We welcome Danielle Murphy, a Consumer Educator for the Consumer Protection Section of the Education Unit of the Office of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

From impostors posing as government agencies to emotionally manipulative grandparent and romance scams, Danielle Murphy walks us through the most common traps, why seniors are often at higher risk, and the specific warning signs loved ones should watch for.

You’ll learn why simply not answering calls from unknown numbers is crucial, how scammers use caller ID spoofing, and why certain payment methods like prepaid gift cards should always raise red flags.

We’ll also talk about practical advice on protecting your cyber identity, safeguarding social media activity, and navigating tricky situations when fraud involves those close to us.

Whether you’re a senior, a family member, or simply care about protecting your loved ones, this episode is filled with actionable tips and essential resources to help keep your finances—and your future—safe.

This is a conversation that’s as informative as it is empowering, and don’t forget to check the show notes for links to all the resources mentioned in today’s episode!

If you like this episode, please let us know. We appreciate the feed back, and your support of offset costs of producing the podcast!

Here are our top 3 takeaways for protecting seniors (and all of us!) from scams:

If it sounds too good to be true, it IS. Whether it’s a surprise windfall, a threat from a “government agency,” or a suspicious phone call, skepticism is your best first defense.

Never give out personal information or send money without verifying. Don’t trust caller ID—scammers can spoof numbers to appear legitimate. Always verify requests for money or sensitive data by calling organizations back at numbers you look up yourself, not those given to you over the phone.

Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. As Danielle Murphy shares, “the more you answer, the more your number gets marked as active and sold to more scammers.” Let unknown numbers go to voicemail—legitimate callers will leave a message for you to return.

Moments

00:00 Ohio Law Enforcement & Officials Support

05:45 Common Scams Affecting Ohio

09:16 "Stop Robocalls, Report Spoofing"

13:00 Imposter Scams Explained

16:05 Spotting Scams on Dating Sites

18:45 Charity Verification and Service Issues

22:20 Recognizing Elder Abuse Signs

23:34 Cybersecurity Tips for Protection

26:56 Password Updates and Security Concerns

29:58 Facebook Privacy Concerns Explained

36:02 "Beware: Too Good Is Fake"

38:02 "Consumer Resources and Protection Tools"

39:54 "Scammers Exploit Weak Moments"

We would love to hear from you.

Give us your feedback, or suggest a topic, by leaving us a voice message.

Email us at hello@lookingforwardourway.com.

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And of course, everything can be found on our website, Looking Forward Our Way.

Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle 270 Media® Podcast Consultants.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

Copyright 2026 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson

Mentioned in this episode:

Listener Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the experts interviewed on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast hosts or any affiliated organizations. The information provided in these interviews is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals for specific advice or information related to their individual circumstances. The podcast host and producers do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided by the experts interviewed. Listener discretion is advised.

But our biggest tip about these calls is just don't answer if you don't know who's calling. And it is your doctor's appointment that you've been waiting to hear back from that specialist or these test results or something that maybe you haven't put that in your phone and saved it as a contact. They'll leave a message and then you can get back to them.

We are looking forward our way from Studio c in the 511 studios. Hi, this is Brett and with me is Carol. How are this morning?

I'm good, Brett. Thank you so much. And we have a really special guest with us today. Danielle Murphy is with the Ohio Attorney General's Office. She's an educator for the consumer protection section. And we really are so excited about you being here with us today, Danielle. Thank you.

Thank you, Carol and Brett, I'm so happy to be here and share this important information with you guys today and.

We'Ve been looking forward to it. Now we've all heard the story about a senior or older adult being scammed in our community. Could be a next door neighbor. This issue is not just for older adults, but actually anyone, especially those who care for seniors, they need to understand the potential danger. Today we're going to focus on the older population because they're more often without that support system. Danielle, let's start by first discussing the role of the Ohio Attorney General's office in your role to provide information on this difficult issue.

Well, the Attorney General currently is Dave Yost and he's the 51st Attorney General. Some of his duties include that he's the attorney for the state of Ohio. Now that doesn't mean you out there can call him for personal representation. Right. To dispute a speeding violation, you cannot do that.

So therefore he's gotten that phone call.

