[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Scams and Cons News with Jim Grinstead.
[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_09]: In this week's news, a woman loses half a million dollars to scammers pretending to be from Social Security.
[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_09]: And some scammers are picking their marks by saying they're giving away free pianos.
[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_09]: But we begin with a report that tells which companies are most impersonated by scammers.
[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_09]: Fox 11 in Los Angeles has the list.
[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_14]: A federal agency is warning people of the top companies impersonated by scammers.
[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_14]: The Federal Trade Commission has listed Best Buy and its geek squad as the most impersonated companies,
[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_14]: with 52,000 reports of scams last year.
[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_14]: The agency says customers were contacted through email about renewing services they never purchased.
[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_14]: Number two was Amazon, followed by PayPal and Microsoft.
[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_14]: Microsoft customers lost the most from scams with 60 million dollars.
[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_09]: The husband of Steve Harvey's television co-host has been arrested in a scam.
[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_09]: WSB in Atlanta explains why he was arrested on RICO charges and the alleged crimes committed between 2009 and 2022.
[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_15]: Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis spoke exclusively with Channel 2 about her decision to seek charges under the Georgia Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organization Act.
[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_15]: Williams was arraigned in court this week after a grand jury indicted him last month.
[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_04]: He would pretend to be a legitimate businessman, but he was stealing from people on United States currency, vehicles, and really just taking advantage of people.
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_15]: The indictment claims earned his fraudulently, Mary Popular Radio personality Shirley Strawberry.
[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_15]: Strawberry is a co-host on the renowned Steve Harvey Morning Show.
[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_12]: To create this impression of some level of success and use that to scam other people.
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_15]: Documents claim he knowingly went into the marriage with ulterior motives.
[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_12]: He was married at the time that he married Shirley Strawberry.
[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_15]: Attorneys allege Williams used that marriage to gain access to victims.
[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_15]: Over the course of 12 years, documents suggest Williams scanned at least 25 victims out of more than $750,000.
[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_12]: Ernest Williams often kind of created this impression of a close relationship or a romantic relationship with many of these victims.
[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_12]: Use those relationships to take money, vehicles, vehicle trailers, RVs, and other property from them.
[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_09]: The New Boston Police Department says a man pretending to be a lawyer has been scamming area residents.
[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_09]: It's a growing scam where people are told a loved one is involved in some kind of accident and money is needed to help them.
[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_09]: In this case, a scammer told the family their child had been involved in a serious car accident, was arrested, and needed money for bail.
[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_09]: It's alleged that another man, working in concert with the attorney, traveled to New Boston, New Hampshire where he took $24,000 in cash from the victim.
[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_09]: The child was never at risk.
[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_09]: It's difficult to believe your smart TV could be scamming you, but it's true.
[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_09]: The Fresno Bee says a Hulu user tried logging into the streaming app only to be duped out of $3,000.
[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_09]: The ruse typically begins with a login issue.
[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_09]: When someone tries to open a streaming app, a message appears claiming there's something wrong with the device or subscription.
[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_09]: The pop-up may prompt you to call customer service for a quick fix.
[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_09]: The scammers may insist you pay an activation fee or provide remote access to your smart TV.
[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_09]: Either action could corrupt devices on your network.
[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_09]: The act says could also allow scammers to steal your personal information or hijack your bank account.
[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_09]: Many of the scammers insist on being paid through peer-to-peer payment apps like Cash App.
[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_09]: Sometimes they ask for gift cards.
[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_09]: It's important to not click on any links they may offer.
[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_09]: This is Scams and Cons News.
[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_10]: A college freshman Christine Rothschild is murdered on campus during her morning walk.
[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_10]: Join us as we dive into this unsolved case and follow a friend's relentless pursuit of the truth all the way from the flower power era to today.
[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_10]: Binge you killed Chris on your favorite app or at dakotaspotlight.com
[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_09]: At least one of the scammers comes from Nigeria.
[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_09]: The scam works like this.
[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_09]: Emails target students and faculty at colleges and universities.
[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_09]: Those who respond are offered a free piano with a ploy that there was a death in someone's family, and the piano needs a good home.
[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_09]: If they get a bite, the potential recipient is told to contact a shipping company to arrange delivery.
[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_09]: The fraudulent shipping company then tells the victim they'll ship the piano but need to receive shipping fees of between $600 and $900 first.
[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_09]: To add urgency, the scammers say other people are considering the piano as well.
[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_09]: Once a payment is made, the scammers vanish.
[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_09]: Similar schemes are run with a promise of jobs, health care or other benefits.
[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_09]: The medical records of Illinois residents are being used to scam money from insurance companies.
[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_09]: Most insurance customers get an explanation of benefits.
[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_09]: It tells them the cost of coverage they've received over the past month.
[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_09]: An Illinois man noticed charges for services he didn't receive.
