CC & NJ Guy
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CC & NJ Guy
Navigating the Cyber Maze of Scams, Scores, and Security
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Prepare to armor up your digital life as we share harrowing tales from the dark side of the web—identity theft. Our personal stories of credit chaos and fraudulent phone tomfoolery will not only keep you on the edge of your seat but also equip you with an arsenal of strategies to protect your data. From the importance of locking down credit reports to evading the clever traps set by modern-day scammers, this episode is a trove of knowledge on safeguarding your digital footprint.
Ever caught yourself wondering how scam artists are keeping up with the times? Well, they're not just keeping up; they're setting the pace. Our discussion reveals the shocking reality of scam call centers that could give any legitimate business a run for its money, and the unsettling trend of these swindlers targeting our most vulnerable loved ones. But all hope is not lost; we shine a spotlight on the white knights of the internet—ethical hackers—and the simple steps each of us can take to reinforce our community's defenses against these shadowy threats.
Finally, let's talk credit—your financial pulse. Navigating the labyrinth of credit scores and financial management can seem like a Herculean task, but we're here to guide you through. We'll unravel the mystery of why credit scores play hard to get, separate from annual credit reports, and share firsthand experiences on rebuilding credit from the ground up. And because we all could use a laugh, we'll regale you with anecdotes of turning scam calls into comedy gold, all while underlining the grave importance of familial support and internal safeguards in this ceaseless battle against fraud. Join us for an episode that promises to be equal parts informative and engaging.
Hosted by: Cottman, Crawford & The Jersey Guy
Contact us: CCandNJGuy@gmail.com
Links & socials: https://linktr.ee/ccandnjguy
Data Privacy and Identity Theft Awareness
Speaker 1Cotman, Crawford and the Jersey Guy podcast.
Speaker 2Hey everybody, kenny Cotman Lewis.
Speaker 1Crawford and I'm Tom Remmage, the Jersey Guy.
Speaker 2Hello, hello, my people, how you doing. What's going on, fellas?
Speaker 1What's going on. What's going on.
Speaker 2Nothing Same old shit every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Just telling everybody's good. Everybody had a good week. Everybody's groovy. Yeah, look at those headbub for the psychedelic. You heard that music, what is?
Speaker 1love baby, love baby. No, you know what I was thinking. I was thinking of that crazy commercial with the camel.
Speaker 3What day is?
Speaker 2it. Oh, my God.
Speaker 3It's hot day, that's funny.
Speaker 2Say somebody ask me what day it is.
Speaker 1That's funny.
Speaker 2That is freaking hilarious, bro, because your head just went out of nowhere.
Speaker 3It did. It totally went in a different direction.
Speaker 2Yeah you did. That is great. That is great. Well, I hope everybody out there is good, all our listeners and everybody's having had a good week and everybody's in great health. I hope, I hope, I hope, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1So what are we talking about?
Speaker 2today. Today is Data Privacy Day. Convo.
Speaker 1And that is coming. What day is?
Speaker 2that January 28th. January 28th is Data Privacy Day, so that means that I guess today we'll call it like a PSA. Yeah, we're gonna talk about that stuff, but we're not. So the only person here that will actually loon those and all of this stuff too, but is Tom, because you know about spam you know about what it looks we were talking earlier about.
Speaker 1You know there's a lot of scams out there and it's just crazy seeing all this stuff, and I personally have been a victim of identity theft.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Talk about that. I can tell everybody how that went.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, and loon knows a little bit about that stuff too. It must have sucked. Yeah, yeah, done.
Speaker 1So I might as well dive into what happened to me first.
Speaker 1Jump into it. So I randomly this is a few years back I randomly got a credit card in the mail for Raymore and Flanagan and I'm thanking God and signed up for Raymore and Flanagan. What's going on here? And I find out I was like, yeah, well, you bought furniture and this and that and like, oh shit. And then all of a sudden, like I found out that I was, that they went to Best Buy and signed up for a Best Buy credit card in my name. And then they went to and they found out because they must have pulled my credit report. They found out that I have a Kohl's account. So they just went to Kohl's and like they must have a fake ID because if you go to Kohl's I don't know if that's the case anymore, but you can be like, yeah, I don't have my card with me, I just need like a temporary one printed out and they'll print the temporary credit card for you.
Speaker 3Yeah, and you just got to show them your identification by fake ID.
Speaker 1So they racked up my Kohl's card and then they bought a computer from Best Buy, from Dell, oh, wow, like you know, like they built, wow. And then they were trying something else and I because then I, you know, I had to stop my credit, I had to stop my credit from all the credit bureaus and they tried to call me, like, yeah, we're trying to unlock your credit right now, like, like, like someone I don't know if they were trying, if it was the actual people or it was like the credit card company. I'm like, well, I have my credit card locked right now. So just let them know that. You know, that, you know, don't deny it, you know, and if you can call the authorities, right, yeah, whatever you have to do, just don't yeah.
Speaker 1So now I have to forever lock my credit and anytime I want to, you know like like release our cars.
Speaker 3Yeah, I do it mine.
Speaker 1Yeah, I got to unlock it, I got to unlock it. We're all three bureaus each time Right. Either we get a loan or anything, or I want to stop from the credit card and you can set it for a certain amount of time. Yeah, yeah, that's what we do. I have to like, say, like one lock for this long. Like three days.
Speaker 3You just lock right back up again. Yeah.
Speaker 2Wow, that's insane, bro.
Speaker 1Well, you weren't held accountable for that right, no, I was, you know, after they, you know they have to do their investigation and they, you know they reimburse, Right, they're credit card companies through the, you know whatever. Right Card fraud.
