September 2, 2025 • 26 mins
KTLA & KFI tech reporter Rich DeMuro joins the show for ‘Tech Tuesday.’ Today, Rich talks about California refund text scam, Gmail hack headlines not true, free iPhone storage app, Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, and Amazon Prime benefit ending. 70 new food items each week? South Korea is the convenience store capitol of the world. More older Americans are aging alone… who will take care of them?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
CAMFI Am six forty Handle Here, good morning on a
Tuesday morning, September two. It is time for Tech Tuesday,
which we do every Tuesday with Rich Dumurrow. Rich of
of course live Rich on Tech every Saturday here at
eleven o'clock to two pm. He's on KTLA every day,
(00:28):
Instagram at Rich on Tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Good morning, Rich, Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Bill. All right, let's get right into it. And another scam.
Seems like we always talk about scams, but it's I
think it's really important as to what's happening. This one
is the California refund the tech scam.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So I wanted to tell us about it. And how
do we know it's a scam?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, you know it's a scam because well the best
part is so basically, let me just explain with the SCAMMA.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So you get a text message. A lot of people
are getting this right now.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
It says the State of California Franchise Tax Board, your
tax refund claim has been processed and approved. Please provide
your accurate collection information before and they give a date
we will deposit the money into your bank account or
this is the best part, email paper check within one
to two working days. I don't know how they do that,
but anyway, and then they give you a website, and
(01:26):
the dead giveaway is the website looks similar, but it's
of course a little bit off. And what they're trying
to do is capture not only your social they go
right for that, your personal information, your credit card information,
maybe your bank information. And the California Tax Franchise Tax
Board says, look, we are not going to contact you
(01:47):
via text message. We see this as going around. They're
basically trying to steal your personal information and maybe even
file fake tax returns with your information. So it's all bogus.
We won't contact you via text and went in doubt obviously,
just go to the standard website, franchise Tax Board or
the irs.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah. No, I understand that they can get pretty sophisticated.
I'll talk about what I got five times yesterday. But
why would they want your credit card information when you
are getting a refund?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I know, And this is what makes it so silly.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And by the way, I click through all these scams
just to see what the scam is, but I don't
recommend you do that, and so I was that was
a you know, it's like the things that they ask
for make you kind of scratch your head. You're like,
hold on, I get why you want my social because
you know you need to look up my info, but
obviously they're trying to steal that. But then at the
end when they're asking for your credit card to give
(02:44):
you a refund, it's like, hold on, I've never heard
of the State of California or the irs requesting a
credit card number to give a refund. Now they may
you may be able to pay with your credit card,
but not directly. And so long story short, you see
this stuff and if you actually follow through with.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It, at the end you realize like, oh my gosh,
what did I.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Just do because this is completely bogus. But at the
same time, these websites are building. They look more and
more realistic every single time, and if you're not on guard,
you may fall for it, which of course people do.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
That's why they do this.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So here is what happened yesterday five times. And I
don't know why they keep on doing it. Well I do, okay.
FedEx sent me a text saying we have a package
for you, and you have to sign for it, and
we tried delivering it and we couldn't. And click on
to this website and it was fed x I think
(03:41):
it was return at FedEx.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
At FedEx dot. And then there was.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
A whole series of numbers, the kind that you get
when you know that you're being protected. And it must
have been thirty or forty different numbers, you know, the
lowercase upper case numbers.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That's sort of I.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Mean, that's wouldn't you see that instantly and say this
is crazy?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You know it's a fake website.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well you do, but there are you know, these are
a numbers game, and there's plenty of people out there
that just don't look.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
They're less tech savvy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
And it's sad actually because they're the ones that are
preyed upon it. It's actually, Bill, it's actually the young
people and the older people, the people in the middle
that sort of like understand this stuff are fine. But
it's like it's this wide range of like young and older,
less tech savvy because the young people haven't been experienced.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
It's like I'm sure you know more about this than
I do, but like, you know, it's that old adage
where like if you're the first time you're seeing something,
you don't know about it yet, and so you're tricked.