[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_09]: He contacted NBC5 in Chicago and explained the problem, hoping the station could find the mysterious company that made the charges.
[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_09]: They did, and the address was a digital office.
[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_09]: The television station also found lots of other complaints about the company.
[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_11]: Well, if your insurance company is being billed for things that you're not receiving, that's ultimately going to affect your costs over time.
[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Todd Casso with the Federal Trade Commission says it's a type of health care fraud called phantom billing, where someone is billed for service or supplies they never received.
[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: Casso says scammers began focusing on private insurers when the COVID-19 public health emergency was officially declared over in May of 2023.
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_11]: So what we saw after that point is more private insurers being billed for tests that weren't ordered or tests that were never received at all.
[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And according to Leo's insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, that's exactly what's happening here.
[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_03]: It tells us the Omen Lab Corps bills are quote, part of a nationwide COVID-19 testing fraud.
[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_09]: If you see such bills, check with your insurance company or file a notice with the FTC.
[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_09]: A couple and their four children were excited for a $15,000 trip on Carnival Cruise Lines.
[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_09]: Unfortunately, a scammer posing as a travel agent canceled the presidential suite and the entire trip.
[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_09]: Carnival Cruise Lines set a social media post to may have caused the problem.
[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_07]: My husband had made a post on social media that said 16 days and had a picture of a cruise.
[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_07]: And I said, no, it's 15. And that screenshot had our tracker. It was this email straight from Carnival.
[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_13]: That screenshot included her email address and confirmation number.
[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_13]: Someone she's not sure who seems to have used that information to cancel the reservation.
[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It feels like for sophisticated operations, they don't need a whole lot of information to get away with something like this.
[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_13]: Carnival tells ABC News, while we are not going to comment about any specific incident,
[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_13]: most cyber and consumer experts consistently advise that it is never a good idea to post personal information about your travel plans.
[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_06]: We're going to try to make the best of this vacation and salvage it and have a good time somewhere here in Florida.
[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_13]: Banks still flew to Florida in hopes that it would all be sorted out but instead ended up in a vacation rental trying to make the best of it.
[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_05]: We are here at the port and it just really hit me and it become real.
[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_05]: Whenever I see those ship that we should be leaving on, and it's not fair.
[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_09]: Experts say a con artist may have gotten the confirmation number and the customer's phone number from social media.
[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_09]: Using that information, scammers often call the victims pretending to be a travel company confirming that their trip was canceled.
[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_09]: The victim can check online and see that it was gone.
[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_09]: The scammer says they can get the reservation back if money is paid immediately, generally by gift card.
[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_09]: No such call came to this family and Carnival cruise lines refused a refund saying it wasn't their policy.
[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_09]: She was able to get $5,000 in refunds for excursions and port fees.
[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_09]: Kyoto News says a 25-year-old Japanese woman was given a 9-year prison sentence for defrauding 3 men out of a total of $1 million.
[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_09]: The woman also sold a manual on how to scam men out of their money.
[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_09]: The judge said the manual encouraged similar crimes.
[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_09]: The indictment said the woman told the men she needed money to pay off a debt.
[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_09]: Two other men bought the story and they lost more than $245,000.
[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_09]: The scam ran between April and August of 2023.
[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_09]: The court also convicted her of evading income tax and owed about $258,000.
[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_09]: KLAS said a Las Vegas man got a call from a company that said it was working with the state of Nevada on an energy savings program.
[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_09]: They offered him a chance to take part.
[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_09]: The man asked for the company's name and the caller said they worked with several companies so that wouldn't be available until they knew what services he wanted.
[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_02]: After that initial phone call, then a man in an unmarked white van with no business cards shows up to this homeowner's house and that raised even more suspicion.
[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_08]: He said his name was Bain, B-A-Y-N-E, so it's like Wayne but with a B.
[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_02]: The team member, as he claimed to be, then wanted to see his AC unit.
[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Allen let him. Bain then told him he needed a new AC unit and he was offered a line of credit of $40,000.
[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Allen called another AC company he worked with before for a second opinion.
[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_08]: They said we haven't heard of that scam but it definitely is not how HVAC contractors do business.
[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_09]: That double check helped the man escape the con. This is Scams & Cons News.
[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_04]: Scams & Cons is part of the killer podcast network.
[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Is the pressure of your wedding day being perfect from sunrise to sunset weighing on your mind?
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[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: On the Bride Chiller podcast, we celebrate love and help you plan your wedding day without the bullshit.
[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: We're all about keeping it real and having fun every step of the way.
[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So whether you're just starting to plan or counting down the days, we are here to help you stay cool, calm, chill and collected.
[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: We have expert tips and amazing guests.
[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get this party started and embrace your inner bride chiller.
[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Listen to Bride Chiller wherever you get your podcasts or visit us at TheBrideChiller.com