Speaker 2That is crazy, man. Well then, so then, with that, the idea of National Data Privacy Day is for everybody become aware, to know what hacking is, to know what the identity theft is, to understand the spams. Like you know, don't open up certain emails, Don't you know?
Speaker 3don't open up those text messages, you don't learn how to recognize it.
Speaker 2Right, learn what to look for. Like some random person is calling you up, like you were saying too. Tom just calling you up says hey, yeah, you know, we give it. You owe money here or whatever it is. Or your phone is locked up.
Speaker 1Send us gift cards from Apple, oh yeah, I also forgot to add that the way they got my information was there had been, like the year before, two major data hacks for Target and Home. Depot. It was a big all over the news and that's where you must have got it from. Wow, and then you know, all my information was just sold in the black market and I you know I have like 800 something credit.
Speaker 1I have really good credit, so they must have sold that. And they were like Jack yeah, no shit, bro, for everything.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, holy cow, that's insane. Well then, bro like I said you know school, assign your knowledge, homie, because you know, they tell us because, and even you know. I said, lou, you know some of the a lot of this stuff too.
Speaker 3I have a thing that I pay for monthly for my data? Yeah, Like you know, like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1The credit bureaus actually have some. They do the same thing directly through them too, Right.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1And technically they say I mean, I was told that you only technically need to lock one credit bureau, because if one's locked then they can go to the vest, yeah, so I don't, I lock all three.
Speaker 3I lock all three.
Speaker 2I don't know why they said that, but like I don't trust that, Right, yeah, no, definitely, because I mean, actually, which one do they go when you check in your credit? Yeah, yeah. All three, all three of them, guys, three of them Got it. They're gonna want to check all of them.
Speaker 3Usually one is going to be better than the other.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3If your credit's pretty decent, it'll. You know, one will be way high and the other one will be like in the mid-range, but usually good.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 3You know you want to be over 700. Got it, got it, got it.
Speaker 2Well, so now one of the precautions that we were saying a minute ago is you know well, we all have apps and you know you guys are talking about locking out the credit unions, the credit people and whatnot. Do you have it on an app in your phone, or do you have to call, or do you?
Speaker 1have to actually call no, you gotta. Well, some of our apps, some do have an app where you can like. I did for a while, but they had their own problems. Someone hacked, of course, like the one of the credit purors I forget one of them I was able to do and there was a button to like. You can just hit a button on an app to lock and unlock.
Speaker 3Right.
Speaker 1But ever since, whatever happened, the app.
Speaker 3Yeah, I leave mine locked too, yeah.
Speaker 2Geez man yeah.
Speaker 3I have locked. It's not the credit card companies you're just looking to lock out. They help you so you can lock it out.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 3And then you're gonna get to know some of the people who want it. Gotta get in when something comes up. That's a good way to know it, because then they're gonna go. Hey, you'll get a message on your phone or something and they'll say well, your bank will alert you.
Speaker 1sometimes your bank will let you know to. And hey, those are the alerts.
Speaker 3Yeah, and then, if you get that, then you're like okay call up, and if you know what it is already and it was you who spent it, then you're like all right, no problem, that was me, I bought gas or I did whatever, so yeah, try to be as good as you can.
Speaker 2You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah definitely.
Speaker 2Be careful, you know it's technologies is getting better and better and crazy. Oh, dude, I can't believe how these people are hacking. And, like I said, when people get your new telephones, change the settings to private Everything. Put on your privacy. Hit that privacy button. Absolutely protect everything. Yeah, this way you'll get a notification that somebody's trying to get into your phone or whatever the case may be, and it's you know. To me that's one of the lock your shit up, yeah lock it all up, but think about how it was before.
Speaker 3we had to know we needed to lock it up.
Speaker 2Oh, well, yeah, right, right right.
Speaker 3Now yeah people are hacking.
Speaker 2Well, yeah, I'm saying not that we know that people are getting hacked and you know all that spam and stuff you know like. And with the Wi-Fi too, man, because there was well, so I didn't know who's working off of the Wi-Fi you leave your Wi-Fi on when you go into different stores or public places. Somebody else can hack on to and tap into your stuff. I was like what? So now when they walk past you, they can just copy the shit off of your phone? Yeah, that's crazy. I was like what Passwords and everything? Yeah, I turned my Wi-Fi off. You know, if I'm not like in my house, and even questionable sometimes in my house, I'll just have it off for like a little bit and then yeah, if you're on the same Wi-Fi network you gotta be careful.
Speaker 1That's why. So the other thing that, too, though, is because we're talking about internet security and all that is scams. We were talking about it before. Wait, well, that thought All scams.
Speaker 3Okay, so I'm gonna be more conscious and educated on this need to start paying attention more to the trainings we get at work. Everybody has a job, and everybody's getting the same training, because if they have a mobile phone or whatever, yeah, they do Right. So now, when you see that and you hear about it, you're like, okay, maybe I should pay attention to this yeah. Yeah, yeah For the job, but also for myself, because you can use it.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly Apply it yourself and yourself as well, right, sorry, no, no, no, no, and you know to talk about that is like you know they do with me too. You're going to take all these mandatory cybersecurity classes, right? It's important that they're doing it now, because there's so many ways people can, you know, even just people like sneaking into buildings and stuff like that Right. Following people in or, like you know, and then shoulder surfing, they call.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1Right Stuff and just so many things.
Speaker 3It's just amazing how people go through with no problem. No, you know that without any effort to steal other people's money right. And stuff rather than go get a job. Yeah, and it just seems, I don't know, it's just so. I mean so wrong on all levels.
