February 12, 2025 • 33 mins
Uncover the evolving world of financial scams in 2025 with insights from financial crimes expert Sergeant Brian Lashua. As we navigate the intricate web of scams, you’ll learn how AI plays a pivotal role in these fraudulent activities and why the infamous gift card scam remains a favorite among fraudsters. Discover which groups are most at risk and why no legitimate business ever demands gift cards as payment. With the holiday season and natural disasters often triggering spikes in certain scams, vigilance and quick action become your best defenses.
Our conversation takes a heartfelt turn as we focus on protecting our senior citizens from financial fraud. Discover practical ways families can shield their elderly loved ones from scams like romance fraud. Explore the dynamic partnerships between law enforcement and financial institutions that work tirelessly to combat these crimes and recover lost funds. We shed light on the vulnerabilities inherent in traditional banking practices, such as check writing, and advocate for secure online transactions to thwart mail theft and fraud.
When financial crime strikes, knowing what to do can make all the difference. We guide you through the critical steps for reporting incidents and discuss the emotional complexities that emerge when family members are involved. From safeguarding personal information to ensuring caregivers are trustworthy, we cover all bases. Moreover, we emphasize building a robust financial foundation with simple security practices like strong passwords and regular account monitoring. Equip yourself with the knowledge to protect your financial future and stay one step ahead of scammers.
Have an idea for a show or a question for Kim? Send us a text message
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms Kim.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Chapman, welcome to another edition of Money Matters
.
Yay, it is 2025.
How many of you are glad to seethe door close on 2024?
No matter what happened in 2024, it's in the past, and now we
want to focus on 2025 and,specifically, how to financially
thrive in 2025.
Now that can be a bitchallenging because, with AI,
(00:34):
scammers are everywhere and wewant to be able to keep your
money safe.
So today we're going to focus onfinancial crimes and with me I
have an expert, a specialisthere, sergeant Brian Lashua.
Lashua.
Right, correct, all right, andhe's going to help us.
You know, look at how can webetter protect ourselves and
protect our money.
(00:55):
I tell you, there are scamseverywhere.
I had him laughing.
The other day Somebody sent mea $10 e-card for Chick-fil-A.
I saw it and it took me lessthan a second to immediately
delete it because I'm just soafraid of being scammed.
And later that day I actuallyfound out it was a legitimate
e-gift card.
(01:15):
So hopefully he can help usfind out what are the clues to
look for, what's real, what'snot real and how can we keep our
money safe.
So let's start with how do wedefine financial crimes?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Financial crimes for the everyday person.
Is somebody else wanting yourmoney?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, that could be me and taking steps to illegally
obtain it.
All right, so that's what wedraw the line.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Right.
So financial crimes what we'reseeing you mentioned AI, which
is starting to come into play,but a lot of the financial
crimes that we deal with herelocally in Baton Rouge is the
same scams that these criminalshave been running for years.
They're just constantlyevolving and progressing.
(02:04):
As technology changes, thescams change a little bit, but
at its base, it's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So what type of trends maybe, specifically, that
you see in the Baton Rouge area?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Lately.
A lot of it has been to do withtwo things One, the gift card
scam.
With two things.
(02:40):
One, the gift card scam.
People will receive a call orget a pop up ad on their
computer saying that theircomputer has been compromised or
that they have a family memberin jail in some city, and or
they have a warrant for theirarrest.
And whatever the scam scammerssay to get them on the hook,
they always want to be paid bygift cards or iTunes cards or
Amazon gift cards and theyconvince the victim to go to all
these different stores andpurchase $500 gift cards and
they'll get six, eight, 10 ofthem and scratch off the numbers
(03:06):
on the back and either textthem a photo of the card or give
them the PIN number, and assoon as you do that, that money
is gone.
What people have to understandis no legitimate business gets
paid by gift card.
That is your number one redflag.
Nobody takes gift cards aspayment, no legitimate business.
(03:29):
Tactics that they use generallyrevolve around speed or fear.
They're going to try to makeyou afraid, either for your
safety If you don't do this, awarrant will be issued for your
arrest within the hour or thespeed.
(03:50):
Hey, you need to stay on theline while this is going on.
You know, go ahead and go.
Do this now If you don'tPressure Right.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So what age group, or is there a particular person or
type of person that's targetedmore so than others?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I would say nobody.
No one group is targeted morethan the others, because a lot
of these scammers they don'tknow they're generally phishing
(04:28):
scams and it just withtechnology, you know things like
that, still pay their bills bychecks, which is a whole nother
conversation we need to have,but generally your elderly
people are the ones that fallvictim to it more often.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Generally your elderly people are the ones that
fall victim to it more often.
And I'd probably like to addbusy people, because I think
that sometimes, when we talkabout scams, we often have
Carmen Million with the BBB comein and talk about it.
We're such a busy generation.
We're multitasking, we're doingfive things at one time and in
a calm environment oh of courseyou can't scam me, right.
And in a calm environment, ohof course you can't scam me,
(05:03):
right.
But when I'm busy and I've gota headache and I've got a
deadline and the kids arescreaming and the train is
making me late, all it takes isjust that one little second,
that little window of time,right?
And so, speaking of time, youknow, of course we just got over
(05:31):
the holidays, so we like tothink that crime does ramp up,
at least in my opinion, aroundthat time of the year In your
world, in terms of you see thisall the time.
Is there any particular time ofthe year that you see more
crime, especially financialcrime, than other.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Financial crimes generally are steady year round.
Now we do see an uptick inspecific types of financial
crimes after certain events.
During the holidays we see morecredit card, debit card fraud
because a lot of people arespending more money online.
They're going to websites thatmay not be secure things of that
(05:59):
nature.
After a hurricane we see alarge uptick in residential
contractor fraud Contractorscoming in from out of state.
They're not licensed.
They do shoddy work.
They get paid up front.
They may work one or two daysand then you never see them
again.
So it depends on what's goingon at that time frame.
(06:20):
But financial crimes aregenerally constant throughout
the year.
It just changes depending onwhat's happening.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So if somebody feels that they've been a victim of a
financial crime, what do youthink is the first step?
What should they do immediatelyonce that light bulb goes off
and they're like oh my God, Ithink I've just been scammed or
somebody's stolen my money?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Call your bank, freeze your account.
Okay, if someone does.