Right. He represents all state elected officials including the governor's office, the Secretary of State's office and the Treasurer of state's office. Our office also supports local law enforcement and we do this in a couple different ways. We have the Police Officers Training Academy which is in London, Ohio. And there officers across the state get the training that they need to make sure Ohio citizens are safe. They have a gun range and a high speed track and many other classes to make sure those officers are up to date and current. We also support local law enforcement through our Bureau of Criminal Investigation or BCI State. So I'm sure many of you here and you too like to watch NCIS or csi, those crime scene shows, well, that's what BCI does.

We Solve crimes and homicides through DNA analysis and fingerprint analysis. However, it does take our office longer than that hour to solve those crimes. Right, Right. Our office also enforces laws passed by the General assembly, and those laws include environmental protections, charitable organizations, and consumer protections. And I'm here today from the consumer protection section of the office. And we want to ensure a safe marketplace for consumers. So we enforce certain laws, including buying a vehicle, seeing a store advertisement, or purchasing or home improvement work. And my specific role in the office is to go out and make sure to educate consumers and seniors on protecting themselves from identity theft, fraud, and scam.

And that's mainly what we're gonna talk about here today.

So your job is really boring, isn't it? No work at all. No work at all, Exactly.

And when you said safe marketplace, I hadn't ever thought of that in that light. I knew senior scams fell under the AG's office, but I only saw it as, well, it's a crime. But when you really think about that, there are a lot of marketplace issues that our seniors have to deal with, particularly those who are still living in aging at home.

Yes.

So, Danielle, let's think about who is most at risk in this issue.

Well, seniors are. And some of the reasons are that they are more at risk is they're trusting and polite. A senior was raised very different than our grandchildren and great grandchildren. Right. And they were taught that a handshake is their word, and so they're more trusting. Also, seniors have more assets, and scammers know this. Seniors have worked very hard all their lives saving away for a nice retirement. And that's why scammers also prey on seniors.

Seniors are also less likely to report that fraud. And there's many different reasons why. Maybe a senior doesn't even know they're part of a scam or a fraud, or maybe they're just too embarrassed to tell somebody. Seniors can also be independent and isolated. Many times, you know, children move away for different jobs or even just all day long while your son or daughter's at work. Nobody's there to, you know, look after you. You know, a phone call is maybe the only phone call that they'll get that day. But that's what seniors also prey on, is they know that seniors are at home, isolated and lonely.

Well, and how many times have we seen a senior who's been scammed on the news, saying, I was too embarrassed to report it, and I was afraid they would take away my ability to live at home, live independently, whatever, but it's almost like the scam isn't nearly as bad as other issues that they have even made up in their head. That could happen, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

Well, there are lots of types of scams. However, we want to focus on the financial situations first. What are the most common types of financial scams that are occurring now in Ohio targeting older citizens?

Well, we see many different types of scams, and I can give you a few examples of some of the most common ones that we're seeing that's happening right here in Ohio. And the first one that I'm hearing more and more about is the grandparent scam. And unfortunately, we, you know, like I said, someone's at home. These scammers use different tactics and scare tactics and keeping a conversation or two of the ones that we see. So Diane from Lancaster called our office one morning and she said she was sitting at her kitchen table having coffee when the phone rang. So she looked down at the caller ID before answering, and it said it was the Columbus to police, police department with the 614 area code. She immediately picked it up and said, hello, Grandma? Jake, is that you? Yes, Grandma, it's Jake. Well, what are you doing? What's happening? Are you okay? Oh, my gosh, you're in trouble.

Well, Grandma, I skipped school today with a friend, came to Columbus, and I was in a minor accident. Oh, my gosh. And the reason I probably sound different is I hit my nose on the steering wheel, and so it's kind of altered my voice. Okay, well. Well, Grandma, I just need, you know, it's my fault, the accident. And if you could just go get a prepaid money card, call this number back and, you know, it'll take care of it and get me out of trouble. But don't tell mom and dad because I'm already in enough trouble. I want to do it in person.

Okay. Okay. So she went and got a prepaid money card called the phone number. So that's what we see with the grandparent scam. Very similar to that, what we suggest and tell consumers to do and seniors is you want to be the one asking those questions, right? Don't just go, oh, it's your grandson. And then many times seniors are going to go, oh, Greg, is that you? Yes. And then they get the name.

They've got the name. Right.

Ask those questions. A nickname. Maybe it's a middle name. Maybe the holidays are coming up. Hopefully we can find a way to safely still get together with our family members. Right. While you're there, come up with a code question or a phrase or a code word so that you can verify with all your family members that it's really them. The other thing that we say to do is confirm with your family.