Speaker 3Right, I mean it's just like a lazy thing, you know. You know what. Let me be a criminal, let me take, let me go, you know steal all the people's property and everything, and all that Just to know how a person can live with themselves when they do that. It's just you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 3She said that that's what happens yeah.
Speaker 2Unfortunately, it's easier for them to be. It's easier to be a bad guy than to be the superhero.
Speaker 3Well, I always tell my kids that it's harder to be good than it is to be bad.
Speaker 2It's easy to be bad.
Speaker 1It's easy to be bad. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3But being, you know, being disciplined and trying to do the best you can. Right, that's always going to be hard, yeah.
Speaker 2There's only those few people that end up becoming that so, and I mean you've seen it in movies and stuff that that's super hacker, the person that's always doing the spams and stuff, that person later on or even just turns their life around however way that they become the security person, right?
Speaker 3You know the government looks for those people, Right yeah. I'm sure that if they get them, I'm sure they're saying hey you want to get out of this.
Speaker 1Yeah, you're going to help us, you're working with us.
Speaker 3And you need to show it.
Speaker 1And they've done that several times.
Scammers and Fraud Prevention
Speaker 2I believe, yeah, I'm sure more than we can even imagine. Yeah, probably, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah that movie Swordfish, hugh Jackman, john Travolta, holly Berry yeah, that was a great movie.
Speaker 3What was the one with the DeCaprio? The one with the ocean?
Speaker 1No, she was the big Italian job.
Speaker 2No, that was Mark Wahlberg.
Speaker 1No he kept an identity.
Speaker 2He kept forging everything Tom Hanks was in. Tom Hanks was chasing him.
Speaker 3What was the name of that movie?
Speaker 2Oh, catch me. That was the caprio, though, was it that was the caprio? Okay, yeah, it was Okay, okay, and he forged everything, yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, and then they hired him, right, yeah, and they came up with the ink on the, you know, on the on the checks. Now, right, they got that whole thing. They came up with that they would sit and they took the minds at hey, yeah, and look how that works, yeah.
Speaker 2I mean to catch a criminal, you need a criminal Right Boom.
Speaker 3Unfortunately, that's how it works.
Speaker 2How it goes. Go ahead, tom. You started saying about the spamming.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, so you know that's, you know, since we're talking about, you know, internet security stuff that scams. You know watching these there's a really good YouTube channels now that how to like, how to catch a scammer, and stuff like that and it's real wild. Like you know, you think of a scammer as just some guy you know at his computer, but no, they have like professional call centers with supervisors and cubicles, and productivity.
Speaker 2You have a beginning.
Speaker 1Enough like. There's a guy you know, is there TPS or putting cover sheet. No longer putting cover sheets on our TPS reports. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Like like it's all for scammers and the way they're operating now is just getting so. It's so wild.
Speaker 3And just the effort that they go through. Just do it, because it's you know, I mean and I know, but it's fucked up. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1I know.
Speaker 3Definitely you know what I mean. It's like, really, yeah, really the thing that I, I don't know, my takeaway is a lot of these scam artists.
Speaker 1The thing that they always do and it should be like the dead giveaway, but, you know, I guess maybe they're just good at what they do, so they were able to convince people is that they always want former payment and like gift cards. Yeah yeah, right, right, amazon's not going to be like they have bank accounts, right yeah, like oh, pay us in gift cards, like what yeah?
Speaker 2Yeah yeah, you want your service back on. You know you want to call the authorities. Send us an. Amazon is asking for Apple gift cards.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's like really.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1What the fuck.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, that should have just created that. That should be the dead giveaway. Yeah, seriously.
Speaker 1But I was watching this channel. It's wild. If you can check it out, it's really worth watching. It is it's like how to catch a scammer. And they got this guy and they, you know, he's like you know, they caught the scammer, like they were talking to him and he, you know, and he's like, he's like you know what. I don't want to do this anymore. He goes, he goes if you need help, you know. And he like gave them all these codes and got onto the computer and they like hacked into their computer, like they had.
Speaker 1these guys were hackers and they hacked into the computer and they had the cameras turned on on the call centers and stuff like that it was wild, that's crazy man.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1And they and they, they, they target elderly, they actually had to shut down the system for a full day because they see because they were hacked.
Speaker 2Yeah, see, yeah, they do it. They didn't make money.
Speaker 1It was good that they did that yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's crazy. Well, you said it's true because my dad was so alive and I would hear certain things that they were talking about on news or whatever it was, they always target. I would say to him listen to me, do not give anybody your information, okay, they don't send you.
Speaker 3They're not going to call you, right, it's just important. Usually it's a letter or something, right, you know? When it's something, do not, and if you're not sure, you call me and you talk to me before you make any decision, cause I don't want you getting caught up in a scam or something because you guys are pro the elderly, unfortunately, are prone to it.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 3I mean, that's you know, they go after them first, Right.
Speaker 1Yeah, the best advice is if you're when in doubt, hang up, call that company back.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1That's the best way, because if someone says, oh, I'm from you, know your Macy's credit card, we need this, and then, well, go get your Macy's hang up, go get your Macy's credit card, call them, be like I just received a phone call from you and they'd be like that's not us, that's a scam.
Speaker 2You know, we don't do that.
Speaker 3Right right, right, yeah, you know they won't call you. No, they won't, they won't, they'll never call you.
Speaker 1And if you really, really feel like, you're like, like.
Speaker 3But you should let the credit card, if I'm gonna know anyway.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3Because it helps them. You know when it should happen. So you're actually helping them as well. Because now but yeah, no, I agree with you 100%.
