Why Adulting Needs A Manual

Welcome to the Only Child Diaries Podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life? That you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulthood. By doing so, with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries Podcast.

Spam Loan Calls That Never Stop

Today I'm going to talk about scams. That's right. Scams. People trying to cheat you out of your money. I think that ever since the invention of money or any kind of currency was put into force, whenever that was, like back in the Stone Age, there's probably been scams because people are so creative. And people have always been looking for a way to cheat other people out of resources. Right? I got a couple calls recently. I mean, I get a lot of spam calls on my phone for a while every day. Every day, like clockwork. I mean, and these aren't scams, but not really. But every day I would get a call in the morning and a call in the late afternoon from some sort of automated system asking me or telling me that I was almost approved for a loan to cover all my debt. They had looked at my credit report. They had an approximate number of the dollar amount of what my debt was at the time. And they would call every day. And it sounded like a real person, except that it wasn't. It was a recording that sounded like a real person. And so when I would answer, which wasn't very often, I would start talking. And it was just an automated AI robot person. And so then it said, if you'd like to be connected to an agent, press one or press whatever. So I tried to experiment with different things because I mean, literally, this went on for months and months. And I was just tired of always deleting the voicemail. So a couple of times I pressed one to talk to a person, and of course they were thrilled because someone actually was interested in their offer, right? And at first I took a really hard line and I said, you know, I was started yelling obscenities at them. And I said, please take me off your list. Well, that didn't work. Uh then I tried the nice way, and I was like, Oh, well, yeah, I call can you please oh, but you know, and please take me off your list. Well, it didn't work, and I still got the calls for months after that. So finally, that seems to have gone by the wayside. I still do get calls, maybe once a day, maybe maybe three times a week. And now they're coming from a number in Canada.

Cable Shutoff Threats And Red Flags

I blocked, I mean, sure, I blocked them, but it didn't really matter because every day it would be a different phone number that the calls were originating from. Okay. Then I started getting a daily phone call from a uh somebody somewhere that was telling me that they could erase my IRS debt, which is hilarious because I haven't had IRS debt in uh decades. You're barking up the wrong tree there. The last couple of weeks, though, I've gotten these calls where uh, you know, they said, Tracy. Hi, Tracy. Hi, is this Tracy or whatever? And I've said yes, and they said, Well, your cable, your TV cable is gonna be cut off today because we haven't received your payment. Now they don't say what company they're from, they just say your cable, your TV, whatever, your internet, whatever. And so the first time, you know, I said no, that's not true. I paid my bill, and it was obviously a scam. Whatever. I got them off the phone. But it happened again this week. And so what I did was I just played dumb. And I said, uh, oh, well, oh, what company is my provider? And they they said spectrum. I mean, that's probably a lucky guess because most people probably have spectrum in the world. And so I said, Well, I, you know, I um I I thought I paid that. And he said, Well, how did you pay? And I said, Well, with a credit card. And he said, Oh, well, there's been a glitch. There's been a glitch with credit card payments, and it didn't go through. And I said, Oh, okay. So he said, Do you have your checkbook? And I said, Well, wait a minute. So, how much is my bill? And so he said, $190 or 8 cents, which I thought was a cute little, you know, detail there. So then he said, Do you have your checkbook? And I said, Well, wait a minute, can you tell me what the charges are? Can you tell me the detail of all the charges for the $190? And he said, Well, no, ma'am, I I can't. I'm gonna transfer you over to our supervisor, but do you have your checkbook with you? And I said, No, because you're a scam. And I hung up, and uh, you know, just to be sure, I checked my balance when I got off the phone and it was zero. So I mean, you know, super smart, super sneaky.