Many seniors, I know I had a landline and a cell phone for a long time until my children got old enough to have a cell phone. You probably live with someone or you live in a facility. You can walk across the hallway, ask a friend or neighbor to use their phone to verify and confirm that it's really them. And lastly, we say, don't send money. Always, always verify. Listen to your internal being that's putting up signals that something's not right here. But that is the grandparent scam. And unfortunately we are seeing that quite a bit right now.

I think too, that part of the scenario that you just gave us is that the call looked like it came from the Columbus police. And that's not always the way. But people need to really think through and like, nobody at the Columbus police is going to let me talk to my grandchild and have me send them money in an accident. So it's just almost like using your common sense.

Exactly. The other thing that we say is, unfortunately, you can't trust your caller ID any longer. They have these apps called spoofing that anybody can download. I can download it on my phone. And you go in there, you can put any number you want to appear in any business. Many times we know that these robocalls, people are getting phone calls all the time. Our office does have a new robocall unit and we do want people to call and contact that unit and report these calls so that we can build a database that can help maybe put a stop to these robocalls. And you can do that by texting 888111.

But our biggest tip about these calls is just don't answer if you don't know who's calling. And it is your doctor's appointment that you've been waiting to hear back from that specialist or these test results or something that maybe you haven't put that in your phone and saved it as a contact. They'll leave a message and then you can get back to them. I have noticed I. I never really got a whole lot of phone calls because I just don't answer them. But they are kind of starting more and more. It's nice that my phone provider has now started potential spam. It may come up and I know that it's so frustrating.

I did better call four the other day and a woman called and said, Well, I get 1520, 25 calls a day. My phone's just ringing off the hook. And it is frustrating. But the biggest tip that we can give to that is don't answer.

Right.

I've gotten to the point that I really want to get a bullhorn.

Yeah.

Or one of those horn in a can. And when I blow it in there. And you know, and I know I've gotten to the point of just. I answer it and I drop the phone. Oh, sorry.

Yeah.

You know, and he's like, okay, Brad, did that really solve anything? No. But it's one of those days your phone blows up.

Yeah.

And it all depends kind of where you are, too. Because I'll notice coming downtown, there's just this geographical areas. All of a sudden, they know you're there, and you've entered their fence, fenced in area, GEO fencing, and they're popping you with these phone calls. And it just drives me crazy.

And, you know, unfortunately, some of the reasons why we get more and more phone calls is because we've answered them.

Exactly. And I know that logically know why am I answering that? Because now that is a true number that they can instantly sell instantly, probably in the next five minutes, they know.

It'S an active number on my phone.

I can bl numbers. And if whoever calls, even if maybe legitimately it would be somebody I know, but if they don't leave a message, I block their number. So that's where I get my aggression, blocking it. I want to just go back for a second, and we got a little off topic here, but I love that idea of doing a code for your family members. So think in terms of making sure that the young kids know, okay, if you got to call grandma, here's your code word. She knows it. You know it. So that if somebody wants to act like you, then that code word is going to make that evident.

That not only is helping the senior, but I think it really brings the younger folks up to speed on the issues, which could help them in the long run, too.

Yes.

Yes, I like that. I like that idea. So thank you. That's a good one. So I think, Danielle, we kind of got you off base here, but there's some other things.

Everything's so important. We just want to get it all in right. So the next scam that we're seeing is the imposter scam is what we call it. An imposter scam is just a scammer that impersonates a government agency. Maybe it's the irs, maybe it's the Social Security office. What we're seeing for years, and many of you probably remember, is you would get a phone call and they would claim it was the IRS and you owed back taxes. Right? If you didn't pay those back taxes immediately, they were going to come and arrest you. Those are those scare tactic scams, right? They scare you into thinking something's wrong, then they're going to be so kind into letting you know how you can fix it.

Right? But one of the things with imposter scam is it changes all the time. And it has changed in the last year or so. And now what we're seeing is they claim to be the Social Security office, we're the Social Security office. You're either not going to get your benefits because something happened with your Social Security number. I've even heard, well, they'll say your Social Security number is going to expire and you need to get a new card, so give us your old one so we can link it. Or I've heard people that have gotten emails and clicked and, and given the information to buy a new card. So that's just somebody impersonating a government agency. Even the Attorney General's office has been part of an imposter scam.