It's like the first time, like we talked about time
shares and all this stuff, it's like you fall for
it because you've never been exposed to it. In your
middle age, you've been exposed to it, but by the
older age, you're just like, I don't really understand this
stuff anymore. So look, at the end of the day,
(05:01):
the reason why I share these on my Instagram is
to let people see what's out there, let them understand
the different ways we are being attacked on a daily
basis with these things. And the more you know and
the more you see them, the more you can identify
the bogus stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Hey, is there a real way to shut these down?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I have these companies been able to do that or
the government or enforcement agency to be able to shut
these down? Or are the scammers always going to be
ahead of any attempt to deal with them. Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I think they're always always going to be ahead. I mean,
I think scams have been going on as long as
we've had technology, and anytime you kind of shut something down,
they figure out a new way around it, and it's
just the reality. It's a cat and mouse game, and
it's just it's been going on forever. And that's why
I think education and learning the signs of these things
(05:52):
is the best way to do it, Because Bill, I mean,
I get emails where I'm sitting there for a couple
of minutes thinking, Okay, is this real?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Is this? And again I always talk about this on
the radio show.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
These scam artists they take what we know, right, like
how many times have you gotten a text from your
bank that says, hey, we just had a transaction at Target?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Was that you?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
And you have to reply why or n yes or no?
That really happens from Chase and these other bank accounts.
But the scam artists take that and they take that
same exact phrasing and they try to trick us into
saying was that you? Now, we just texted you a code,
give us that code number, and it's like wait a second,
hold on, I'm all you know, you're all turned around,
So you just have to slow down and just really
(06:34):
think about whether this could be a scam.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Or not, as opposed to just saying yes or.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
No, yeah exactly, Like sometimes I don't even reply to
those kind of things. So I'm like, well, I'm not
you know whatever. I'll use a different card right now
and I'll figure out this later. But there have been
times when you get these texts or these emails where
you're like hold on, you know, like my mom will
send them to me, or people, well, I mean now
it's like every follower that I have sends me these things,
and I'm sitting there like analyzing, Okay, the email address
(07:00):
looks pretty good. Like sometimes You'll get an email from
like facebookmail dot com and I'm like, hold on, that
could be real, you know, you know, And so you
have to understand like all the different aspects that they
use to try to trick you and find one that
is like Okay, I got it. It's the URL, or
it's the email address, or it's the language in the text,
or it's the bottom of the foot or of the
(07:21):
email whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Okay, Amazon Prime benefit. What benefit do I have because
I'm the anahom, I'm Amazon Prime plus whatever they held
they're offering. What am I get it getting that I'm
not going to get?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Well, so here's the deal you used to be able
to This was kind of almost like under.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The radar feature.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But you used to be able to share your Amazon
Prime benefits with pretty much anyone that you invited. So,
for instance, I had pretty much all my family members
sharing my free shipping, and I would pay the fee
and they would get the benefit. And that was called
the It was called the Prime invite. Let's see, I
(08:05):
gotta get the exact term here. Let's see here, I'm
just writing a whole thing about it. Okay, it's called
the Prime Invite program. That's what it used to be called.
And so basically, if you were in the know, you
would share your Prime with someone else, and it could
be pretty much anyone that Amazon did not care. And
this went on for many many years, and as of
(08:25):
this week, they now say we're ending that program, and
you can still share your Prime benefits with someone, but
they have to live in your house. So the way
I see this bill is it's kind of like how
Netflix and all the other streaming services started cracking down
on password sharing. Now Amazon is cracking down on Prime
benefits sharing. And so if you are one of these
(08:49):
people that was getting Prime for free for many many
years from a friend, no more, No more, dice October one,
twenty twenty five. That all ends, and Amazon is giving
you fifth teen dollars for the first year of your
Prime if you want to sign up for your own account,
But of course after that it's going to jump up
to the regular price of one hundred and thirty nine dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
It almost seems like you've got the suits sitting around
a table and going, all right.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
What are we gonna do to create more revenue.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Let's get rid of the two bags for free concept,
Let's charge extra for an exit seat. Let's really charge
for Amazon Prime or Netflix? How much is Netflix now
eighty dollars a month or something completely insane. It is
not stopping where it's every moment they're trying to get
(09:39):
