Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pleasure to welcome Gene Kyle back to the program. Gene
a Special Agent in charge the Omaha FBI office.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Jane, good morning, Good morning, Jerry, good to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You hate that word too, like a lot of people do, moist.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It is a word I've never chosen to use it
myself yet.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well you may have heard, and Terry's mentioned in the
news that the FBI, and I guess this is nationally Gene,
but certainly there's a focus here on cracking down on
fraudsters and scammers and also just as important as helping
people understand what they're dealing with and how to avoid it.
(00:38):
And the numbers are astonishing. I saw that there were
I mean that the numbers are over a billion, over
a billion and a half dollars and losses what just
in the first half of this year in this country, right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
One point six billion and losses just from January to
May of this year. And that's already that a three
hundred million dollar increased in the year before. Anyway, it's
not just not right here in our region. Last year,
Nebraska victims reported over forty million dollars of losses due
to frauds and scams because and I are reported sixty
million dollars. So we see this as a growing problem
(01:11):
we really want to bring attention to and help people
avoid become a victim to these types of online.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, it's astonishing to me that the increase in just
the course of a year. What are the Are the
scammers getting better? Are people getting more vulnerable? What's the
issue here?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You know what it is is. You know, these scams
have been around for a long time, but the criminals
are getting better and better at who they're targeting, how
they're targeting, how they're using technology to target people, the
methods they're using your pain funds from people in ways
that make it harder and harder for us to stop
and make victims more vulnerable. So what we see is, like,
(01:49):
you know, the common theme to these scams is that
the victim is contacted out of the blue, and the
criminal creates some kind of heightened emotional states fear or
sense of excitement about an opportunity, and then they create
some kind of urgency, co working the person to act
quickly before they have time to take a minute and
think that perhaps this could be a scam or a fraud.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
One of the issues that has been so frustrating, and
we've talked with Jim Hager to need a better business
bureau about this. Is a lot of these online scams
you can't you can't prosecute them because you can't trace someone.
Even if you can, they're they're operating out of the country.
Is there any progress in that area?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Listen. We encourage people to report thief as soon as possible,
either by calling us or going online to IC three
dot gover or tips that FBI dot gov. For a
couple of reasons. One, if it's reported quickly enough, we
can sometimes help feed the stolen money and return it
to the victim and make them whole, not always, but sometimes.
But two, the FBI also has a vast network of
(02:49):
agents in other countries. We've offted an over seventy countries,
and we work very closely with foreign law enforcement to
bring people to justice, whether that means arresting them there
and extraditing them back to the US, providing information for
the arrests overseas, denying their ability to operate, and imposing
some sort of risk and consequences. But just because the
(03:10):
target is overseas does not mean in any way it
will stop bart's pursuit of them and stop our mission
to keep them from perpetrating these schemes in these scams.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Talking with the g and Coyl Special Agent in charge
of the Omaha FBI office, and the title, for lack
of a better word, of this campaign, you just lost
gene to take a beat. And that's probably the most
important thing, right. In other words, if somebody calls you
and you're feeling pressure, don't do anything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's exactly right. All we're asking people is if you
get a call or an email, a letter out of
the blue, then you didn't expect stop take them in
it independently, Verify where that came from, you know, go
online and look up the actual number for that bank
of that institution. Talk to a friend, run it by
your financial institution. Just take them in it. If people
can just take that minute and think and run it
(04:02):
by someone else, I think they can save themselves a
lot of english and heartache later.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
On, no doubt. And they're so good. I mean I
I get one at least every week, either on a
text or an email, that you would swear are legitimate.
But because we've been conditioned, if you're paying attention we've
been conditioned to know that they're not legitimate. I mean,
nobody's contacting me from the United States Postal Service to
(04:29):
tell me that I have a bogus ZIP code and
I need to contact them right away, all right, but
it looks official, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, that's exactly right, Gary. You know some of these scams,
what you're talking about is a week call an imposter scam,
people calling them behalf of a government agency. They're never
going to do that, But if you're not sure, just
take the call, take the information, then go online and
contact them through another means, and if it's legitimate, you'll
find it out. And if it's not, you'll find that
out too. But these criminals are very very good at
(04:59):
this and the the numbers game, and with the advent
of technology like AI, they're able to really do this
to scale. That makes it easy for sort of an
average criminal, a not very talented criminal, to use some
pre certificated technology to launch these schemes and take advantage
of a vulnerable populations quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What's the best contact if somebody gets gets taken or
they think they're getting taken, how can they contact you?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Sure? They could call the FBI Omaha Field Office directly
at four zero two four nine three eight six eight eight,
go online to tips dot FBI dot gov or with
an online scam. The best thing they can do is
actually go to our website IC three dot gov that
stands for Internet climb Fromplaint Center. But I see three
dot gov. File a report and we'll take a big,
(05:44):
thorough look at it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Great, it was that four nine eight six eight eight.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Is that the you got it?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, not to put you on the spot, but just
before we run, can you shed any light on what
is probably going on relative to this latest assassination attempt
of President Trump? In other words, what would your agency,
not locally, but what would the FBI be doing? Now
they've got the guy and he's not ever coming out
of president again because he's attempted to assassinate the president.