Remote Computer Hack Scam Fallout

I'm sure there's some people that do fall for this because there's always people that fall for scams, and the thing is, is that it sounds legitimate, and if you're off your mark, then you would fall for it. It makes sense. I mean, somebody close to me uh got a call a while back, and they said your uh your computer has been hacked by a virus. And you know, if you're not really paying attention, if you don't really know all the ins and outs sometimes of technology, well, this person fell for it. And they ended up paying, not only did they pay $600 to this person over the phone, uh, but they got into his computer because they put that kind of software where you can get into somebody else's computer remotely. So he had to take it to a computer repair person to get it taken off, and it ended up ruining the laptop. Um, had to change his bank account, close his bank account, and start up anew. And then, you know, you have all those um automatic payments set up, had to change all those over. So it really messes with you. And I

Gift Card Hustle At The Register

bring this up because today I was witness to what I think was another scam. Uh, and I and I feel bad. It wasn't me. I don't think I was working my part-time job where I go and I cashier one day a week, and I should have said something, but this guy was um, he came up and he he talked to this customer and he said, you know, I have all these gift cards that I can't get rid of. And um, can I just pay for your order and you give me, you pay me back? And she was like, well, okay. And he said, You'll be doing me a great favor. And as it went along, and after she left, and as it ended, then I realized that this guy probably wasn't legit because he ended up buying stuff. He said he had all these, you know, quote unquote, all these gift cards, but he didn't have gift cards for his stuff that he was buying. So why did he not just buy his own stuff with gift cards, right? He ended up buying it with credit. Um and yeah, that that ended up being, you know, super fishy. But nobody was around me from the the rest of the staff at the time. And it just, you know, as it went along, it like it, it it was it was like a ball of of yarn rolling down the hill. The ball just kept getting bigger and bigger, like, or ball of what is it, a ball of moss or something. It just kept getting bigger and bigger, and the lies just kind of no one part of it seemed bad, but now that I look back on it, I think, oh dear God, this was this guy was no, not on the up and up. But you know, do I think the store got scammed? I don't think so, but who knows? I mean, only time will tell, right?

Bank And Zelle Imposters Escalate

In today's world, you just can't be too careful. So just want to put that out there. I don't know if you've heard of any other scams. I mean, there's the one where your loved one has been kidnapped and they have a voice that sounds like your loved one. There's there's there's the ones I've mentioned, there's people calling you up to, you know, I did get a call um, gosh, several months ago from somebody who said that um they were my bank. And well, it was interesting, they weren't my primary bank, but they were a bank that I have a credit card with, and they said somebody was trying to get into my uh Zell account. And so I was like, well, okay, I don't fully believe you, but I will talk to you anyway. Right. And um then it ended up that they transferred me to the quote unquote supervisor, who when I started asking questions of him, started yelling at me, which I thought was hilarious, which a banking person would never do that, because I had kind of caught him in the lie. He wasn't telling me the same thing that the first guy told me, and uh, I didn't give him any of my information. But uh yeah. So anyway, there's

When You Cannot Ignore Unknown Numbers

that. And some of my friends say, well, I just never answer a phone call if I don't recognize the number. And yeah, sure, that's great. But when you have a remote job, sometimes that doesn't work out so well because sometimes, you know, being a fundraiser, sometimes I have donors that will call me and I don't know all their numbers. And also with my husband's medical issues, there's sometimes medical personnel that are calling me that I don't always recognize doesn't always come up. Um, and I've had important calls that come up as potential spams, so it just doesn't work. So uh yeah, so that's my message for today.

Stay Alert And Share The Warning

Always be alert, always be on your toes. And once you've gotten caught by a scam artist and you get smarter because it can be really costly. And uh, there was a woman on the news the other day, she got approached by somebody that said they want a lottery ticket, but they needed somebody to pay the $2,500 processing fee to cash in the lottery ticket. And so they would, you know, pay her back. And I'm like, well, who would fall for that? I mean, when do you need to pay to cash in a lottery ticket? Anyway, like I said, these people, if they use their brains towards a good end, who knows where we would be, right? Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Next week, we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries Podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on. And consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page, Only Child Diaries, or Facebook, Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace, and these are the Only Child Diaries.