revenue and they're making a fortune, aren't they.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Oh of course?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I mean well Netflix is Amazon is Yeah, I mean look,
and what you're talking about is correct. It's like they
played nice while they were in the growth phase and
while people are still getting used to paying you know,
one hundred and thirty nine dollars a year for free
shipping and all this. It's like in Netflix getting used
to watching you know, old, tired, boring movies on a
(10:05):
TV screen.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Oh sorry do I say that? And originals?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
But you know, now that everyone's used to these things,
it's like, hold on, let's crank it up. How can
we squeeze more revenue out of these people, because by
the way, we are answering to billion dollar budgets and
also a board that wants to make money on our
stock and so yeah, at the end of the day,
we're paying for all this stuff. Now, I will tell
you there's a report today from Reuters saying that Amazon
(10:31):
did not sign up as many people as they thought
they would during Prime Day, and so it wasn't a
ton less. It was like one hundred and sixteen thousand
fewer than the year before. But again, you know, they
want to sign people up, that's why they do Prime
Day and that you know, I don't know if the
two are related, but it's just so convenient that Amazon
is like, Okay, we figured out all the ways to
(10:53):
get people to sign up for Prime. Now let's kind
of smoke out some of these people that are you know,
that are just sharing their benefits with other people.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Hey, I have a question the model where Amazon and
we return Amazon here like crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
As a matter of fact, my wife has a stitch fit.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Or whatever the hell they call it, where the entire
model is returning the package back. Here's a bunch of
clothes to do what you want with them, keep the
ones you want and ship the ones you don't want
back to us, and you go down to the UPS
store drop it off and they do their scan thing
and they're done. Who makes money on that? Does UPS
(11:36):
make money on that? Or they paid enough for I
don't understand the business model on that one.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, on stitch Fix, the business model is, you know,
they hope you forget about the clothes and never return them.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's right, I hope, yeah, And I understand that, But
how does it work with UPS because I don't understand
that business model?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Yeah, so a couple so I you know, this is
the nerd in me. So I asked the UPS store
when I do things like that? Because my wife did
sign up for stitch Fix. There's also another one she
signed up for called like Numbly or something like that,
which they basically you rent your clothes every month, and
of course they make money based on my wife kept
the same clothes for two months. I was like, well,
wait a second, you just paid double what you should
(12:20):
have because you know, the name of the game is
to return these clothes as soon as possible anyway, So
they have a deal with UPS of course for the
shipping right, and the company pays them to ship these
things out and on the return side, so if you
return anything through UPS whatever, the store that collects it
basically gets like a quarter, like a twenty five cents
(12:41):
or fifty cents for handling that return. And you know
UPS is making money too on the back end with
the retailer, but it's all sort of like negotiated how
much they're getting for that. It's not like the retail
rates that you and I would pay if we ship
something back. But you know, it's big business, and I
think UPS and FedEx, well, FedEx never really did Amazon.
(13:01):
UPS did, and remember they lost like a huge amount
of business because Amazon did their own shipping now.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So but I don't I don't think they're hurting.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, when I ship something and I have to pay
for it UPS, it's like fourteen dollars, Yeah, twelve dollars,
And you're telling me they get a quarter from Amazon
to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, that's just the store, so the store gets it.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Amazon obviously has some exclusive you know, some back end
deal that's i'm sure a very good price for the returns,
but no, the store that because I always wondered, like, hey,
if I bring this to like some you know, not
just a UPS store, but some random PO box store, right, like,
what's their interest in dealing with my return and having
to like hold this box and give it to the
(13:47):
UPS people? And so I asked them and they basically said, like, yeah,
we get like a tiny you know whatever. It is
a small a tiny amount for each return that we process,
and so it's in their best interest to take those
because they do make some money on it, not a ton,
but yeah. But the Amazon thing, they I find it
fascinating that Amazon was able to ramp up their own
(14:09):
logistics and now you know, almost every package you get
from them comes from their own trucks, which is quite incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, and I love the technology at the UPS store.
I mean it takes two seconds walk in, they scan it,
they take it, and you're walking out the door literally
in thirty seconds. Right.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, No, it's incredible. And Amazon, you know, when they
do returns at their own stores, and I'm not sure
if the UPS is like this, but I think they
are they put everything into much bigger boxes. So when
you return one thing, they're not just returning it to Amazon,
you know, individually. They sort of group together a whole
bunch of returns so that it's cheaper to ship everything back.
