop the scams.
Erica Wright [00:32:34]:
That's great advice. Just being aware and knowing what to look out for is the key to keeping this all from kind of perpetuating and becoming more of a problem. Even so, keeping your loved ones from becoming a target of this too. Based on everything we talked about, Carrie, I think like you said having a team around you who can help you and support you and just be that voice of reason and, you know, kind of help you know what the routine activity to expect is from your bank institution or your investment institution. And knowing what doesn't sound quite right, you can always give us a call. 781-579-8224 again, that number is 781-579-8224 so thank you Carrie for joining us. You know, if people got their interest peaked today and want to learn more, how can they find you? How do they get a hold of you?
Carrie Pasquarello [00:33:18]:
Sure, they can go to www.globalsecurestudent.com or they can email me at gsr@globalsecurestudent.com thank you so much for having me.
Erica Wright [00:33:31]:
Yeah, it was great. Thank you so much for sharing this. We really appreciate it.
Jordan Rich [00:33:34]:
Carrie Pasquarello and Global Secure Resources, Incorporated is not affiliated with South Shore Retirement services or AEWM. Thank you for subscribing and downloading the retire South Shore radio podcast. Feel free to leave a review and a rating and tell your friends about us for much more. Visit retiree retiresouthshore.com. that's retiresouthshore.com. discover how South Shore retirement services helps individuals and their families achieve their ideal retirements.
Jordan Rich [00:34:03]:
Investment advisory products and services made available through AEwealth Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Insurance products are offered through the insurance business Roulette and Associates, LLC, LLC. DBA South Shore Retirement Services Roulette and Associates, LLC DBA South Shore Retirement Services is also an investment advisory practice that offers products and services through Aewealth Management, a registered investment advisor. AEWM does not offer insurance products. The insurance products offered by roulette and Associates, LLCDBA South Shore retirement services are not subject to investment advisor requirements. Investing involves risk, including the potential laws of principal. Any references to protection, safety or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying abilities of the issuing carrier.
Jordan Rich [00:35:03]:
This podcast is intended for informational purposes only, intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individuals situation. Mark Roulette and Associates, LLC DBA South Shore Retirement Services is not permitted to offer a no statement made during this show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by the us government or any governmental agency. The information and opinions contained herein provided by third parties have been obtained from sources. Resource is believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. By Mark Roulette and Associates Llcdba South Shore retirement services.