(06:12):
But assuming that there's somebody behind him or working with him,
what would the FBI be doing right now on that?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, I appreciate the question. You know, it's an open
investigation and we're working very closely with our partners to
pursue every possible lead. So I can't comment on that investigation,
but I can say, in general, is any time we
receive a threat, especially a threat to a public official,
we will exhaust no end in tracking down the information
ensure we sort of have the full universe of who
(06:40):
was involved. And that's true with any terrorist case. We
work any threat to public official and we take those
very seriously, and we will work to identify any links
they have to any other people or groups may also
be of interest to the FBI.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Do you think Director Ray the agency at large should
be more transparent. A lot of people are concerned that
they're not hearing much, they're not getting the full story
from the FBI.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I think the FBI is incredibly transparent. I think we're
doing a great job. I think, you know, many pending
investigations requires some measure of covertin is to pursue the investigation.
But the FBI is devoted to transparency and accountability and such.
You know here in Omaha, one thing we just started
doing this September. We've now outfitted every one of our
(07:27):
agents in the Brasson Eyowa with bodyworm cameras. So for
most of our pre planned operations arrest searches, we'll be
wearing cameras. And the reason we're doing that is because
of our devotion to transparency and accountability for the community
we serve.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Man I hope we find out more about this guy, Jane.
Thanks appreciate the time always.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thanks Garry, have a great day you too.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You're Jim cal Special Agent in charge Omaha FBI Office
here
Pleasure to welcome Gene Kyle back to the program. Gene
a Special Agent in charge the Omaha FBI office.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Jane, good morning, Good morning, Jerry, good to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You hate that word too, like a lot of people do, moist.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It is a word I've never chosen to use it
myself yet.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well you may have heard, and Terry's mentioned in the
news that the FBI, and I guess this is nationally Gene,
but certainly there's a focus here on cracking down on
fraudsters and scammers and also just as important as helping
people understand what they're dealing with and how to avoid it.
(00:38):
And the numbers are astonishing. I saw that there were
I mean that the numbers are over a billion, over
a billion and a half dollars and losses what just
in the first half of this year in this country, right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
One point six billion and losses just from January to
May of this year. And that's already that a three
hundred million dollar increased in the year before. Anyway, it's
not just not right here in our region. Last year,
Nebraska victims reported over forty million dollars of losses due
to frauds and scams because and I are reported sixty
million dollars. So we see this as a growing problem
(01:11):
we really want to bring attention to and help people
avoid become a victim to these types of online.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, it's astonishing to me that the increase in just
the course of a year. What are the Are the
scammers getting better? Are people getting more vulnerable? What's the
issue here?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You know what it is is. You know, these scams
have been around for a long time, but the criminals
are getting better and better at who they're targeting, how
they're targeting, how they're using technology to target people, the
methods they're using your pain funds from people in ways
that make it harder and harder for us to stop
and make victims more vulnerable. So what we see is, like,
(01:49):
you know, the common theme to these scams is that
the victim is contacted out of the blue, and the
criminal creates some kind of heightened emotional states fear or
sense of excitement about an opportunity, and then they create
some kind of urgency, co working the person to act
quickly before they have time to take a minute and
think that perhaps this could be a scam or a fraud.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
One of the issues that has been so frustrating, and
we've talked with Jim Hager to need a better business
bureau about this. Is a lot of these online scams
you can't you can't prosecute them because you can't trace someone.
Even if you can, they're they're operating out of the country.
Is there any progress in that area?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Listen. We encourage people to report thief as soon as possible,
either by calling us or going online to IC three
dot gover or tips that FBI dot gov. For a
couple of reasons. One, if it's reported quickly enough, we
can sometimes help feed the stolen money and return it
to the victim and make them whole, not always, but sometimes.