Let's say, your credit card ordebit card is compromised on a
skimmer at a gas station, at agrocery store.
We've been seeing those pop uphere lately and the way the
skimmers generally work, theyhave Bluetooth skimmers to where
(07:03):
they can immediately downloadyour information.
A lot of the ones we're seeinglately they're on a particular
terminal in a grocery store, ata gas station and they're only
there for one or two days andthen the criminals come, pull
them off and then they candownload the information
manually.
Well, once you see a charge popup on your card for $30 at
Domino's Pizza in Florida, callyour bank, freeze your account,
(07:27):
because at that point it's only$30.
But you have the information toknow that your account is now
compromised, so cut it offbefore it gets bad.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Wow, so what type of resources are available for
people that have become victimsof crime?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Well again, the Better Business Bureau you
mentioned them earlier is agreat resource.
But call your local policedepartment, your local sheriff's
office, whatever jurisdictionyou happen to live in, and
report it.
I have very good detectivesthat work for me, uh, and we can
begin investigating it.
(08:05):
Uh, a lot of times we canconnect your crime to someone
else's crime.
Uh, especially nowadays,everything leaves a paper trail.
Yes, so if your account iscompromised, you lost X amount
of money.
We can find out where thatmoney went, and a lot of times
(08:28):
your money went to a bankaccount, to a 75-year-old lady
in Des Moines, iowa, and we callher, and she's actually a
victim as well.
Her account has beencompromised.
They're just using that tofunnel your money into her
account and then from heraccount to someone else's
account, and it may go throughsix or seven accounts before it
(08:51):
finally lands overseas somewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Generally, so we mentioned earlier, of course,
that sometimes it is the seniorcitizens that are a little bit
more vulnerable.
So what can family members doto protect their loved ones,
especially the older ones, frombecoming a victim of a financial
crime?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Stay in touch with them.
You know a lot of these elderlyvictims don't have active
family members in their life.
I mean they may have a daughteror a granddaughter that comes
checks on them once a week.
You know things like that.
But stay in contact with them,talk to them so they feel
comfortable letting you knowwhat's going on with their life,
especially like the romancescams that we see a lot of with
(09:33):
our elderly victims.
They may feel embarrassed andnot want to talk to you about
that by the time.
You know, keep active on theiraccounts.
You know, have access to theiraccounts just so you can keep
track of everything.
Uh, but by the time a lot ofthese family members realize
(09:55):
what's going on I mean, ahundred thousand dollars may be
missing and they're just tooembarrassed to say anything.
Or they may still believe thatthis person they've been
communicating with online trulyis the love of their life and
their golden years.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Perhaps right.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So how does law enforcement work with financial
institutions to help detectfinancial crime?
And then I've always wanted toknow how often do these
consumers ever get that moneyback?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Do these consumers ever get that money back?
So, as far as working withfinancial institutions, we have
monthly or every other monthmeetings with a lot of the
financial institutions locallythrough BRASBA, Talk about
trends that are going on andfinancial institutions really
(10:44):
work with us.
Well, you know we needinformation.
We go through the courts, weget our you know the appropriate
court orders or subpoenas, giveit to the financial
institutions and they give us,you know, whatever information
we think we may need.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
What was the second part of the question?
I guess we'll cut it rightthere.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's okay, that's know.
Let me go back and see what wasthe first part of the question.
Oh, detectives, crimes, andthen you know how often is money
recovered.
Ok, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Now, as far as victims getting their money
recovered, we do recover a largeamount of the funds.
That's good to know.
Sometimes it takes a while,especially if we are able to
make an arrest on a case.
It does have to go through thejudicial process, which you know
(11:39):
can take some time.
Yes, but restitution issomething that the judges do
order time, but restitution issomething that the judges do
order.
If it's not a large amount ofmoney, a lot of times the
financial institution will justreimburse the victim, but at
that point the bank is now at aloss, so the reimbursement would
(12:04):
be issued to the bank at alater date.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So outside of okay, we've got the online shopping
scams and definitely thefinancial institutions.
What are some other scams thatpeople should really be on the
lookout for and what are thosetypes of scams Like we talked
about?
Some things almost seem like itshould be common sense that, oh
, maybe I shouldn't be paying acompany with a gift card, or
(12:26):
perhaps you know why wouldsomebody be saying I have to go
to jail if I owe money.
So what are those scams thatmaybe are just so unique and
just kind of underhanded thateven you know, the highest IQ
person could get scammed?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
One of the ones that we have seen in the past few
years.
The criminals do a moretargeted research on their
victims.
They will find out throughsocial media or just public
records, your family members'information, and you mentioned
(13:05):
AI earlier.
They have called individualshey, your grandson was in a
wreck in New Orleans, Somebody'sin the hospital because of it?
He was drinking.
He needs $50,000 bail and ithas to be posted within the next
(13:27):
three hours.
And so the name that they giveis actually their grandson and
they know their grandson livesin New Orleans.
Well, they can't call theirgrandson to find out because
he's in jail to find out becausehe's in jail.
So they go to their bank, theydraw out the cash and then the
(13:51):
criminals tell them hey, I'msending a courier to pick up the
money and they will send eitheran Uber or an accomplice.
They'll go by the house,they'll pick up $50,000 in a
shoebox and leave, and thevictim is waiting to hear back
from their.
He said I don't know whatyou're talking about.
(14:12):
I haven't been in a wreck.
Wow.
I would like to talk aboutchecks.
Okay, that is a problemnationwide With the exterior
blue US postal mailboxes.
You should look at thosemailboxes as a shredder.
(14:33):
Oh, wow, if you're putting mailin that it may not come out.
If you do steal mail, mail yourchecks go inside, drop it at
the box inside.
That is just a simple metal boxoutside and these criminals
either have found a keysomewhere or just use a crowbar
(14:55):
and they're in and out of thatbox in under a minute and the
checks that you mail for $30 foryour Cox cable bill is being
cashed in Houston for $3,000.
Wow.
So definitely keep an eye onyour checks or pay your bills
online through whateverinstitution.
Again, the elderly generationdoesn't necessarily feel
(15:16):
comfortable with that.
They can do it.
They just don't feelcomfortable.
They would rather write out acheck, keep a log of it.