(14:51):
You know, ten items in one box versus ten different boxes.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And then of course you have that small box and
that mass of moving box.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
And yeah, this is completely crazy. Rich, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
We'll talk again next Tuesday. Always say a pleasure. Now,
convenience stores they're all over the world. You get cigarettes
and sodas, and you can pick up laundry detergents. I
picked up milk at a convenience store a couple of
days ago. Now, how about going to a convenience store.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
In South Korea? What can you get?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
How about single malt whiskies eight hundred dollars, French wines,
twenty four carrot gold bars. They have shampoo and conditioner,
not the bottles, but refill stations.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You can get TVs.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You can get dining instant noodles, a noodle bar with
more than two hundred varieties, or of Ramion.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Whatever they have. Ramon is mean ramen.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Maybe that's done, says Ramion. But it's probably ramen, and
you might want to go there and have them wash
and dry your clothes, sign up for a new debit card.
These stores are well, they're known for instantizing of food
(16:25):
where nearly every conceivable dish has turned into some kind
of a packaged meal, spaghetti, Japanese oudon, fried rice that
you squeeze out of a tube. Now that gets kind
of interesting. How do you get fried rice out of
a tube? Well, they somehow are able to do it.
(16:47):
And convenience stores in Korea, well, it's now a twenty
five billion dollar industry and these food products are they're
coming out at a staggering pace. Up to seventy new
food items hit the shelves every single week. Now can
you imagine going to a convenience store where you got
(17:10):
seventy new items that come out every single week?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And the way it works.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
In South Korea the food retail market, if you're not
quick to change, and I mean change immediately. Chiy die In,
who says her obsession with convenience stores is decades old.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
She's written about it.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
She's known as a national media expert, she's on social media,
and she is a convenience.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Store critic author of three books.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
About convenience stores, figure that one out, and she says,
it's all about being diverse and fast and I mean lightning.
So every Friday she goes to convenience stores, a whole
bunch of them near her house, just to keep up
what's new. Over the last two gates two decades, she
(18:11):
estimates she has consumed about eight hundred different varieties of
convenience store Sam got sam Got gim bop.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You want to tell me what that is? Neil delicious, okay?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
And the difference between the two ramen and the one's
Korean and one is Japanese, one is made fresh, one
is dried, and then you.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Add hot water.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So the difference between the two differences between Sam Got
gimbo either okay, but there you can either get that
as a shelter item or a purebread item of the
different ways.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
It's a different thing.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
It's not like convenience stores here where you're just going
in to grab you know, I don't know, milk or
something like that and cigarettes. It's kind of a lifestyle thing,
and you know, it really has to imitate these items
all the damn time.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
She she says, she's consumed, She's consumed eight hundred varieties
of that convenience store sam got gimbop, And this is
what it is. It's rice wrapped in dried seaweed, and
it is a staple in South Korea, the Korean convenience
(19:32):
stores where you can get anything, and I mean anything,
single malt whiskeys, eight hundred dollars, French wines, gold bars,
refill stations for shampoo and conditioner, televisions, dining, instant noodle bar,
(19:53):
two hundred varieties of ramon. I mean, it's just crazy,
and so even a squid game, I had a convenience
store in it. One reviewer in a TikTok video, and
this is why it exploded. I talked about giant cheese,
sausage and only eating food from a Korean convenience store.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Now the meat.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The meat includes a blue lemonade that comes to the
plastic pouch, three XL spicy tuna mayo, samgak gimbop. As
I said, that was rice wrapped in seaweed, and a
carbonara fly flavored bull dack, whatever the hell that is
(20:40):
fire chicken. Actually, it's a cup of noodles, is what
it is. And so South Korean. These reconvenience stores, which
are massive, are expanding into nearby countries Mongolia, Malaysia see
you one of the country's leading operators. More than six
hundred stores just in Asia are set to open its
(21:01):
first US location in Hawaii later this year because the
number of Asians living in Hawaii is astronomical. And this
gets kind of interesting. I'll tell you about this in
a minute. So you have the popularity of Korean culture,
the Korean food boom among American teenagers, young people in
(21:21):
their twenties and thirties. I mean, they just like to
try things, as Neil does. And I'm one of the
people that will lead anything. I mean I will try
anything because I love exotic foods.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Everything in the stores are everywhere and open.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
All the time in these Korean stores in South Korea.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Now you know where they got the idea.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
The first store, the first Korea, the first store in
Korea that opened up as a convenience stores, A little
company called seven to eleven.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That's where they got the idea.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
They opened up seven to eleven, opened up two of
these stores, and from there it has exploded. It's the
first seven elevens opened up for business and Seoul in
the nineteen eighties, and then well, today, South Korea is
the convenience store capital of the world.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
People actually hang out in convenience stores.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's like Starbucks where they just go there and hang.
