Oh, from phone calls to
your social media to emails.
There's a scammer waiting every single place.
That's right, we want you to
have all the information that
you need to protect yourself.
That's why we're able to Shelly Gates
from the Better Business Bureau with us.
She's with us till 5:45
answering your questions.
Here's how you get your
question to our expert today.
You text that question.
The number is
336-379-5775. It could be about a scam.
It could be about a best business
practice or how to look up a business
or how to make sure you get your.
Estimates on paper, that kind of thing.
So any and all things are up for grabs,
right? Let's first and foremost
because it was Valentine's Day.
Start with the whole romance scams because
I don't think we can say it enough.
The warnings.
No, we cannot, and I tell you what
actually BBB is seeing some alarming
statistics about romance scams.
First, in 2021 we saw a 13% increase in
the number of scams reported and one in
four people said that they lost money.
One in three people said that they
know a victim but worse in just the
first two months we've seen a 50%
increase over the number of reported
scams in January and February of 2021.
So romance scams. How do they work?
First, your would be sweetheart
is actually stealing photos of
really good looking people,
so that is red flag number one.
Second, they quickly want to move the
conversation off of the dating app site
and communicate by email, text or phone.
These dating sites are really
trying to shut down these scammers.
Third, they want to build the
relationship really quickly.
They've moved quickly to saying
I love you and Oh my gosh,
I've never felt this way before.
Then they never want to meet.
Actually, they might talk on the phone,
but they never want to do a video
call or meet in person until
things start to get serious.
And then they need money.
Maybe they are so excuse,
family health issue, family emergency,
or then maybe it's money to come see you.
But of course it's always about the money.
So these are red flags.
If you look for these red flags,
you will be able to protect
yourself from a romance scam.
Yeah,
I think
so. Often people think, yeah.
But I started talking to them on
Facebook and they know a friend of
a friend of a friend and you know,
every once in a while.
Sometimes people just need money.
I think we start making excuses.
We do and you know it's you could
have the money issue, but there's
going to be those other red flags.
Have you actually ever talked to this
person face to face or with a video call?
If you've said hey, can we meet,
can we at least do a video call?
And if they never want to do that,
that is a red flag.
The other thing that you can do is
when you do first meet somebody,
Google the picture.
We actually had this happen.
One of the people that I work with.
One of her friends met a guy.
Of course my friend was like.
Hey, let's check this guy out.
Turns out his picture was being
used on all kinds of dating sites
and he was getting all kinds.
The real guy was getting all kinds of
hate mail on social media from women who
had been scanned using this guys picture.
So that's the very first thing.
If you meet somebody and
you kind of like him,
Google their picture and see what comes
up and see if it's being
used other places, right?
Let's talk about online shopping scams.
'cause this is how most of us
are shopping these days anyway.
You know, and that certainly hasn't
slowed down from 2021 at all,
and that we're seeing actually
a couple of common themes.
One people are not getting
getting what they ordered.
Somebody ordered boots.
They got a scarf.
Somebody ordered something from
a website that said that they
everything was handmade when
they actually got the item,
they had had a little tag that said
made in Mexico or people are are
getting items that are actually broken.
Another thing that we're seeing is
really long delivery times and this is
they're not being blamed on supply chain.
Issues this is just items that are
taking a long time to get here.
Three to six months.
The other issue that we're seeing is
credit card companies are not being any help,
but part of that is because again,
items are taking a long time to get here,
so we're past our 60 day window when
you can dispute a charge and other times
the credit card companies are saying,
well, you got the items so it was shipped.
We're sorry we can't help you,
so here's how you can protect yourself.
First research the site.
Gotobb.org go to bob.org/scam tracker.
Put in the name of the website,
the name of the company,
see what comes up.
Go to Google and do the name of the company,
the name of the website and complaint,
and again see what comes up.
Another thing to look for is does it
say the item is shipping from China?
That's a common theme that we're seeing
from complaints that we're getting
is the item shipping from China,
so that could be a red flag.
Also check the contact information.
Google actually called the customer
service number. Does it work?
If it doesn't, that's a big big red flag.
Also look at the address just
to go to a vacant lot,
or just go to a real building and if it's
going to a PO Box, that's a red flag.
According to people that are contacting us.
And even though we're seeing some issues,
go ahead and pay with a credit card.
That's still your best protection.
But also, though, if they have PayPal,
try that as well.
I think a lot of times people say,
well, I'd like to use my debit card,
'cause then I don't overspend 'cause
I know the time it's going to come out
of my bank account, but that is the.
Issue when you're paying online
is that it comes out of your bank
account and then it's just done.
It comes directly out of your bank
account and there are not the same
federal protections with your debit card
that you have with your credit card.
There are actually, you know,
guidelines set in place that layout
those dispute guidelines that the
federal that credit card companies
have to follow that say you've
got 60 days to dispute a charge.
Those guidelines are not set for a bank
or anybody that has your debit card,
so they don't.
They don't even have to allow you
to dispute the charge that's set up
by individually by bank, by bank.
So one you're already out the
money there's and there's no say
that says you can't even allowed
to be to dispute the charge.
So really get a credit card.
And if you do nothing else
with that credit card but use
it for shopping online use,
do that and use it that way,
right? Don't let them take money
out of your bank account, alright?
We're going to take a quick break
and we're going to take your answer.
Your questions coming up your
answers in real time, right?
When we come back.