I will offer one thought for everybody on the subject of being scammed, and that is to maintain at least some of your wealth off grid, not tied in any way to your social security number. Fortunately in my case I did have a modest portion of my wealth in the form of gold and silver located in private vaults in multiple locations, mostly outside the country. I have been slowly increasing that percentage as able and the way things are unfolding I think doing this makes more and more sense all the time.
6 Likes
Why pay off you “junker” credit card daily? This mimics your activity if you use a debit card which could be a reason for someone not to use the junker credit card vs the debit card.
Walter “JR” Gerhardt
Medicare Coach - pre-Medicare
Medicare Concierge - post Medicare
Turning 65 Insurance
Referring those who could use my help with Medicare is the ultimate compliment.
ILLINOIS - 9503 Gulfstream Road Frankfort, IL 60423
OHIO - N690 County Road 17C Napoleon, OH 43545
708-557-8193 - call or text
419-819-8611 - calls only, no text
708-843-9800 - fax
| westcoastjan
July 11 |
- | - |
@galpin So sorry to hear this. I have an aunt & uncle who were similarly scammed as well. They are in their early 80s. It was devastating in so many ways over an above financially. They lost about 100k and had their 50k line of credit maxed out. My heart broke for them when I heard about it.
@waltergerhardt a question: why pay off the credit card daily? Why not just wait for the monthly bill & pay off in its entirety, avoiding any interest charges? Timing large purchases to coincide with billing cycles is smart money management. I see no reason to pay off daily, especially if one is paying cash at the bank to pay off their balance. Is there a specific reason you pay it off daily?
For my own protection I have long treated my email addresses & phone number like a credit card, from the security perspective. I do not give them out easily or to just anyone. No entering contests or filling out coupons with that info has greatly reduced the amount of spam I get. I believe it helps to minimize the risk of scams - if they cannot reach you they cannot scam you. And I never answer my phone, especially unknown callers. It is easy to quickly call back someone I know, while avoiding talking to someone I have no desire to talk to.
Other things I am doing/have done:
-not saving credit card or shipping data in online shopping applications where ever possible. Convenience has a price.
-using one specific credit card for online transactions only, and nothing else.
-never using my debit card online
-I have set up alert notifications on all of my bank accounts to notify me by text or email of any and all transactions over 10.00. This enables a rapid response if there is any illegitimate activity on any account.
-I use cash as much as I can, and have drastically reduced the use of my debit card, instead using a credit card, which as pointed out, offers better protection.
There is no question in my mind the threats faced are multi-faceted, the dangers enhanced by AI. Not only can they scam our assets, they can scam our very lives via impersonation, to the point of creating digital twins. The case for going back to analogue as much as is possible for one’s personal circumstances grows greater with each passing day.
Being awake and aware has never been more important. It sucks and is a frustrating way to have to live. And yet, we must. I can’t go on, I will go on, doing the best I can in an increasingly complex world.
Good, useful advice in this episode, thanks. Scary stuff. Sooner or later with AI, these calls are going to be so personalized and convincing that we may be back to a lot more face-to-face transactions.
Recent scams I’ve been pinged by:
- A text about a “Social Security Audit,” just day before yesterday in fact, with a helpful link. I’m a big fan of the “delete & report as junk” feature on my phone.
- Two calls about some health survey over the last few weeks, with an actual person on the other end. Sorry, no, hang up.
- The “unpaid tickets at the DMV” type calls seem to come in waves. The last ones were a couple of months ago, but I’m sure they’ll be back.
- The last “we have video of you in front of your computer while watching porn; send $1000 to this bitcoin wallet” emails I got were a couple of years back. Those were pretty funny, because my computer doesn’t have a camera.
- Finally, RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE while typing this, I got a “Medicare interview is scheduled for today, click this link, just 7 questions.” Delete and report as junk.
1 Like
After this very Eye-Opening Epstein Imbroglio and the very dubious “12 Day War”, it makes one wonder how much “Reality” there is to the U.S. Stock Market and financial markets generally?
50%? 60%?
30%
That’s what I do too. I also ignore most of my email. Usually do a mass delete once every day or two. Kind of figure nothing “official” is sent via email so why even open it?
Funny story - I also get a lot of snail mail that’s a sales pitch/scam, disguised to look real.
So I’ve started ignoring lots of mail also. Turns out I recently got a legitimate bill from when I was in the hospital in the spring of 2024. Took them a year to finalize the last ridiculous charges and send it out. It sat on my desk for quite a while waiting for me to verify it with my insurance company. In the meantime the hospital business office sent it to one of their divisions that sets up payment plans. I assumed the payment request I received in the mail was all a scam since I didn’t recognize the name on the letterhead. When I finally got around to checking with my insurance company, checking with the hospital billing office, etc., I was on the verge of being sent to collection. Oh well! Modern times!
I’m becoming aware of how older people are the targets of all kinds of sophisticated scams. And it seems as we get older, even those of us who were never naive and had good judgement lose that spidey sense. So my best practice is to go back to giving in-person or in the mail to organizations I know exist IRL at their location known to me. Or waiting for the cops or process server to show up. 
I also do this. One more thing just to make my life easier - I memorized that credit card #, expiration date, and 3-digit code. So I can place an order without having to go get my physical credit card. And then no need for the “convenience” of saving the information on my computer or on a website.
3 Likes
This is another key area for resilience - committing important numbers and bits of info to memory. People have become lazy with all the “conveniences” provided to us. This may come back and bite us one day if we rely on tech to much. Added bonus memorizing things helps exercize the brain! 
3 Likes