But those checks have all yourinformation.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They have your name, your address, your bank account
number and once you put it inthat blue box you're taking your
chances, and it's almostsurprising because you don't see
check writing as much today asyou did 10 or 15 years ago.
But I see the criminals havenot avoided that.
Right, Correct.
Wow, that's pretty unique.
(15:48):
So you know, of course we talkabout those red flags, things
that you should look for.
What are the things that youfind that consumers just you
know, I guess just not thinkingwhat are those things that
they're doing that just makesthem an easy target.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Shopping online through unsecure websites.
Everybody knows, at the top ofthe website, on the little
address bar on the left, there'sa lock Right and it's either
locked or unlocked.
If it's unlocked, don't do it.
Don't do it.
Don't put your information inthere.
Shop through either.
(16:26):
Shop locally in person.
But if you do order online, gothrough your major companies.
You know your Amazons, yourWalmarts.
Don't click a link on Facebookbecause you saw a product that
you like.
I was actually a victim of that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
About seven, eight years ago I'd ordered a bracelet
from my wife that I saw on aFacebook ad.
I actually got the bracelet in.
Everything seemed legit.
It was a good price notridiculously cheap to where it
would make you raise an eyebrow.
And then, about 18 months later, I noticed a charge on my
(17:11):
account and it was for like $5that I didn't recognize.
So I researched it and thiscompany that I bought that
bracelet from had set up an autodraft and I had been paying $5
a month since I bought thatbracelet for a year and a half.
So I called the bank and westopped it.
(17:33):
I was able to be reimbursed.
It wasn't, you know, anexorbitant amount of money $5 a
month, something that youwouldn't necessarily notice.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And that's what they were banking on Right.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And if I hadn't noticed it?
I mean, it took me a year and ahalf to notice it, but by that
time they had a little money,you know, and I'm sure I wasn't
the only one.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Of course, yeah, if you multiply that by all the
people that you know don't lookat their statements, and that's
definitely one of my pet peeves.
We have to learn to look at ourstatements and look at what
we're paying for, because, likeyou said, five dollars, one
dollar, it adds up over time andso they're making, you know,
tons of money on the other end,right?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Whereas if they'd have been charging me $50 or
$500 a month, I would haveimmediately noticed and they
wouldn't have got anything butsmall amounts goes under the
radar.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, definitely law enforcement, and there are
always scams with lawenforcement.
So can you tell us what to lookout for if somebody's trying to
pose as a law enforcementofficer?
Or those, like you said, theygive you those calls to say, hey
, we're going to arrest you ifyou don't take care of this debt
?
So what are some things that weshould know law enforcement
would never do?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Well, several things.
One with technology, nowadaysphone numbers can be spoofed.
Yes, you will get a.
You could get a phone call onyour cell phone and it will say
Baton Rouge City Police,389-2000, which is our main
number.
It looks legitimate and peopleget a call.
This is so-and-so with theBaton Rouge Police Department.
(19:05):
These are actual cases I've seenand they give the name of an
actual Baton Rouge policeofficer that the criminals found
in a newspaper or somethinglike that.
Generally, by the time it goesthrough, that officer has
already retired.
But they will call and say hey,you have a warrant or you will
(19:29):
have a warrant out for yourarrest for an unpaid traffic
ticket or whatever.
Baton Rouge police or any lawenforcement agency will never
call you and tell you if youdon't pay whatever money, you're
going to have a warrant out foryour arrest.
That's not something thathappens If you have unpaid
(19:50):
parking tickets.
So if you have unpaid parkingtickets, that's going to come
from the court system and youwill get a letter in the mail
and then you can go on the courtsystem website and look up and
see what's going on.
No police officers ever goingto call you and ask you for
money at no point in time, underany circumstance.
(20:13):
So as soon as you hear that,just hang up the phone.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And I think the people that have tickets out
there, as soon as they hear it,they freeze and they react
accordingly Correct.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yes, that's just not something that we do.
All right, so are there otherfinancial crimes that our
(20:48):
consumers should be aware of?
And then even further.
We're talking about consumerson an individual, but it's
because of individuals.
We had three or four cases andit goes back to speed and fear,
where an employee would get acall hey, this is, or get a text
(21:09):
this is your boss.
I need you to go buy these giftcards to pay off this vendor.
They do it, money's gone.
We've already talked about that.
We've also had cases where theywould call the cashier or
whoever happens to answer thephone hey, this is the FBI.
Your boss is under surveillancefor money laundering.
(21:29):
He's probably going to be goingto jail for a very long time If
you don't want to go with him.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I need you to prove that you're not involved in this
.
I need you to take all themoney out of the register, I
need you to take all the moneyout of the safe and I need you
to go to a Bitcoin machine anddeposit that money and they give
them the Bitcoin address tosend the money through.
Well, cryptocurrency it's stillfairly new, but it's been
(22:03):
around long enough to where lawenforcement can track
cryptocurrency to a certainextent.
But it's very easy for thecriminals to move that money
from wallet to wallet to walletand then it's gone.
So again, the FBI is not goingto call a business and say give
us all your money throughBitcoin.
(22:24):
Take time, think about it.
That doesn't make sense.
Be intentional with youractions, with your thoughts.
When the little hairs on theback of your neck stand up, just
stop.
Take a breath.
You're not about to go to jailif you don't do this and just
think about it.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Just plain old.
Use that common sense.
So you've been in lawenforcement for a while.
Can you tell us maybe someharrowing stories of financial
crimes that you know?
Maybe even that hair on yourhead stand up.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There are so many.
I mean, we've had religiousinstitutions in the city that
have been scammed for over amillion dollars, wow, wow, by
having lackluster securitymeasures on their accounts where
(23:20):
multiple people had access to,where their accounts and
passwords were written down andleft out in the open for anybody
to see.
We're a church, right, honestpeople here?
Exactly no, I think people justneed to know, like I mentioned
before, be intentional with whatyou do with your money.
You work hard for it.
(23:41):
When you are scammed, you knowthe Baton Rouge Police
Department or whateverjurisdiction you live in, those
officers are going to work hardto try and get your money back.
Work hard to try and get yourmoney back.
But some of these, these scamsthat the gift cards, the checks
(24:04):
there is a money trail, but themoney trail can only go so far.
We're here for the citizens,but the citizens have to be
responsible for their ownactions and just make smart
decisions, because the scams areeverywhere.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yes, they most definitely are.
