The business of selling fear

[HemiEd]

Heck, it is the offseason

I have noticed more and more lately adds trying to instigate fear to sell you some peace of mind.

The one that triggered this thread was a new one I saw yesterday about losing your home to a scam. I only watched it for a few minutes but remember seeing a fake bill of sale of a persons home for $10. Holy crap, how would that stand up?

This morning in my news feed one add was for SSN protection and the other Identity theft.


Have you had any personal experience with these issues or purchased these products?
What say you?

Personally I have avoided TikTok and have purchased an antivirus protection for my laptop.

Our Citibank card has been compromised at least a half dozen times in the last couple years, but none of the others have.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by tredadda

^ This. I would also say to never answer your phone if you don't recognize the number as legit people will leave a voice mail.

Also don't answer random texts that ask if this is you.

Lastly I know many banks offer free credit monitoring, so if yours does then sign up for it.

Answering the phone, in and of itself, is not really an issue IMO. As soon as you are asked to take “any” action, that is the time to disengage.

This applies to phone numbers you do recognize. It’s trivially easy to spoof an outbound call/phone number. As soon as the person who you think you may know asks for money, disengage - or at the very least require you do it in person. (This does not mean go through a third party!!)

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Answering the phone, in and of itself, is not really an issue IMO. As soon as you are asked to take “any” action, that is the time to disengage.

This applies to phone numbers you do recognize. It’s trivially easy to spoof an outbound call/phone number. As soon as the person who you think you may know asks for money, disengage - or at the very least require you do it in person. (This does not mean go through a third party!!)

That’s a good point. I just know that many times you have robo dialers that will spoof numbers and call you just to see if a line is active. Once it finds out, you then become far more open to scam calls.

I do agree that any call requiring you to take action immediately is definitely one you want to disengage from.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by tredadda

Once it finds out, you then become far more open to scam calls.

I’ve heard that before many a time - it might be true, but I don’t believe scammers are that sophisticated. I think it’s just spray and pray. I could be wrong though.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Freeze your credit. (thaw when necessary - financing a car, home, etc)
Don’t use debit cards.
Don’t answer your phone unless it’s from a known party (even then, follow the next rule)
Don’t act on anything anyone wants you to do over email or phone.

Follow those golden rules and you are good to go.

Edit: I’ve been an IT Security professional for over 15 years. I use TikTok regularly, and do not subscribe to any identity protection services or otherwise.

Good advice.
I'm no expert but I would add to get your free credit report every year.

[PatMahomesIsGod]

BoomerFraudPreventionPlanet

[Lzen]

Oh, and the thing about debit cards. I like to use a credit card and then pay it. Wife always tries to get us to use the debit card. Says bank will put $8 a month in our account if we use the debit card at least 10 times (or something like that). I guess I don't have a problem using it with a legit business that I know and in person. Anything else, heck no!

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by PatMahomesIsGod

BoomerFraudPreventionPlanet

This conversation is for adults. Please go sit down at the kiddie table and be quiet.

[Lzen]

One other thing about this that really pisses me off is that I have had my info stolen through no fault of my own. Many legit financial institutions (some with which I have done business) have been hacked, especially in recent years. It is almost becoming an epidemic. They send you a letter telling you that they got hacked and then give you a year or two of credit monitoring. That's some real BS. How about you do a better job of protecting my info instead?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Oh, and the thing about debit cards. I like to use a credit card and then pay it. Wife always tries to get us to use the debit card. Says bank will put $8 a month in our account if we use the debit card at least 10 times (or something like that). I guess I don't have a problem using it with a legit business that I know and in person. Anything else, heck no!

I always have to remind/convince my wife to NOT use the debit cards unless that's the only method of payment they'll take. It's not as secure AND we don't earn rewards on it.


I will say, though, about 10 years ago I had some fraudulent charges on my debit card. Wells Fargo cleared that up nicely and quickly, just as it would have gone with a credit card.

[DaFace]

It really just comes down to the fact that humans are influenced much more strongly by anecdotes than data. Ask people on the street about how crime today compares to crime in the past couple of decades and see what kinds of answers you get. People are freaked out by everything they see in the news, but the reality is crime is far lower today than it has been in ages.

Here's a good article about it.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Oh, and the thing about debit cards. I like to use a credit card and then pay it. Wife always tries to get us to use the debit card. Says bank will put $8 a month in our account if we use the debit card at least 10 times (or something like that). I guess I don't have a problem using it with a legit business that I know and in person. Anything else, heck no!

Skimmers are the biggest risk to debit cards, IMO. Credit card companies are very quick to react - banks, not so much - and your money will likely be tied up during the dispute process.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Lzen

How about you do a better job of protecting my info instead?

Because it’s extremely difficult.

[Bowser]

Fear is just another commodity people have figured out how to monetize.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Because it’s extremely difficult.

Yeah, it's like saying that you should do a better job of protecting your house from burglary. Sure, you can add steel bars to your windows and strengthen your doors, but if someone has enough time and motivation, they'll cut through the roof without you even thinking that was a possibility.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Freeze your credit. (thaw when necessary - financing a car, home, etc)
Don’t use debit cards.
Don’t answer your phone unless it’s from a known party (even then, follow the next rule)
Don’t act on anything anyone wants you to do over email or phone.

Follow those golden rules and you are good to go.

Edit: I’ve been an IT Security professional for over 15 years. I use TikTok regularly, and do not subscribe to any identity protection services or otherwise.

Why should we avoid debit cards? Too easy to lift the info for scammers?

And in lieu of that, just use a credit card? Or is cash king?