It's become a social place. So how many are there?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Now?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
South Korea is about the size of Indiana, and they
have fifty five thousand of these convenience stores for every
well that's one for every nine hundred and forty people,
which is astronomical and no place comes close to that.
And over the last fifteen years the numbers have quadrupled.
(22:55):
Now why is this Why do you think it's this, Well,
there's some very simple reasons. One in four workers in
South Korea is self employed. And so what happens, Well,
older workers are pushed and pushed into early retirement. Some
have been boxed out of traditional labor. The market and
(23:17):
convenience stores are the easiest, most successible form of entrepreneurship.
So the amount of capital that it takes to open
up a convenience store in South Korea is fourteen thousand dollars.
Now keep in mind, you open up in McDonald's here,
it's half a million dollars could be more a subway
(23:42):
shot place.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I'm sorry, the subway sandwich store is what a quarter
of a million dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So the convenience store business is one of the fast
paced and competitive in the country.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
The other thing about convenience stores is see You, for.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Example, has a catalog of all the items they provide
to their stores, and each stores individually owns franchise and
the store owner has to guess which item is going
to sell.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It's a lot about toy stores.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It's much like toy stores guessing what the hot toy
is going to be. They have to guess what the
hot item is going to be. And sometimes there are items. Well,
in one case, there was one item that just came out.
People were around the block to get it, and six
(24:38):
weeks later there was no one buying it because it's
all fad. It's just an interesting place to go.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
The turnover is insane.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yep, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
The catalog, the catalog you buy that you look for
is updated three times a week. Isn't that crazy? Fascinating stuff.
The convenience store in South Korea. All right, we're done, guys,
really quickly. I'm taking phone calls starting in just a
few moments for handle on the Law, and it's of
(25:16):
course marginal legal advice. And there will be no commercials,
there will be no breaks, no weather, no traffic, and
as I've told you many times before, no patients on
my part. The number is eight seven seven five to
zero eleven fifty eight seven seven five to zero eleven fifty.
Starting in just a couple of minutes, you can actually
(25:38):
listen to Gary and Shannon on the phone while you wait.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Well, we start again tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The same crew starts with Amy and Will for wake
up call, and then Neil and I jump in from
six to just about now nine o'clock and of course
say you've got cono and and that makes that make
things run around here, catch in a minute with a
Handle on the Law. Eight seven seven five two zero
(26:07):
eleven fifty. This is KFI AM six forty. You've been
listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my show Monday
through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
CAMFI Am six forty Handle Here, good morning on a
Tuesday morning, September two. It is time for Tech Tuesday,
which we do every Tuesday with Rich Dumurrow. Rich of
of course live Rich on Tech every Saturday here at
eleven o'clock to two pm. He's on KTLA every day,
(00:28):
Instagram at Rich on Tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Good morning, Rich, Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Bill. All right, let's get right into it. And another scam.
Seems like we always talk about scams, but it's I
think it's really important as to what's happening. This one
is the California refund the tech scam.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So I wanted to tell us about it. And how
do we know it's a scam?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, you know it's a scam because well the best
part is so basically, let me just explain with the SCAMMA.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So you get a text message. A lot of people
are getting this right now.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
It says the State of California Franchise Tax Board, your
tax refund claim has been processed and approved. Please provide
your accurate collection information before and they give a date
we will deposit the money into your bank account or
this is the best part, email paper check within one
to two working days. I don't know how they do that,
but anyway, and then they give you a website, and
(01:26):
the dead giveaway is the website looks similar, but it's
of course a little bit off. And what they're trying
to do is capture not only your social they go
right for that, your personal information, your credit card information,
maybe your bank information. And the California Tax Franchise Tax
Board says, look, we are not going to contact you
(01:47):
via text message. We see this as going around. They're
basically trying to steal your personal information and maybe even
file fake tax returns with your information. So it's all bogus.
We won't contact you via text and went in doubt obviously,
just go to the standard website, franchise Tax Board or
the irs.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah. No, I understand that they can get pretty sophisticated.