Speaker 1Call them back if you're in doubt, because obviously the number on your card is official, so you know, Right, yeah never give any of your information to anybody over the phone, in an email and a text or anything like that.
Speaker 2No, and they're doing that. Well, I mean, so everybody's heard the term catfish and that's what they do. And you know it's like oh, you know, we're friends, we've been dating or whatever. I need you to send me, you know, $300. And people will turn around and send $300 because they're like, oh no, you know, cause now that's my boyfriend and my girlfriend and he or she needed to get this or get whatever and they ran short. So now they're asking, because they're scammers, so they're asking people for the money to help them get through the week, through the day, you know, whatever the case may be, and then they don't talk to you anymore.
Speaker 2It's crazy, it's insane. I'm like what the fuck? And I mean I've heard of people seeing people. They got TV show and people just, yeah, you know, I know that you know Billy or Mary, you know they couldn't pay rent and the kid had to get to school. So I sent them $300 that they can get the Uber or get the car fixed, that they can do, but they had. It's a scam, like seriously come on.
Speaker 1Well, the other thing that they're scamming now, too, is is they just, it's all AI powered, oh yeah, where they? Just you'll get a random text message that says hey, or it'll be like hi, mary, this is Rachel, I can't make my Pilates, and like they're waiting for your email back saying wrong number, and they say oh sorry, I didn't mean to text you.
Speaker 3So what's your name? By the way? You know like, and then you start like they're trying to Exactly.
Speaker 1So you know what I did? I was. I said you know what I'm gonna fuck around? I'm gonna pretend that I'm like, and I was like, yeah, and this person, this person was talking to me for two fucking days until they're like oh, by the way, you know, I'm involved with investment banking Of course, and you know if you invest in this and this, and I was like I said. And there's the grift.
Speaker 2And then.
Speaker 1that's why I texted back. I was waiting for your grift, and then they stopped messaging me.
Avoid Phone and Email Scams Tips
Speaker 2Yeah, See, insane, right, it's too much. And then, and two, another one that they've, that I've heard of that they'll call you up. So let's just say here, like they'll call you up, I was like yo Kenny's in jail, this is the bail bondsman we need you to send blah blah, blah.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, hold on, I'll call you right back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So give me a number, I'll call you right back.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, and I will call you and we're like yeah, no, ask him where he is.
Speaker 3Because we're gonna go fucking run his pockets. You know you're in jail right now.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, oh right, I'll start singing jail songs and shit.
Speaker 1And then you know the email scams, like the ones that are like.
Speaker 3I remember you have a package at UPS to send you, that one on your phone.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah, yeah, I just totally deleted it. I totally deleted it All the time.
Speaker 3Yeah, you know what I used to hold on, though I remember I used to love doing this when you got the calls, oh, back in the day and I would go. I knew it was that cause you could see the number and I would go hold on. So hold on. Just put the shovels in the trunk with the body, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2Yeah, you go back. There's nobody on the other side. Yeah, yeah, they hung up. I'm like what? What are you doing with your shit? Yeah, those emails, that's great, love it. The email scams.
Speaker 1I remember the first time I ever heard of some of these email scams, but like my sister-in-law well, tara's brother's wife she got sent like mass emailed everybody from her email. This was like 15 years ago so and it was like I'm stuck in the UK and you hire money to me, or like she's obviously being spammed. We just saw her yesterday. Yeah, exactly yeah, fucking UK man.
Speaker 3She gets around.
Speaker 2Yeah, no shit, that was quick too.
Speaker 1Yeah, no shit. And then the famous Princeton Nigeria. You know, if you forward me $10,000, when I get my money back I will pay you, reward you handsomely.
Speaker 3Yeah, that's great, that is great.
Speaker 2Well, so like and the text messages. When you see those text messages because you know you can, without opening up that particular text, you can see what it reads. Just delete it, because if you don't recognize the number, I think you can block it.
Speaker 1Yeah you can block them. So I have. Well, you know what mine does is I have a when I get it, I guess because they're starting to get on top of it. I'm on the Messenger app. I have, because I have Android, I have a Google Pixel, right.
Speaker 2So it's Google one it gives me one.
Speaker 1When you click on a message from someone you don't know, it'll say is this spam? Would you like to report it?
Speaker 3Yes, yeah, I always report.
Speaker 2So, yeah, I do that. Yeah, well, I'm saying so. Don't open them.
Speaker 1Same thing with the emails don't open them up, and the one that's the worst is WhatsApp. Whatsapp I get more spam than my own.
Speaker 2But that's funny because it's supposed to be encrypted and they push it in they just type in random numbers.
Speaker 3I barely use it. I barely use it. I barely use it. I think I'm gonna delete it off my phone, yeah you know what is.
Speaker 1Whatsapp is more popular. I have friends that like overseas and everything through activism and stuff. I have some friends that are South.
Speaker 3America. I have friends that are in Europe that I sometimes we'll text a WhatsApp you know, we have a good friend who's from Jamaica who uses it?
Speaker 1I haven't used it in a while, but yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's funny, that is funny.
Speaker 1Especially because sometimes with activism we have these big group texts in WhatsApp and they're all over the world. It's very popular in Europe Because, I think, because it's harder, because there's people in Europe. They're all small countries and people travel and texting is considered long distance or something like that, or maybe I don't know, but WhatsApp's just easier to use.
Speaker 3So WhatsApp is actually more popular than the standard text messages. Okay, I charge you for everything. Right, I don't think you pay for it, it's totally free. It's just power by meta. Yeah.