So we had already talked about not trusting your caller id, so we don't have to cover that. But also just don't provide personal information over the phone. When someone calls you, it is okay for you to say, you know, I'm not comfortable giving that out. I will be happy to come in and take care of it. Especially if they impersonate your financial institution. Don't give any of that account information out over the phone. And the other thing is, when you do look into this, call back using a legitimate number that you've looked up. Go to your bill, go to a statement, do not call the number that they provide or the number that shows up on caller ID for those reasons why we talked about with the spoofing.

And another scam that I want to talk about today is the romance or sweetheart scam. And unfortunately, right now with the pandemic, we're all kind of stuck at home. I work from home, and it's just different. I find myself even being lonely. I can't imagine, you know, a senior being home. Family members can't visit until recently here in Ohio, at least, it has to be tough. So a lot of times people reach out on these dating platforms or some sort of platform to try to find friendship and companionship, or they answer the phone just because they want to talk to someone. And this is where scammers are going to befriend you.

They're going to pull out all the tactics that they can use to try to get any information. Pretend like they're your friend. Let's say you go through a dating site, which there are legitimate dating sites. I have supervisors in my office that have found loved ones through legitimate dating sites. I think the biggest difference in knowing that it's not a legitimate site is shortly after the conversation gets started is when they're going to start asking for money or well, I wish I could come and see you or have coffee with you, but my car is broken down and it needs fixed and I'm just kind of, you know, in a spot right now waiting on a check to come through. They use all these tactics and that's the difference. You know, if they don't set up a, you know, one to one FaceTime through these platforms to meet, then more than likely it's a scammer just trying to get in there with you and start a friendship and a relationship.

So, Danielle, I've been kind of quickly writing down some of the tips you've given and let's make sure we're covering those again. I like that idea of using a code word with family members. I think it not only helps the senior, but it also brings awareness to younger folks. Call or text the AG's office. Ask for information, ask for help. Use that robocall unit. Don't trust caller id. And we are all seeing that.

I know I get a lot of phone calls. That 614 area code and then the prefix of my phone number. Right, Same thing. So it looks like it's somebody in my neighborhood or something. Don't ever give out account or personal information. Call the legitimate number that you've looked up. Look at, you know, if it's the utility, look it up on your utility bill. If you can't use a, if you don't, if you're by chance not on a computer, can't find a phone number on a website, call 411 on your phone.

Get a legitimate phone number. Use your common sense and don't panic. I think that's where folks get into a lot of trouble. And if somebody's looking for money or information, be really wary. Other tips? Am I missing stuff?

You hit a lot of them, Carol. One of my biggest tips is if it sounds too good to be true, it is. The other thing is make sure to research businesses and charities. You can do this in many different ways. You can contact our office and find out how many complaints have been filed with a business. Also go to the Better Business Bureau's website. They list every business. They give them an A through F rating, and they also categorize those complaints.

So, you know, right off the bat, this product's good. But if you want customer service for anything, that's where the trouble is. And so maybe that isn't important to you, but you have to do the research to talk to family members. You can also go to the Ohio Attorney General's website. It's Ohioattorneygeneral.gov and you can go to our charity section. You can put the name of the charity right in there, and it will pop up if it's a legitimate charity. Because as I said in the beginning when I was introducing our office, every legitimate charity has to apply and go through our office.

And especially in this time of our pandemic, everybody's asking for money. There are 9,000 charities just in central Ohio. So don't just give money and think it's gonna be used correctly.

One other tip that I'm not sure that I covered was there are certain red flags that these scammers use, and one of them is certain methods of payment. So never send money through these methods of payment. And that could be a prepaid money card, an Amazon gift Card, or an iTunes. Gift cards are some of the favorite ones these days that they like to use. So if you get asked to send a payment that way, never send it. Never pay to win a prize. So Publishers Clearinghouse or sweepstakes scams. I'm not saying Publishers Clearinghouse is a scam.

They often use as an imposter that name because it's the more one that's recognizable out there. Right. And never pay the full amount up front if you have any contractors coming in and doing work, especially if they come door to door saying that a neighbor used us. If you have work to be done, give a third of the money down for materials or any money they need to use. Wait till the job's halfway through, give another third of the money, and then wait till the end till you're satisfied to pay.

That's a good plan. Great.

So one of the most horrific situations is when a family member exploits a senior member of their own. What should a senior or other family member do if they suspect exploitation of a loved one?