So when they do contact lawenforcement to say, hey, I think
I've become a victim, what typeof information should they be
prepared to get, and is a policereport done every time somebody
is calling?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
If people call to report a crime, a police report
is always written.
They need to have the basicinformation about what happened
to the initial reporting officer.
Now, once that officer writeshis report, the case will get
forwarded to the appropriatedetective division for follow-up
.
In these cases, it will come tomy office.
It will come to my desk.
(24:55):
I'll look over the cases.
I'll assign it to one of mydetectives.
Now, when my detective callsyou, they're going to need your
account number.
They're going to need your name,date of birth, address, things
like that, and some victims area little wary of it because they
were just a victim and if theydon't feel comfortable giving
(25:16):
out that information over thephone, my detectives will come
out to your house and sit downwith you face to face.
You know, let them feel morecomfortable that way, because we
need that information for anysubpoenas or court orders that
we issues.
Hey, you know, five thousand000was wired from this PayPal
account.
(25:36):
We need to know where it went.
But we have to have thataccount number in order to get
the information.
So any information, date andtimes of the transactions, if
they have it, where thetransactions took place, because
the victims they can, you know,pull it up on their app or log
into their account.
And they can pull it up ontheir app or log into their
(25:56):
account and they can get thatinformation almost immediately,
Whereas if we do a court order,subpoena, it may take us two or
three weeks to get thatinformation, and speed is the
key for us at that point.
We're trying to work thesecases as quickly as possible
because the quicker we work it,the higher probability of
getting the funds back.
(26:17):
So once we find out the fundswent to this account, then we
issue another court order tothat bank.
If those funds are still there,we can reverse the transaction.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Now, as unfortunate as it is, a lot of times people
that are victims of crime, it'stheir own family members, people
that they know on an intimaterelationship, and you'll find
people oh you know, I want mymoney back, but then I don't
want to turn in my son, I don'twant to turn in my brother, I
don't want to turn in my uncle.
What advice or whatrecommendations do you make for
somebody that finds themselvesin that particular situation?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
They have to make a decision situation.
They have to make a decision.
We are a law enforcement agency.
We are not the mafia that goesshake people down Again.
We're not going to call you hey, you need to pay this money
back or you're going to go tojail.
That is not what we do.
If you would like us toinvestigate the case, we will
(27:15):
investigate the case and at thatpoint, if you find out that
it's your family member that didit, the victim always has the
opportunity to say okay, I don'twant to press charges.
The victim doesn't want topress charges.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
then that's the end of it.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
A lot of cases are coming in, not necessarily with
family members, but withcaregivers.
Family member that has adaytime caregiver come through
every day once a week.
Whatever.
Make sure it's a reputablecompany.
(28:08):
Check the BBB, do any researchyou can on them because they
have access to this familymember's house.
Five checks on the back of thecheckbook can be ripped out and
never noticed.
But now they have five checksbelonging to this individual or
they can get their debit cardlegitimately to go do their
grocery shopping for them.
Take a picture of the card.
(28:29):
Now they have access to theircard for any online shopping
they want to do.
So just make sure you're goingthrough a reputable company and
it goes back to keep an eye ontheir statements.
Make sure everything is addingup.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
So here's an interesting question Are there
any types of financial crimesthat individuals can commit and
not really realize?
Oh, that's illegal?
For example, when I do myclasses and we're talking about
writing checks and say forexample, you wrote me a check,
you legitimately wanted me tohave it, but you forgot to sign
it.
You just flew off on vacation.
You're going to be gone for twoweeks.
(29:02):
Can I sign that check for you?
Of course I know that I can't,but in my mind I'm thinking, oh,
but you know, sergeant Lashuawanted me to have this check.
He's not going to be back forthree weeks.
I need this money.
He knows I need it.
He can't come back and sign it.
I'm just going to go ahead and,you know, sign his name.
I don't even realize thatthat's a crime because you
(29:23):
legitimately gave me that money.
So are there any other crimes?
You know, in that case that'struly fraud, but something that
somebody could do and not evenrealize.
Oh, you're breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Mobile deposit.
Mobile deposit has become verypopular.
Yes, Not so much on anindividual but a family.
My wife does a job and she getspaid by a handwritten check.
She mobile deposits it.
Money goes into our account.
(29:54):
She leaves it on the counter.
I get up Saturday morning.
Oh that's her paycheck.
I take it, I go deposit it tothe bank.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You're doing her a favor.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Right, Not intentionally trying to defraud.
You know a bank or anythinglike that, but now we've just
deposited that check twice.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
So who's going to jail you or her?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Well, at that point it would be me the law
enforcement agencies could spotan honest mistake.
But I'm at the bank and they'relike, oh, this check's already
been cashed.
They call the police.
Hey, he's in the bank right nowand I'm sitting there, you know
, playing Candy Crush on myphone, waiting for them to
(30:37):
deposit the check.
But yeah, just be intentionalwith your mobile deposits.
Let each other know what'sgoing on.
We've also had a case where acheck was mobile deposited and
they were notified that thefunds would be available in 48
hours.
And they were notified that thefunds would be available in 48
hours.
Well, they had to pay their carinsurance that day.
(30:57):
So they canceled the mobiledeposit, brought it to the bank,
cashed it, got the money paidtheir auto insurance Well, the
cancellation of the mobiledeposit didn't go through.
It was again deposited.
But once the money showed up intheir account twice they call
us.
Hey, what do I do?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You know, like well, or they think it's just a
miracle.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Right, exactly so yeah, mobile depositing.
Just keep an eye on it.
Use common sense Again.
Be intentional with what you dowith your money.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
All right.
Well, this has been some goodinformation.
Hopefully it will help all ofour listeners handle their money
a little bit better.
Keep an eye on it so that itwill be safe, so that they can
reach those financial goals for2025.
Any last pieces of advice thatyou want to give our audience.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Just be safe.
I know I keep using the wordintentional, but that's the
world we live in now, where youneed to keep an eye on your
money.
Nobody is going to look out foryour money like you will.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you, and hopefully thiswill help you keep your money
safe so that you can financiallythrive in 2025.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Quick,
practical steps to strengthenyour financial future.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Let's start building.
Educate yourself on commonscams.
Stay up to date on currentfraud tactics and scams so you
can recognize the warning signsand protect yourself from
becoming a victim.