Speaker 2Facebook is free, right, yeah, it is Well then too. So now well, not now, but so always. They don't keep your passwords on your phone and always update your passwords, because people can find again hacking into your phone and onto your computers and such. If I can hack into your just to get into your shit, I'm gonna find all these things. Either, if you don't find a password, that's gonna be easy for you to remember.
Speaker 3They're right down the paper. You can let your phone do it too. And what's saved where it's saved where nobody else can see it? Yeah, but then wouldn't that be the same thing? No, because doesn't Google do that for you?
Speaker 1So yeah, I know, for Android there's a password manager, but you need to use your fingerprint to right oh man To access all your passwords.
Speaker 2Yeah, everything, everything, that's true, Okay. Yeah, I think they have that for Apple too. I don't know cause I don't keep all that stuff on my phone, like that.
Speaker 1so you know, I mean if you're dead, but if someone, if you're knocked out or dead, they can still use your fingerprint, right, yeah, yeah, they just put your thumb off and take that shit Like you're doing the movies, put the phone on Exactly, take your eye, put it in there.
Speaker 2yeah, no shit, that's funny.
Speaker 1Or just put it up to your dead face.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fucking hilarious, that's wrong.
Speaker 1But hopefully they won't get that close the face recognition though.
Speaker 3I don't want that.
Speaker 1Well, no, they don't. Even if you have face recognition on your phone, that's not applicable for using Android Pay or Apple Pay or the password manager. You have to have a fingerprint.
Speaker 2Okay, there you go. Yeah, you see, yeah.
Speaker 3Oh, and it's good stuff.
Speaker 2this is something that I should know, you know, and it says to commit to knowing your passwords by heart. I was trying to think I had to change the page. So I was thinking you know, learn your passwords, you know, and the longer your passwords, now see, that's where it gets kind of hard.
Speaker 1This one gets tricky because, like you can't learn, they say don't use the same password or anything and change your password ever. So many times it's like oh, I thought you were supposed to do, yeah, so use the same password but put, like you know, different.
Speaker 2So the signs you know, it's like the dollar sign the ampersand, the slash, you know, just put them on, you know. This way you can remember. Just remember, quick, quick, quick. There's a bunch of different things you can do.
Speaker 1Actually a good way to do it is probably to use I don't know like, but the word for your password for Facebook. Put the word Facebook in it and then a password, and then make that end part your same password every three months. So it's like Facebook 7531 at symbol you know, and then it'll be so your Instagram passwords. Instagram 7531 at symbol.
Speaker 2And then when it's time to change it.
Speaker 1You only gotta remember the last part of your password. You know the beginning. But, you could do that.
Speaker 2It doesn't have to be.
Speaker 1Facebook get up like a word Right, right, right, Like. My password for Facebook is banana, and then at 75,. You know like that same number, you know. Just gotta remember that, though Facebook is banana, I don't know whatever, Right, right right, right.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's your safe word, Sorry wrong password.
Speaker 1It's my safe word. It's my safe word Banana, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma.
Speaker 2Yeah, check out, yeah, yeah, yeah, that is great, that is too funny. And always tell people about your. You know whatever that you may have gotten so text messages, the emails, anything that could have been spam pass the word on this way. You know nobody else could get caught out there and block them as you get it. Like you said earlier, tom, block it as you get it, you see it, block it, just don't. And I say, tell everybody, let everybody know this particular number or this text message from blah blah, whatever it was is yeah, because I have a lot of friends but none of them are texting me like you know. Hey, kenny, so did you know that? You know the ASPCA wants you?
Speaker 1No, and the good thing is, I think, when you report the spam through your phone, like it goes in their database, because sometimes you'll get a phone call from someone. It'll say incoming spam. Right, yeah, yeah, my phone's been flagged, I think, when you flag that. So now, when someone spams, that's what happens.
Speaker 3Absolutely yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1Or I get it where it answers the phone and it reads a certain oh, I have that option too.
Speaker 3I had that on too sometimes.
Speaker 1It's too. It's a good screen calls.
Speaker 3You can screen the calls and it'll actually talk to the person. You have that on the apron, Do you say?
Speaker 2oh blah blah blah, yeah, I saw that I've heard of it. I didn't see it. I've heard of that. That's.
Speaker 3that's funny, that's funny because now you try to.
Speaker 2AI you and you AI them back.
Speaker 1It's funny though, because, like sometimes I accident I don't know why it leaves that option for phone book numbers that are in your phone book, because a couple times I accidentally like I'm picking up my phone, actually like hit the button on someone. I know. Like I'll do it to Tara, my wife, you know I'll hit the screen button. She's like what are you doing?
Speaker 2I'm sorry, hit the button, yeah wrong one, sorry, sorry, that is funny. Hell yeah, always update your stuff, update your phones, update your your computers, your laptops.
Speaker 3They're already past.
Speaker 2Yeah, all your software Always update them, because you know that's this way. It keeps them.
Speaker 3Well, it keeps the hackers Right, you keep getting an upgrade, so you want to have that the next thing that comes every time.
Speaker 1It's crazy. Yeah, and back up your phone. Yeah, backing up your phone very good too.
Speaker 3Yeah, that too.
Speaker 1You want to back your phone up, yeah back up to the cloud in case, but you can have it done it automatically too, yeah, yeah yeah, it's just funny there's so many security patches, like it's got more security patches than a friggin quilt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2Exactly.
Speaker 3Right, scary bad, you're right. So where are we looking?
Speaker 2But unfortunately that's what we have to do, right, I mean so we got to fight back.