Well, first you want to report the fraud or the financial exploitation. You want to contact your local police department, contact your local adult protective services office, and then finally contact our office. The Ohio Attorney General's Office, we have an Elder Justice Unit and they will help you file a complaint. You can also call 800-282-0515, which is our call center number, and they will help direct you to our Elder Justice Unit. Pro Seniors is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services. So you could contact them and all of this information will be provided here in a link or somehow from the podcast. So there are several different ways that you can report that.

Are there tips that we can give to our listeners of things they should look for when they think that there could be financial fraud or exploitation from a family member? Some warning signs?

Yeah. So if your loved one starts kind of being introverted, not coming to different things, maybe they live in a facility and they don't come down for the activities anymore. They don't talk to you, unfortunately. You know, I go out all over the state to do presentations on this issue. And I've met people where, you know, a grandson started going to visit the grandmother only on the day she gets her checks to cash them. They started seeing bruises. She started just getting more feeble and weak and to herself. And so different signs like that that you want to watch out for or a family member trying to monopolize that senior or tell them that, you know, she doesn't want to talk to you.

I've just heard so many stories or where there's new conflict in the family and it's usually over money.

Danielle, a related issue for our seniors, and many of us is cybercrime. Do you have tips for us on how to be safe on the Internet?

Yeah. So there's several different things that we can do to protect ourselves. The first one is to maintain a clean computer. We all need to install and update antivirus and anti spyware programs to make sure that our computer is running safely and we don't get those viruses and malware. You can do that through National Cybersecurity alliance to look for what kinds of programs to download. I cannot promote any just because of where I work, but you can go to staysafeonline.org to look for those products. Delete those suspicious emails. There are red flags that we can look out for for these suspicious emails.

And that could be, maybe the grammar just doesn't sound right. Or excuse me, maybe we aren't expecting a package from Amazon, but all of a sudden our account has been compromised. Or you're not going to get your package. Well, we don't have a package coming. You know, Carol, you were telling me the example of FedEx. You know, you didn't have a FedEx package coming. So these are all signs that we can look out for and be aware of. Beware of those unknown attachments, downloads and links.

You know, I tell people, please try not to click on those links. They hold viruses and malware as well. Or maybe it's just a link that wants more of your personal information. You click the link because you're curious about a story. Maybe, I don't know, maybe it's a story about the fires. And they say find out how many people have died. Will you click in there? And they want your name, address, phone number, email address. That's just another way of them getting your personal information.

Watch for scam websites. Unfortunately, Google is a great tool, but scammers also know that and they use some of the first sites and sometimes when we search something as a scam website. So if, for instance, you decide to run your credit report, if you put free credit report in Google, make sure you're going to a legitimate site like Experian, TransUnion or Equifax. Don't just click on free credit report because sometimes they'll ask for a one time payment where they are truly free.

So will those spam websites be listed as paid links?

Potentially. Okay, yes.

So they do show up higher sometimes? Yeah. Okay, yes. You just have to, depending on how Google finds that and grabs that website. I was just curious if they paid for that to show up higher on the search or not.

And again, just to reiterate, the most important one is don't provide your personal information over public WI fi. I said don't give personal information out. I've said it many times. But on the public wi fi, what that does. So let's say you're at McDonald's or the coffee shop. You decide you don't have enough data on your phone. So you click into their, you know, wifi. If you just have to have that pair of shoes right away, don't do it.

You're putting in financial information, a credit card on an open free WI fi. Anybody can get into that WI fi. So don't do any banking or shopping unless it's a secured WI fi.

One of the things that Brett and I sort of laugh about is passwords. You have to keep updating and changing your passwords. But he gets me these passwords that are impossible to even type, let alone remember. But it's if you think like the FedEx issue, I may have an account at FedEx. It doesn't mean necessarily that My account has been hacked into. They're just spamming my cell phone and sending crazy texts out. But it is something that I should go back and take a look and say, do I need to update that password if I haven't done it for a while?

Yes, yes. Unfortunately, though, some of this information gets out there through cookies on our computer. And this is a little more technical than we need to go into, but it just tracks your habits, your shopping, different things about you. Almost like your grocery card that you scan, and then you get coupons of what you just bought. Right, right. So it's almost a way to track our footprint and what we're doing. So, yes. Changing your passwords, making sure you're not using the same password.