Next, strengthen your passwordsand security settings.
I know I hate this too, but useunique, strong passwords and
enable two-factor authenticationon all financial accounts to
(32:40):
help protect your accountagainst unauthorized access.
Now monitor your financialactivity regularly.
Regularly review your bankaccounts and credit card
statements for unusual activity.
If something is wrong, thesooner you catch it, the better
off you will be in the long run.
And finally, protect yourpersonal information.
Be mindful of where and withwhom you share personal details,
(33:04):
especially online, to reduceyour risk of identity theft.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you want.
Now here is your host, ms Kim.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Chapman, welcome to another edition of Money Matters
.
Yay, it is 2025.
How many of you are glad to seethe door close on 2024?
No matter what happened in 2024, it's in the past, and now we
want to focus on 2025 and,specifically, how to financially
thrive in 2025.
Now that can be a bitchallenging because, with AI,
(00:34):
scammers are everywhere and wewant to be able to keep your
money safe.
So today we're going to focus onfinancial crimes and with me I
have an expert, a specialisthere, sergeant Brian Lashua.
Lashua.
Right, correct, all right, andhe's going to help us.
You know, look at how can webetter protect ourselves and
protect our money.
(00:55):
I tell you, there are scamseverywhere.
I had him laughing.
The other day Somebody sent mea $10 e-card for Chick-fil-A.
I saw it and it took me lessthan a second to immediately
delete it because I'm just soafraid of being scammed.
And later that day I actuallyfound out it was a legitimate
e-gift card.
(01:15):
So hopefully he can help usfind out what are the clues to
look for, what's real, what'snot real and how can we keep our
money safe.
So let's start with how do wedefine financial crimes?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Financial crimes for the everyday person.
Is somebody else wanting yourmoney?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, that could be me and taking steps to illegally
obtain it.
All right, so that's what wedraw the line.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Right.
So financial crimes what we'reseeing you mentioned AI, which
is starting to come into play,but a lot of the financial
crimes that we deal with herelocally in Baton Rouge is the
same scams that these criminalshave been running for years.
They're just constantlyevolving and progressing.
(02:04):
As technology changes, thescams change a little bit, but
at its base, it's the same thing.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So what type of trends maybe, specifically, that
you see in the Baton Rouge area?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Lately.
A lot of it has been to do withtwo things One, the gift card
scam.
With two things.
(02:40):
One, the gift card scam.
People will receive a call orget a pop up ad on their
computer saying that theircomputer has been compromised or
that they have a family memberin jail in some city, and or
they have a warrant for theirarrest.
And whatever the scam scammerssay to get them on the hook,
they always want to be paid bygift cards or iTunes cards or
Amazon gift cards and theyconvince the victim to go to all
these different stores andpurchase $500 gift cards and
they'll get six, eight, 10 ofthem and scratch off the numbers
(03:06):
on the back and either textthem a photo of the card or give
them the PIN number, and assoon as you do that, that money
is gone.
What people have to understandis no legitimate business gets
paid by gift card.
That is your number one redflag.
Nobody takes gift cards aspayment, no legitimate business.
(03:29):
Tactics that they use generallyrevolve around speed or fear.
They're going to try to makeyou afraid, either for your
safety If you don't do this, awarrant will be issued for your
arrest within the hour or thespeed.
(03:50):
Hey, you need to stay on theline while this is going on.
You know, go ahead and go.
Do this now If you don'tPressure Right.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So what age group, or is there a particular person or
type of person that's targetedmore so than others?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I would say nobody.
No one group is targeted morethan the others, because a lot
of these scammers they don'tknow they're generally phishing
(04:28):
scams and it just withtechnology, you know things like
that, still pay their bills bychecks, which is a whole nother
conversation we need to have,but generally your elderly
people are the ones that fallvictim to it more often.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Generally your elderly people are the ones that
fall victim to it more often.
And I'd probably like to addbusy people, because I think
that sometimes, when we talkabout scams, we often have
Carmen Million with the BBB comein and talk about it.
We're such a busy generation.
We're multitasking, we're doingfive things at one time and in
a calm environment oh of courseyou can't scam me, right.
And in a calm environment, ohof course you can't scam me,
(05:03):
right.
But when I'm busy and I've gota headache and I've got a
deadline and the kids arescreaming and the train is
making me late, all it takes isjust that one little second,
that little window of time,right?
And so, speaking of time, youknow, of course we just got over
(05:31):
the holidays, so we like tothink that crime does ramp up,
at least in my opinion, aroundthat time of the year In your
world, in terms of you see thisall the time.
Is there any particular time ofthe year that you see more
crime, especially financialcrime, than other.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Financial crimes generally are steady year round.
Now we do see an uptick inspecific types of financial
crimes after certain events.
During the holidays we see morecredit card, debit card fraud
because a lot of people arespending more money online.
They're going to websites thatmay not be secure things of that
(05:59):
nature.
After a hurricane we see alarge uptick in residential
contractor fraud Contractorscoming in from out of state.
They're not licensed.
They do shoddy work.
They get paid up front.
They may work one or two daysand then you never see them
again.
So it depends on what's goingon at that time frame.
(06:20):
But financial crimes aregenerally constant throughout
the year.
It just changes depending onwhat's happening.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So if somebody feels that they've been a victim of a
financial crime, what do youthink is the first step?
What should they do immediatelyonce that light bulb goes off
and they're like oh my God, Ithink I've just been scammed or
somebody's stolen my money?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Call your bank, freeze your account.
Okay, if someone does.
Let's say, your credit card ordebit card is compromised on a
skimmer at a gas station, at agrocery store.
We've been seeing those pop uphere lately and the way the
skimmers generally work, theyhave Bluetooth skimmers to where
(07:03):
they can immediately downloadyour information.
A lot of the ones we're seeinglately they're on a particular
terminal in a grocery store, ata gas station and they're only
there for one or two days andthen the criminals come, pull
them off and then they candownload the information
manually.
Well, once you see a charge popup on your card for $30 at
Domino's Pizza in Florida, callyour bank, freeze your account,
(07:27):
because at that point it's only$30.
But you have the information toknow that your account is now
compromised, so cut it offbefore it gets bad.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Wow, so what type of resources are available for
people that have become victimsof crime?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Well again, the Better Business Bureau you
mentioned them earlier is agreat resource.