Speaker 3Yeah, you know, protect our own shit. I don't want anybody, you know, we don't want anybody messing with our stuff.
Speaker 2Man, it's yeah, You've experienced that Well like you said but we, you know people stealing your stuff. We work for what we have right, you know we bust it out and now some little more fuck is going to come. Take our stuff Right. You know my fittings get hurt and that's when the shovels that you're talking about. You had the shovels when the shovels come into play.
Speaker 2Yeah, Put them in the trunk, Don't worry about it, Just put it next to his body. You know what's that. But yeah, always update your change, change your passwords, update your passwords. I want to say it, you know just keep everything changing. You know you have to do it, you have to, you have to do these things.
Speaker 3You know, don't just depend on your phone or whatever you have to just keep up with the technology you got to just make sure you just over in your ass with all that.
Speaker 2Yep, Yep, and always check your credit. You know not even when you said check your phones.
Credit Scores, Fraud, and Financial Hardship
Speaker 3They're pretty good with that. They usually let you know when it's coming, or right.
Speaker 1Yeah, and if you look online there's you can have, you can pull your credit. I think by law you're allowed to pull your credit court free once a year. You can put your credit number and your credit scores to separate things for some reason, I don't know why.
Speaker 3Well, I can see my score If I just go on to. I don't know why it doesn't.
Speaker 1I don't know why. It's like when you pull your credit it should show your score, but it doesn't when you put it Not on the credit report. I don't know why not. Why can't they just put the number?
Speaker 3on. Yeah, so weird, but you can go look at your score anytime you want, yeah.
Speaker 2Well, you got, you know, depending on the carrier, the credit, the credit apps. So your credit karma and into it or whatever else they tell you. I think now to most banks. Do it for free. You can get it on your bank app or credit report and everything. No, no, no. Your bank app that will tell you your, your, your credit score.
Speaker 1But you are allowed. You can pull your credit report once a year from the credit bureaus. It's just, you know, get the score on it. I don't know why but anyway but it's a good way to find stuff out. It's a good way to find out if you know there's anything that's wrong in your Right. Something is wrong and it's making your credit score bad.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1It's like you know I can show that like saying oh, you owe money, or something like that. Maybe they have it wrong or or it's got someone else. I remember because my name is the same name as my dad, except different middle name. But like I had some stuff from my dad that was on there, one time I had to get it off and he had already been deceased.
Speaker 2Right.
Speaker 1You know, it's just so. I ended up on my credit card, so I would say that's not me.
Speaker 2Right, right, right. But, as it is always, check your statement, check your statements, check your bank statements. This is what you, that's what you see, absolutely and that's another thing too.
Speaker 3Well, usually my bank alerts me whenever I make a purchase on something.
Speaker 2Yeah, so he tells me hey, such as I know, it's me you know well, sometimes too, they do it in such little amounts that you wouldn't pay that much attention.
Speaker 3But no, I see it automatically. It's just right on my phone. Yeah, so I'm gonna look at it.
Speaker 2Yeah, like you'll say like you know, 30 cents here, five bucks here, things that you didn't even really think about. And then when you go back and you look, wait, that wasn't me. And then you know you gotta go back and let them know because you might you probably hacked you know. Yeah, I mean I only saw that. When I saw, I was like I was thinking it's 2020 or something like that and it was saying that just little money that they were taking out of a bunch of different people's and I guess they get so many, they don't have to take a lot out and make it obvious, right, and the other thing is to why bring?
Speaker 3attention to yourself.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And the other thing also is I know it's slightly off topic, but still on the topic is, you know, if you're ever, like you know, having some financial hardship, if you call the credit card company, you can pause, for it's only a certain amount of time that you pull it. You can like pause your credit cards, like where they, you know it's temporary pause, like you can't use it. But like you don't have to make payments for like a couple months or whatever.
Speaker 3I think if you're like lost your job or something like that they do they do allow that, so it's an important thing to know they do now. I don't think they used to do that.
Speaker 1But so you know I can all day, yeah, so you don't fuck your credit, you know yeah. You just say hey, you know, I'm experiencing financial hardship, you know.
Speaker 3Right, and you just?
Speaker 1I just cut off my job whatever you know I think it can pause it until you, you know, so you don't mess your credit up.
Speaker 2Yeah. And then you say it's protect yourself, yeah, you know, know what you're up against. We're not even just. If just having that general knowledge, you know, like I know, I can ask you guys like oh, what about this and how about that?
Speaker 1And you heard this and seen it.
Speaker 2You know, we know we could bounce that kind of stuff for each other. You know everybody just has to stay, like everything else, vigilant. Pay attention to what you're doing, pay attention to what you sign up to, you know.
Speaker 3It's just that that's. That's the hard part, you know, because I'm telling you now, man, because there's so much going on in your life.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3It's your juggling stuff, you know, that's just all it is.
Speaker 2Yeah, you do. You forget, you don't pay attention sometimes, so don't laugh too hard, but I don't really do it all the time. I just did it like this once Ready no, because I'm trying to figure out how embarrassed I'm gonna be afterwards. But you enter a sweepstakes so you put your email address in there. You know you don't answer personal questions, but you know things that you might like or whatever.
Speaker 3And you put it in there.
Speaker 2I think we've all done that, yeah, and you just gotta be careful when you do it, because you know that's the yeah, you're giving them your information. And you're giving them your info Because, without even paying attention, you know you're giving the answers to your security questions. When you joined up with whatever it was that you know you may have joined up in some you know somewhere else.