My mother needs to listen to this podcast because she just thinks, well, I'll never remember I used the same one. Well, that just is more vulnerable because these scammers are also out there hacking into our, you know, computers and systems.

Fix is just have a little notebook that you have.

Exactly. Lock it away, hide it. That's what I have to do.

Yeah, I'm guilty of that, too. I've got a few places that are, you know, the exact same password. It's fairly strong, but at the same time, I. I need to change it. I think about that every time I use that. Okay, should change it. It's just that hassle of doing it, understandably. But at the same time, you know, it's important to do.

It is.

But it's easy just to write them down. Put it in a notebook, put it in a drawer, and it's there. You don't have to memorize these things. You don't have to.

Yes, exactly.

Okay, Danielle. Finally, huge danger in social media for seniors. And we've touched a little bit about it, but, you know, they want to see their grandchildren, and they all know how to use Facebook now. So what are the kinds of things that someone should really be careful of in using social media? We want to make sure we're not getting hacked, giving out information. I personally had a problem on Facebook. A friend of mine was sending me messages, and I really thought it was her, and it wasn't.

Yep. So the first and most important thing that you need to do is check your settings. Many seniors. Well, I have to say that for a while, I didn't realize this either. And you have to check your settings not only on your smartphone, but on your laptop or your PC. It's different for each device that you use. So you want to make sure that only the friends that you accept as your friend can see your posts. You also have to realize that if you tag someone.

So if I'm your friend on Facebook, Carolina and I put a picture of us here today and I tag you, all of your friends can see that post unless I go to my settings. So you just have to be smart about who's seeing this. Because if all these scammers are seeing this, I believe, and it's kind of hard to go in there and maneuver a little bit, but I believe that I have. Only my friends can see my post. But why do I keep getting friend requests from creepy men? I don't know. But somehow they do it when everything's available there. You might put something out there on Facebook that is giving them a clue as to your passwords. Think about it.

You have the beloved dog, and in every post you say brutus and I are hanging out at the. That might be your password. My dog's name is Brutus.

Or you're on vacation.

Yes, you're on vacation. You can't help but take the picture, you know, in the Florida Keys of that wonderful lobster meal, and you have your geolocator on and it says you're in the Florida Keys. That just tells some of your family members, friends, neighbors that you're not home, that you're there.

Right?

So all these things. Know your settings. The other thing is, don't accept those friend requests from anyone that you do not know. Like I said, I, for some reason, especially recently, am getting more and more friend requests from people that I do not know. They are not a wonderful, upstanding person. Let me just tell you. It's probably a scammer, someone out of the country that stole maybe, you know, somebody's profile picture and just wants to start a conversation now on what you said, Carol, let's bring it back to that. So the other thing you have to be aware of is if you're already friends with someone.

So this happened to me about a year ago, and I got a friend request from someone, and when I got it, I thought, well, I thought I was already friends with her. Well, I wasn't thinking. And I went ahead and accepted it. And within two minutes I got a message from that friend. Hi, how are you? I was like, I just saw you this weekend. You know how I am. What this scammer did was hacked her system somehow or just went into her profile because her settings weren't set properly, told her picture and knew that she's not on Facebook a lot because they could see all her activity. Oh, she hasn't posted in seven months.

Well, she's not going to get on Facebook to look to see if I'm sending out things. So if she accepts my friend, she'll think it's me, just like you said. I really thought it was her. It happened to my mom, and it was a friend from church in the choir. She knew all those things because of Facebook.

Right.

They knew she was in the choir. They knew she attended this church. Because we give all that information out, we also give out information about our birthday. You can put what day of the month, what day and month you were born. Don't put the year. That's another potential password. Right. And more information that they can learn about you.

So on October 3rd, everyone will know it's Carol's birthday today. Not that it was your birthday, but people will know, and they won't know your age, and they won't know more information about you.

That's a great way to become younger. Say you were born in 1999.

That's right.

You know.

Yes, yes. Well.

And I think just two people should realize that Facebook and some of the more friendly social media are at risk, but that doesn't mean the professional business social media are not at risk. On LinkedIn, I get a lot of requests to link up with me with this smallest connection. And oftentimes, and I always go back and look and see who that person is, but they have one or two connections, they're not in the country. And actually, at one point in time, I even stopped linking with people who are outside of Ohio.

Yeah. Cause you're not gonna move.