But call your local policedepartment, your local sheriff's
office, whatever jurisdictionyou happen to live in, and
report it.
I have very good detectivesthat work for me, uh, and we can
begin investigating it.
(08:05):
Uh, a lot of times we canconnect your crime to someone
else's crime.
Uh, especially nowadays,everything leaves a paper trail.
Yes, so if your account iscompromised, you lost X amount
of money.
We can find out where thatmoney went, and a lot of times
(08:28):
your money went to a bankaccount, to a 75-year-old lady
in Des Moines, iowa, and we callher, and she's actually a
victim as well.
Her account has beencompromised.
They're just using that tofunnel your money into her
account and then from heraccount to someone else's
account, and it may go throughsix or seven accounts before it
(08:51):
finally lands overseas somewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Generally, so we mentioned earlier, of course,
that sometimes it is the seniorcitizens that are a little bit
more vulnerable.
So what can family members doto protect their loved ones,
especially the older ones, frombecoming a victim of a financial
crime?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Stay in touch with them.
You know a lot of these elderlyvictims don't have active
family members in their life.
I mean they may have a daughteror a granddaughter that comes
checks on them once a week.
You know things like that.
But stay in contact with them,talk to them so they feel
comfortable letting you knowwhat's going on with their life,
especially like the romancescams that we see a lot of with
(09:33):
our elderly victims.
They may feel embarrassed andnot want to talk to you about
that by the time.
You know, keep active on theiraccounts.
You know, have access to theiraccounts just so you can keep
track of everything.
Uh, but by the time a lot ofthese family members realize
(09:55):
what's going on I mean, ahundred thousand dollars may be
missing and they're just tooembarrassed to say anything.
Or they may still believe thatthis person they've been
communicating with online trulyis the love of their life and
their golden years.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Perhaps right.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So how does law enforcement work with financial
institutions to help detectfinancial crime?
And then I've always wanted toknow how often do these
consumers ever get that moneyback?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Do these consumers ever get that money back?
So, as far as working withfinancial institutions, we have
monthly or every other monthmeetings with a lot of the
financial institutions locallythrough BRASBA, Talk about
trends that are going on andfinancial institutions really
(10:44):
work with us.
Well, you know we needinformation.
We go through the courts, weget our you know the appropriate
court orders or subpoenas, giveit to the financial
institutions and they give us,you know, whatever information
we think we may need.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
What was the second part of the question?
I guess we'll cut it rightthere.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's okay, that's know.
Let me go back and see what wasthe first part of the question.
Oh, detectives, crimes, andthen you know how often is money
recovered.
Ok, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Now, as far as victims getting their money
recovered, we do recover a largeamount of the funds.
That's good to know.
Sometimes it takes a while,especially if we are able to
make an arrest on a case.
It does have to go through thejudicial process, which you know
(11:39):
can take some time.
Yes, but restitution issomething that the judges do
order time, but restitution issomething that the judges do
order.
If it's not a large amount ofmoney, a lot of times the
financial institution will justreimburse the victim, but at
that point the bank is now at aloss, so the reimbursement would
(12:04):
be issued to the bank at alater date.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So outside of okay, we've got the online shopping
scams and definitely thefinancial institutions.
What are some other scams thatpeople should really be on the
lookout for and what are thosetypes of scams Like we talked
about?
Some things almost seem like itshould be common sense that, oh
, maybe I shouldn't be paying acompany with a gift card, or
(12:26):
perhaps you know why wouldsomebody be saying I have to go
to jail if I owe money.
So what are those scams thatmaybe are just so unique and
just kind of underhanded thateven you know, the highest IQ
person could get scammed?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
One of the ones that we have seen in the past few
years.
The criminals do a moretargeted research on their
victims.
They will find out throughsocial media or just public
records, your family members'information, and you mentioned
(13:05):
AI earlier.
They have called individualshey, your grandson was in a
wreck in New Orleans, Somebody'sin the hospital because of it?
He was drinking.
He needs $50,000 bail and ithas to be posted within the next
(13:27):
three hours.
And so the name that they giveis actually their grandson and
they know their grandson livesin New Orleans.
Well, they can't call theirgrandson to find out because
he's in jail to find out becausehe's in jail.
So they go to their bank, theydraw out the cash and then the
(13:51):
criminals tell them hey, I'msending a courier to pick up the
money and they will send eitheran Uber or an accomplice.
They'll go by the house,they'll pick up $50,000 in a
shoebox and leave, and thevictim is waiting to hear back
from their.
He said I don't know whatyou're talking about.
(14:12):
I haven't been in a wreck.
Wow.
I would like to talk aboutchecks.
Okay, that is a problemnationwide With the exterior
blue US postal mailboxes.
You should look at thosemailboxes as a shredder.
(14:33):
Oh, wow, if you're putting mailin that it may not come out.
If you do steal mail, mail yourchecks go inside, drop it at
the box inside.
That is just a simple metal boxoutside and these criminals
either have found a keysomewhere or just use a crowbar
(14:55):
and they're in and out of thatbox in under a minute and the
checks that you mail for $30 foryour Cox cable bill is being
cashed in Houston for $3,000.
Wow.
So definitely keep an eye onyour checks or pay your bills
online through whateverinstitution.
Again, the elderly generationdoesn't necessarily feel
(15:16):
comfortable with that.
They can do it.
They just don't feelcomfortable.
They would rather write out acheck, keep a log of it.
But those checks have all yourinformation.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
They have your name, your address, your bank account
number and once you put it inthat blue box you're taking your
chances, and it's almostsurprising because you don't see
check writing as much today asyou did 10 or 15 years ago.
But I see the criminals havenot avoided that.
Right, Correct.
Wow, that's pretty unique.
(15:48):
So you know, of course we talkabout those red flags, things
that you should look for.
What are the things that youfind that consumers just you
know, I guess just not thinkingwhat are those things that
they're doing that just makesthem an easy target.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Shopping online through unsecure websites.
Everybody knows, at the top ofthe website, on the little
address bar on the left, there'sa lock Right and it's either
locked or unlocked.
If it's unlocked, don't do it.
Don't do it.
Don't put your information inthere.
Shop through either.
(16:26):
Shop locally in person.
But if you do order online, gothrough your major companies.
You know your Amazons, yourWalmarts.