Speaker 1You mean my $10 million from Publishers Clear and Shown. Yeah, no, no, no no, no. Yeah, no, that didn't work, that wasn't it.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it got to $10 million from the other people that they scammed and put in there. No, that's not true. I'm not gonna say that you know that's messed up, but yeah, it's things like that, you know. You just you never know.
Speaker 3Pay attention, be aware of everything around you, but anything that looks odd, should you know get your attention immediately, and I think I'm pretty good at that, I think most of us, I think you have to now, and if someone who's not responsible doesn't give a shit, then you know you're not gonna convince them otherwise.
Speaker 2Yeah, right, right, right.
Credit Repair and Phone Scams
Speaker 3I think most people, especially if something happens once. Usually it's like the one time that you know and then you're like okay, I gotta do this, I gotta do that and change things up and keep an eye on it all the time. It's important to do that yeah, absolutely. Because you work off like you said. You know, at one point in my life, my credit was horrible Shit.
Speaker 1He's fricking credit man. Man, you're too. I had a job. I was not working, I was working.
Speaker 3It was just like a mess, but eventually I got my life together and you know, fortunately, I'm in a good place now. You know what I mean, so, and you work hard for that Right, exactly, yeah, so it's.
Speaker 1Yeah, I was just financially responsible. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was you know I you know it's part of my past.
Speaker 3I don't know you know, I had really bad credit, Living life baby.
Speaker 1I was delinquent. I had the credit years you think falling all the time. Yeah, my wife, I gotta tell you she was really like an amazing, you know.
Speaker 3She's good at that stuff, man.
Speaker 1And you know I was really embarrassed when we were day and night. Oh my God, my grandpa.
Speaker 2She's like I'll help you get it back together.
Speaker 1Right, right, right she goes. We'll go through it. We'll go through the steps. See what we gotta do, sure enough.
Speaker 2And like I, said now I'm in the 800s. You know what I mean. So you know, that's it, daddy. Is that you?
Speaker 3Papa. Yeah, no, it's good to have a good customer who helps.
Speaker 1you know, even you know.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, just always pay attention. You know, just pay attention. Know what you're doing, know what you've bought. You know. That's what I mean when I say know what you're doing, know the things that you've bought, know where you put in a credit report from, or about if it was a car, the house or whatever the case may be. Just pay attention to your stuff. Don't give out any of your information, man, nobody needs to. They don't need that. Was it the federal government, irs? They don't call you and or text you no, never. Exactly. So when you turn around and you're getting a phone, call and he was social security Right.
Speaker 3Yeah, these are all the things I was telling my phone. Do not talk to anybody on the phone. And if you see, you know what you need to talk to my son and you tell him to give me a call.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly, yeah, yep, and I mean too, if you get that one phone call and you just happen to pick it up, you know you're not thinking nothing of it.
Speaker 3You answer the phone call and it says oh, I have done that a couple of times, yeah but it says oh listen, so you know again.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, like I said before, you know. Oh yeah, so, kenny, you know, this is Bills Monsman. Kenny's in jail. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're like, oh yeah, let that motherfucker ride in jail, because if you didn't hear me or my significant other calling you, if you didn't have my wife on the phone saying, lou, I'm in the bad spot, tom, this is what's going on.
Speaker 3That is not fucking true. It's gonna be somebody you know.
Speaker 2Yeah, exactly Like you gotta like. Yeah, don't take it from like just bullshit like that. Even the same thing a car accident A cop is not going to call you to say send me $10,000 in IP and Apple gift cards so that we can get your kid to the hospital or your grandson or whatever.
Speaker 3Right, yeah, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's not how this shit works, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3That just seems ludicrous to even ask that.
Speaker 2Yeah, but that's what they were doing. It was like oh, he got hurt. You know, he doesn't have money, he doesn't have any medical insurance. This is what he do. Listen, I heard them and I'm like you gotta be kidding, it's unfortunate that people fall victim to this.
Speaker 3It's so sad when it happens, because it's like how did you not realize that that made no fucking sense at all and you just went along? What?
Speaker 1are you like? Oh, you okay yeah.
Speaker 3You know, like you know I guess some people are not. You know you know a sharp or whatever. But hopefully, if it does happen to them like it's earlier, they get it out of the way the first time and they learn from it.
Speaker 1It's people don't think it can happen to them. So that's the problem right, and so when it happens, they don't know what to do because they never like thought about it. You know what I mean. And that's the problem that happens.
Speaker 3It does, it does.
Speaker 1You know, the thing is is always just gotta be diligent, stay vigilant and just do you know, and the thing is I think I mentioned it in other episodes we had is as technology grows, they're gonna use their technology and.
Speaker 3AI is really big now.
Speaker 1And if you can grab someone's voice with AI, it doesn't. They don't need to speak along with you. They could speak under a minute. They can take your voice and use it. So they can easily manipulate your voice. You know you can call someone's significant other up and be like honey. I need money wired to me right away. I'm in trouble.
Speaker 2Right yeah so.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1So I'm in trouble with an idea, and I think that is in your family have a verbal password.
Speaker 3No, yeah, should have a code word Mm-hmm, for sure.
Speaker 1And be like what's the code word yeah. If it's not them, they're not gonna know it.
Speaker 2Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3You're gonna hear a dial. You're gonna hear the yeah, the tone, the tone, yeah you're gonna hear my homie tone, dial tone. Yeah, yeah, so yeah no, I agree with you. Yeah, you should have a code word, and that's actually not a bad idea, because they do it for a lot of different things too. Right, you know, that's really helpful.