I'm not going anywhere. And there is no reason. If they haven't given me a reason for the connection, I just ignore it.

Yeah. Well, let me just go back to. So if you get a request from a friend that you think you've already been friends with, there's a way to go to your friend list, put the person's name, and if they pop up that they're in your friend list, then you know that person's been hacked. It is not really them. That's how you do it.

So how do you know if you've been hacked, though?

Well, unfortunately, I'm not sure about that. I have gotten a text from my sister once, and she's typically, it's people that you know that's gonna get a hold of you and say, I got a friend request from you. I've already been your friend. I've seen that out there. Or I've seen people Go on social media and say, I've been hacked. Don't accept, don't read. My mom sends me the weirdest things through messenger sometimes and it's some link or story. I never click on it.

I don't tell her I don't, but I never click on it. I might have told her once because who knows where she is out in the, you know.

Very good point. That's a good point. Especially now, we're getting a lot of stuff people are sending back and forth and you don't know where it's coming from.

So we want to assure you, the listener, that you're not alone. And I'll give you a good example right now in 30 minutes of this podcast, I've gotten three potential spam calls. My friends from Lockbourne, from Brunswick in New Albany, Ohio, have something they want to sell me, apparently, or I've missed a payment or something. So, yeah, we're not in this alone. So you, you know, let's go over the top three tips from this conversation about what you want to the biggest impression you want to leave on our listeners to do today.

Well, my biggest tip that I give to my groups when I give these presentations or talks is if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. I used to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But now I say if it sounds too good to be true, it is. My husband received a check in the mail for $30,000. It's a fake check. You're not going to just get money falling out of the sky, which essentially, that is for no reason. So just be aware. The other thing is don't answer your phone.

Just don't answer. You didn't answer those three spam calls. I've been getting them more and more. The more you answer, more, once you answer, they know it's a legitimate line. And then they go off and they sell that number and you're going to get more and more. So just don't answer. And the other one is don't provide your personal information. We need to do our due diligence and ask, what do you need with that information? What are you going to do with it? Maybe you're at the fair.

When the fair comes back around, right, and we're in person. You go to the vendor building and you're going to all these booths and they have all these drawings, win this big bouquet or a free estimate or whatever it is. Well, what do they want from you for the drawing? Your name, your address, your phone number? Ask them what are you going to do with this if I don't win or when I don't win, are you going to sell it off and market me to other businesses similar or you're going to throw it? We have to be the ones to protect our own information.

Right? Danielle, There are so many resources that our listeners need and we're going to make sure we utilize all of this information and provide it to them. But along with your office there are other resources that they can also use. So maybe just give us a little review of that.

Sure. Not only do we have the Ohioattorneygeneral.gov website, we also have Ohio protects. And through our website you can file a complaint against a business. You can look up those charities. You can find publications on all these tips and information that we talked about today. You can also contact, as I said, and do your research through the Better Business Bureau and that's the bbb.org the Federal Trade Commission will provide all these resources like I said earlier, National Cybersecurity alliance where you want to do your research on what kind of antivirus and anti spyware programs to put on your computer. I don't know how to do many of that stuff my husband does. So go to staysafeonline.org and there are also opt out programs that you can get into and that is will provide that information.

But there's phone numbers that you can, can call to opt out of receiving certain maybe advertisements or you know, mailers sweepstakes offers. Also many times, you know, we have credit cards and your own credit card company just sends you these blank checks because you're not spending enough money.

Right.

And these show up in your mail. You can opt out of getting those to protect yourself. So there's many different resources other than our office. But, but it's a good place to start.

And as I've always said Ohio and central Ohio, we have such incredible resources. If our listener is from out of state, they need to go to their estate, attorney general or the equivalent public office and check with them.

Yes, yes. Many other states have similar programs and similar resources as Ohio.

Great.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. This was learning. I learned a lot, let's put it that way. Just rethinking what I'm doing as well and just kind of reassuring in my mind. Yeah, Brett, you said you're going to do that, go do it. But I think the bottom line is we're all susceptible to this, we really are because it may just hit in our weakest moments or we just don't think twice about it because the scammers are smart. They're smart.

And it doesn't take much for them to be successful.

No, right, right, exactly.

Well, thanks again for joining us. We appreciate it.

Danielle, thank you. And to all of our listeners, thanks for joining us. And check the show notes. We'll have all of this information for you.