But two, the FBI also has a vast network of
(02:49):
agents in other countries. We've offted an over seventy countries,
and we work very closely with foreign law enforcement to
bring people to justice, whether that means arresting them there
and extraditing them back to the US, providing information for
the arrests overseas, denying their ability to operate, and imposing
some sort of risk and consequences. But just because the
(03:10):
target is overseas does not mean in any way it
will stop bart's pursuit of them and stop our mission
to keep them from perpetrating these schemes in these scams.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Talking with the g and Coyl Special Agent in charge
of the Omaha FBI office, and the title, for lack
of a better word, of this campaign, you just lost
gene to take a beat. And that's probably the most
important thing, right. In other words, if somebody calls you
and you're feeling pressure, don't do anything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's exactly right. All we're asking people is if you
get a call or an email, a letter out of
the blue, then you didn't expect stop take them in
it independently, Verify where that came from, you know, go
online and look up the actual number for that bank
of that institution. Talk to a friend, run it by
your financial institution. Just take them in it. If people
can just take that minute and think and run it
(04:02):
by someone else, I think they can save themselves a
lot of english and heartache later.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
On, no doubt. And they're so good. I mean I
I get one at least every week, either on a
text or an email, that you would swear are legitimate.
But because we've been conditioned, if you're paying attention we've
been conditioned to know that they're not legitimate. I mean,
nobody's contacting me from the United States Postal Service to
(04:29):
tell me that I have a bogus ZIP code and
I need to contact them right away, all right, but
it looks official, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, that's exactly right, Gary. You know some of these scams,
what you're talking about is a week call an imposter scam,
people calling them behalf of a government agency. They're never
going to do that, But if you're not sure, just
take the call, take the information, then go online and
contact them through another means, and if it's legitimate, you'll
find it out. And if it's not, you'll find that
out too. But these criminals are very very good at
(04:59):
this and the the numbers game, and with the advent
of technology like AI, they're able to really do this
to scale. That makes it easy for sort of an
average criminal, a not very talented criminal, to use some
pre certificated technology to launch these schemes and take advantage
of a vulnerable populations quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What's the best contact if somebody gets gets taken or
they think they're getting taken, how can they contact you?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Sure? They could call the FBI Omaha Field Office directly
at four zero two four nine three eight six eight eight,
go online to tips dot FBI dot gov or with
an online scam. The best thing they can do is
actually go to our website IC three dot gov that
stands for Internet climb Fromplaint Center. But I see three
dot gov. File a report and we'll take a big,
(05:44):
thorough look at it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Great, it was that four nine eight six eight eight.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Is that the you got it?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Okay, not to put you on the spot, but just
before we run, can you shed any light on what
is probably going on relative to this latest assassination attempt
of President Trump? In other words, what would your agency,
not locally, but what would the FBI be doing? Now
they've got the guy and he's not ever coming out
of president again because he's attempted to assassinate the president.
(06:12):
But assuming that there's somebody behind him or working with him,
what would the FBI be doing right now on that?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, I appreciate the question. You know, it's an open
investigation and we're working very closely with our partners to
pursue every possible lead. So I can't comment on that investigation,
but I can say, in general, is any time we
receive a threat, especially a threat to a public official,
we will exhaust no end in tracking down the information
ensure we sort of have the full universe of who
(06:40):
was involved. And that's true with any terrorist case. We
work any threat to public official and we take those
very seriously, and we will work to identify any links
they have to any other people or groups may also
be of interest to the FBI.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Do you think Director Ray the agency at large should
be more transparent. A lot of people are concerned that
they're not hearing much, they're not getting the full story
from the FBI.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I think the FBI is incredibly transparent. I think we're
doing a great job. I think, you know, many pending
investigations requires some measure of covertin is to pursue the investigation.
But the FBI is devoted to transparency and accountability and such.
You know here in Omaha, one thing we just started
doing this September. We've now outfitted every one of our
(07:27):
agents in the Brasson Eyowa with bodyworm cameras. So for
most of our pre planned operations arrest searches, we'll be
wearing cameras. And the reason we're doing that is because
of our devotion to transparency and accountability for the community
we serve.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Man I hope we find out more about this guy, Jane.
Thanks appreciate the time always.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thanks Garry, have a great day you too.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You're Jim cal Special Agent in charge Omaha FBI Office
here
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