Don't click a link on Facebookbecause you saw a product that
you like.
I was actually a victim of that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
About seven, eight years ago I'd ordered a bracelet
from my wife that I saw on aFacebook ad.
I actually got the bracelet in.
Everything seemed legit.
It was a good price notridiculously cheap to where it
would make you raise an eyebrow.
And then, about 18 months later, I noticed a charge on my
(17:11):
account and it was for like $5that I didn't recognize.
So I researched it and thiscompany that I bought that
bracelet from had set up an autodraft and I had been paying $5
a month since I bought thatbracelet for a year and a half.
So I called the bank and westopped it.
(17:33):
I was able to be reimbursed.
It wasn't, you know, anexorbitant amount of money $5 a
month, something that youwouldn't necessarily notice.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And that's what they were banking on Right.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And if I hadn't noticed it?
I mean, it took me a year and ahalf to notice it, but by that
time they had a little money,you know, and I'm sure I wasn't
the only one.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Of course, yeah, if you multiply that by all the
people that you know don't lookat their statements, and that's
definitely one of my pet peeves.
We have to learn to look at ourstatements and look at what
we're paying for, because, likeyou said, five dollars, one
dollar, it adds up over time andso they're making, you know,
tons of money on the other end,right?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Whereas if they'd have been charging me $50 or
$500 a month, I would haveimmediately noticed and they
wouldn't have got anything butsmall amounts goes under the
radar.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, definitely law enforcement, and there are
always scams with lawenforcement.
So can you tell us what to lookout for if somebody's trying to
pose as a law enforcementofficer?
Or those, like you said, theygive you those calls to say, hey
, we're going to arrest you ifyou don't take care of this debt
?
So what are some things that weshould know law enforcement
would never do?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Well, several things.
One with technology, nowadaysphone numbers can be spoofed.
Yes, you will get a.
You could get a phone call onyour cell phone and it will say
Baton Rouge City Police,389-2000, which is our main
number.
It looks legitimate and peopleget a call.
This is so-and-so with theBaton Rouge Police Department.
(19:05):
These are actual cases I've seenand they give the name of an
actual Baton Rouge policeofficer that the criminals found
in a newspaper or somethinglike that.
Generally, by the time it goesthrough, that officer has
already retired.
But they will call and say hey,you have a warrant or you will
(19:29):
have a warrant out for yourarrest for an unpaid traffic
ticket or whatever.
Baton Rouge police or any lawenforcement agency will never
call you and tell you if youdon't pay whatever money, you're
going to have a warrant out foryour arrest.
That's not something thathappens If you have unpaid
(19:50):
parking tickets.
So if you have unpaid parkingtickets, that's going to come
from the court system and youwill get a letter in the mail
and then you can go on the courtsystem website and look up and
see what's going on.
No police officers ever goingto call you and ask you for
money at no point in time, underany circumstance.
(20:13):
So as soon as you hear that,just hang up the phone.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And I think the people that have tickets out
there, as soon as they hear it,they freeze and they react
accordingly Correct.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yes, that's just not something that we do.
All right, so are there otherfinancial crimes that our
(20:48):
consumers should be aware of?
And then even further.
We're talking about consumerson an individual, but it's
because of individuals.
We had three or four cases andit goes back to speed and fear,
where an employee would get acall hey, this is, or get a text
(21:09):
this is your boss.
I need you to go buy these giftcards to pay off this vendor.
They do it, money's gone.
We've already talked about that.
We've also had cases where theywould call the cashier or
whoever happens to answer thephone hey, this is the FBI.
Your boss is under surveillancefor money laundering.
(21:29):
He's probably going to be goingto jail for a very long time If
you don't want to go with him.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I need you to prove that you're not involved in this
.
I need you to take all themoney out of the register, I
need you to take all the moneyout of the safe and I need you
to go to a Bitcoin machine anddeposit that money and they give
them the Bitcoin address tosend the money through.
Well, cryptocurrency it's stillfairly new, but it's been
(22:03):
around long enough to where lawenforcement can track
cryptocurrency to a certainextent.
But it's very easy for thecriminals to move that money
from wallet to wallet to walletand then it's gone.
So again, the FBI is not goingto call a business and say give
us all your money throughBitcoin.
(22:24):
Take time, think about it.
That doesn't make sense.
Be intentional with youractions, with your thoughts.
When the little hairs on theback of your neck stand up, just
stop.
Take a breath.
You're not about to go to jailif you don't do this and just
think about it.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Just plain old.
Use that common sense.
So you've been in lawenforcement for a while.
Can you tell us maybe someharrowing stories of financial
crimes that you know?
Maybe even that hair on yourhead stand up.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There are so many.
I mean, we've had religiousinstitutions in the city that
have been scammed for over amillion dollars, wow, wow, by
having lackluster securitymeasures on their accounts where
(23:20):
multiple people had access to,where their accounts and
passwords were written down andleft out in the open for anybody
to see.
We're a church, right, honestpeople here?
Exactly no, I think people justneed to know, like I mentioned
before, be intentional with whatyou do with your money.
You work hard for it.
(23:41):
When you are scammed, you knowthe Baton Rouge Police
Department or whateverjurisdiction you live in, those
officers are going to work hardto try and get your money back.
Work hard to try and get yourmoney back.
But some of these, these scamsthat the gift cards, the checks
(24:04):
there is a money trail, but themoney trail can only go so far.
We're here for the citizens,but the citizens have to be
responsible for their ownactions and just make smart
decisions, because the scams areeverywhere.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yes, they most definitely are.
So when they do contact lawenforcement to say, hey, I think
I've become a victim, what typeof information should they be
prepared to get, and is a policereport done every time somebody
is calling?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
If people call to report a crime, a police report
is always written.
They need to have the basicinformation about what happened
to the initial reporting officer.
Now, once that officer writeshis report, the case will get
forwarded to the appropriatedetective division for follow-up
.
In these cases, it will come tomy office.
It will come to my desk.
(24:55):
I'll look over the cases.
I'll assign it to one of mydetectives.
Now, when my detective callsyou, they're going to need your
account number.
They're going to need your name,date of birth, address, things
like that, and some victims area little wary of it because they
were just a victim and if theydon't feel comfortable giving
(25:16):
out that information over thephone, my detectives will come
out to your house and sit downwith you face to face.