Speaker 1I mean, there was a fun AI app and that's what made me think of it is you can change your. You can change your. You can make a video of you speaking another language. I don't know if I should.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, you did show it to us, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1All I had to do was do a video of myself for like less than a minute. It said just like taught you need to have a minimum of like 40 something seconds right like that right, david, so it can Learn your voice.
Speaker 2Let's see now here might, yeah, so now that can be hacked, because now you've got the voice, the face recognition. I didn't think about that till after. Yes, and there you go, you know, because. So so the the old, the conspiracy thing on that was when you do those apps and to make yourself a caricature, whatever, yeah, they got your information.
Speaker 2They have all your information that now is going to the database, so then they can find you around the world, kind of thing, like they know who you are and oh, that's a conspiracy there's, but I'm right, like my thing is what's if that, what's if it's it?
Speaker 1My thing is what happens if you do one of those things and like so the company is really just a bunch of scammers and now. They're gonna use now. They got your voice and now they can use it to scam people right, they got you we made. We made a little bit of my or this free app right to pay for it's like you got to use this free app for fun. Now we're taking that really paid for it.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, use your information.
Speaker 2Who knows, it's too late now.
Speaker 1I didn't think about that till afterwards.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, again, that's the conversation. You know that that's that thing. We're sitting here talking about it. Now that gives somebody else that you know one of our listeners or whatever, that now hears like, oh shit, maybe we shouldn't do that. You know, have a verbal yeah password or code word. Mm-hmm call.
Speaker 3I mean that's what?
Speaker 1that's what you said. I remember being a kid being that they did that would separate your from being taken. You know, if someone so you know claims that you're, it's an emergency.
Speaker 2They got to know the password right, I forgot right that holy shit.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah exactly you can't just like back in the day. We just walked out of school now.
Speaker 3Yeah, you can't do that. Right yeah and you pound it into your kids.
Speaker 2Yeah, I literally know.
Speaker 3Just try to use, test them every time, so you make sure you know that freaking password.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, and then he knows what, and he knows one of my friends show up and say I'm here to pick you up. Yeah, I.
Speaker 3Seen that on TV, where the father did yeah, with his daughter. It was like a show and he, yeah, and the parents with it and they felt, and the parents are like what the? Fuck is wrong yeah they were pissed at them. Are you kidding me? They were going to somebody's house because they had the pokeman right. Yeah, and they didn't know this person from like and they get in a car. They don't even know them. You know, are you any freakin mind?
Speaker 1Yeah, what? Even after telling the kids and everything, and they're like, oh, my kids will not fall for. Yeah, and they did, and they did, yeah, yeah you know they did the same experiment with the, With the gun thing. You know they did the same thing, you know, with the loaded gun, saying, oh, all the gun safety, and they? They found out that even though the kid didn't know guns, knew all the gun safety not you still play with the gun.
Speaker 3You still play with the gun.
Speaker 2Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3So you need to lock it up, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1I got a lot of it. I can't leave a loaded gun.
Speaker 3Yeah, no, you can't because a kid is too curious, he's gonna you know you might get that. One kid is gonna be like, yeah, yeah, I'm not doing that. Yeah but most of the time you know.
Speaker 2Yeah, my people mm-hmm, he's glory.
Speaker 3We glorified it, shit that.
Speaker 1People under the age of 25 don't fully develop brain and they're more impulsive. That's right and that's sure, and that's the problem. When we go back to the talking about the credit card companies and say right, they fuck. When, soon as you turn 18, all of a sudden all these.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, it's gonna be right, I turn 50. No, yeah, I got 70 years of you.
Speaker 1They got seven good years of you being making impulsive decisions Right racking up that fucking credit card right, oh, they knew it.
Speaker 2Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1Yeah, so and they they bait you to no man. Yeah, they do. 18. You're getting them all in the mail, yeah well and, but you're in school.
Speaker 2You know people that are in college. You know, and they don't. Oh shit, I need a credit card because I can't buy this. I gotta get this. I need these books. I don't have enough for lunch. Yeah, I was on top of, or even worse.
Speaker 1You're like, oh, it's all right, I'm gonna.
Speaker 2I'm gonna college now.
Speaker 1I'm gonna be making money? You know, yes, cuz you're impulsive and you know, you know I'm fully develop brain.
Speaker 3Right under 25. You don't know fully develop brain.
Speaker 1You're not making it. It's. It's a known fact that you're more impulsive before you have a fully develop brain. Yeah, you're not thinking that throw right and it's, it's, it's very Predatory what they do, right, right, yeah.
Speaker 2Well, so with that we'll finish off today's show with be Vigilant, yes, all of your stuff emails, text messages, phone calls, mmm, things that come in the mail, you know, don't take the survey, don't send it back in. You know, like that, just Be aware, keep you know, stay off of the Wi-Fi when you're in public places, and stuff like that, cuz that's how they get you. Yeah, that's how to get. There's a whole bunch of apps that do that. That. They pay attention to the Wi-Fi that you're on. So this one, you can get the coupons for this council quote unquote this council, whatever it's that you know, for whatever Restaurant or store that you're in. Yeah, don't fall for it anymore.
Speaker 3So be aware. So all this information was helpful. Do you guys?
Speaker 2Yes, yes, yes, yes, I hope so again. So everybody, thank you for listening like like.
Speaker 1Social media. It's grab Facebook.
Speaker 2Yeah, what other good stuff.
Speaker 1I'm so, and the website should be up soon.
Speaker 2You know, get that we'll have a working on that. Have a. Url soon so mm-hmm and have all that stuff. It's gonna be a good year 20 24 for us. So so, with all that, thank you everybody for listening. Have a great week, stay safe, love, peace and hair grease. Live long and prosper and go vegan Hello.