You know, let them feel morecomfortable that way, because we
need that information for anysubpoenas or court orders that
we issues.
Hey, you know, five thousand000was wired from this PayPal
account.
(25:36):
We need to know where it went.
But we have to have thataccount number in order to get
the information.
So any information, date andtimes of the transactions, if
they have it, where thetransactions took place, because
the victims they can, you know,pull it up on their app or log
into their account.
And they can pull it up ontheir app or log into their
(25:56):
account and they can get thatinformation almost immediately,
Whereas if we do a court order,subpoena, it may take us two or
three weeks to get thatinformation, and speed is the
key for us at that point.
We're trying to work thesecases as quickly as possible
because the quicker we work it,the higher probability of
getting the funds back.
(26:17):
So once we find out the fundswent to this account, then we
issue another court order tothat bank.
If those funds are still there,we can reverse the transaction.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Now, as unfortunate as it is, a lot of times people
that are victims of crime, it'stheir own family members, people
that they know on an intimaterelationship, and you'll find
people oh you know, I want mymoney back, but then I don't
want to turn in my son, I don'twant to turn in my brother, I
don't want to turn in my uncle.
What advice or whatrecommendations do you make for
somebody that finds themselvesin that particular situation?
Speaker 3 (26:53):
They have to make a decision situation.
They have to make a decision.
We are a law enforcement agency.
We are not the mafia that goesshake people down Again.
We're not going to call you hey, you need to pay this money
back or you're going to go tojail.
That is not what we do.
If you would like us toinvestigate the case, we will
(27:15):
investigate the case and at thatpoint, if you find out that
it's your family member that didit, the victim always has the
opportunity to say okay, I don'twant to press charges.
The victim doesn't want topress charges.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
then that's the end of it.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
A lot of cases are coming in, not necessarily with
family members, but withcaregivers.
Family member that has adaytime caregiver come through
every day once a week.
Whatever.
Make sure it's a reputablecompany.
(28:08):
Check the BBB, do any researchyou can on them because they
have access to this familymember's house.
Five checks on the back of thecheckbook can be ripped out and
never noticed.
But now they have five checksbelonging to this individual or
they can get their debit cardlegitimately to go do their
grocery shopping for them.
Take a picture of the card.
(28:29):
Now they have access to theircard for any online shopping
they want to do.
So just make sure you're goingthrough a reputable company and
it goes back to keep an eye ontheir statements.
Make sure everything is addingup.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
So here's an interesting question Are there
any types of financial crimesthat individuals can commit and
not really realize?
Oh, that's illegal?
For example, when I do myclasses and we're talking about
writing checks and say forexample, you wrote me a check,
you legitimately wanted me tohave it, but you forgot to sign
it.
You just flew off on vacation.
You're going to be gone for twoweeks.
(29:02):
Can I sign that check for you?
Of course I know that I can't,but in my mind I'm thinking, oh,
but you know, sergeant Lashuawanted me to have this check.
He's not going to be back forthree weeks.
I need this money.
He knows I need it.
He can't come back and sign it.
I'm just going to go ahead and,you know, sign his name.
I don't even realize thatthat's a crime because you
(29:23):
legitimately gave me that money.
So are there any other crimes?
You know, in that case that'struly fraud, but something that
somebody could do and not evenrealize.
Oh, you're breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Mobile deposit.
Mobile deposit has become verypopular.
Yes, Not so much on anindividual but a family.
My wife does a job and she getspaid by a handwritten check.
She mobile deposits it.
Money goes into our account.
(29:54):
She leaves it on the counter.
I get up Saturday morning.
Oh that's her paycheck.
I take it, I go deposit it tothe bank.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You're doing her a favor.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Right, Not intentionally trying to defraud.
You know a bank or anythinglike that, but now we've just
deposited that check twice.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
So who's going to jail you or her?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Well, at that point it would be me the law
enforcement agencies could spotan honest mistake.
But I'm at the bank and they'relike, oh, this check's already
been cashed.
They call the police.
Hey, he's in the bank right nowand I'm sitting there, you know
, playing Candy Crush on myphone, waiting for them to
(30:37):
deposit the check.
But yeah, just be intentionalwith your mobile deposits.
Let each other know what'sgoing on.
We've also had a case where acheck was mobile deposited and
they were notified that thefunds would be available in 48
hours.
And they were notified that thefunds would be available in 48
hours.
Well, they had to pay their carinsurance that day.
(30:57):
So they canceled the mobiledeposit, brought it to the bank,
cashed it, got the money paidtheir auto insurance Well, the
cancellation of the mobiledeposit didn't go through.
It was again deposited.
But once the money showed up intheir account twice they call
us.
Hey, what do I do?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You know, like well, or they think it's just a
miracle.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Right, exactly so yeah, mobile depositing.
Just keep an eye on it.
Use common sense Again.
Be intentional with what you dowith your money.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
All right.
Well, this has been some goodinformation.
Hopefully it will help all ofour listeners handle their money
a little bit better.
Keep an eye on it so that itwill be safe, so that they can
reach those financial goals for2025.
Any last pieces of advice thatyou want to give our audience.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Just be safe.
I know I keep using the wordintentional, but that's the
world we live in now, where youneed to keep an eye on your
money.
Nobody is going to look out foryour money like you will.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you, and hopefully thiswill help you keep your money
safe so that you can financiallythrive in 2025.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Quick,
practical steps to strengthenyour financial future.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Let's start building.
Educate yourself on commonscams.
Stay up to date on currentfraud tactics and scams so you
can recognize the warning signsand protect yourself from
becoming a victim.
Next, strengthen your passwordsand security settings.
I know I hate this too, but useunique, strong passwords and
enable two-factor authenticationon all financial accounts to
(32:40):
help protect your accountagainst unauthorized access.
Now monitor your financialactivity regularly.
Regularly review your bankaccounts and credit card
statements for unusual activity.
If something is wrong, thesooner you catch it, the better
off you will be in the long run.
And finally, protect yourpersonal information.
Be mindful of where and withwhom you share personal details,
(33:04):
especially online, to reduceyour risk of identity theft.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building
Blocks.
Stay on track with yourfinancial journey.
Subscribe to the Money Matterspodcast and visit
neighborsfcuorg slash financialwellness for more tools to help
you build a strong financialfuture.
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