I'll talk about what I got five times yesterday. But
why would they want your credit card information when you
are getting a refund?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I know, And this is what makes it so silly.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
And by the way, I click through all these scams
just to see what the scam is, but I don't
recommend you do that, and so I was that was
a you know, it's like the things that they ask
for make you kind of scratch your head. You're like,
hold on, I get why you want my social because
you know you need to look up my info, but
obviously they're trying to steal that. But then at the
end when they're asking for your credit card to give
(02:44):
you a refund, it's like, hold on, I've never heard
of the State of California or the irs requesting a
credit card number to give a refund. Now they may
you may be able to pay with your credit card,
but not directly. And so long story short, you see
this stuff and if you actually follow through with.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
It, at the end you realize like, oh my gosh,
what did I.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Just do because this is completely bogus. But at the
same time, these websites are building. They look more and
more realistic every single time, and if you're not on guard,
you may fall for it, which of course people do.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
That's why they do this.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So here is what happened yesterday five times. And I
don't know why they keep on doing it. Well I do, okay.
FedEx sent me a text saying we have a package
for you, and you have to sign for it, and
we tried delivering it and we couldn't. And click on
to this website and it was fed x I think
(03:41):
it was return at FedEx.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
At FedEx dot. And then there was.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
A whole series of numbers, the kind that you get
when you know that you're being protected. And it must
have been thirty or forty different numbers, you know, the
lowercase upper case numbers.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That's sort of I.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Mean, that's wouldn't you see that instantly and say this
is crazy?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You know it's a fake website.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well you do, but there are you know, these are
a numbers game, and there's plenty of people out there
that just don't look.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
They're less tech savvy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
And it's sad actually because they're the ones that are
preyed upon it. It's actually, Bill, it's actually the young
people and the older people, the people in the middle
that sort of like understand this stuff are fine. But
it's like it's this wide range of like young and older,
less tech savvy because the young people haven't been experienced.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
It's like I'm sure you know more about this than
I do, but like, you know, it's that old adage
where like if you're the first time you're seeing something,
you don't know about it yet, and so you're tricked.
It's like the first time, like we talked about time
shares and all this stuff, it's like you fall for
it because you've never been exposed to it. In your
middle age, you've been exposed to it, but by the
older age, you're just like, I don't really understand this
stuff anymore. So look, at the end of the day,
(05:01):
the reason why I share these on my Instagram is
to let people see what's out there, let them understand
the different ways we are being attacked on a daily
basis with these things. And the more you know and
the more you see them, the more you can identify
the bogus stuff.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Hey, is there a real way to shut these down?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I have these companies been able to do that or
the government or enforcement agency to be able to shut
these down? Or are the scammers always going to be
ahead of any attempt to deal with them. Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I think they're always always going to be ahead. I mean,
I think scams have been going on as long as
we've had technology, and anytime you kind of shut something down,
they figure out a new way around it, and it's
just the reality. It's a cat and mouse game, and
it's just it's been going on forever. And that's why
I think education and learning the signs of these things
(05:52):
is the best way to do it, Because Bill, I mean,
I get emails where I'm sitting there for a couple
of minutes thinking, Okay, is this real?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Is this? And again I always talk about this on
the radio show.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
These scam artists they take what we know, right, like
how many times have you gotten a text from your
bank that says, hey, we just had a transaction at Target?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Was that you?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
And you have to reply why or n yes or no?
That really happens from Chase and these other bank accounts.
But the scam artists take that and they take that
same exact phrasing and they try to trick us into
saying was that you? Now, we just texted you a code,
give us that code number, and it's like wait a second,
hold on, I'm all you know, you're all turned around,
So you just have to slow down and just really
(06:34):
think about whether this could be a scam.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Or not, as opposed to just saying yes or.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
No, yeah exactly, Like sometimes I don't even reply to
those kind of things. So I'm like, well, I'm not
you know whatever. I'll use a different card right now
and I'll figure out this later. But there have been
times when you get these texts or these emails where
you're like hold on, you know, like my mom will
send them to me, or people, well, I mean now
it's like every follower that I have sends me these things,
and I'm sitting there like analyzing, Okay, the email address
(07:00):
looks pretty good. Like sometimes You'll get an email from
like facebookmail dot com and I'm like, hold on, that
could be real, you know, you know, And so you
have to understand like all the different aspects that they
use to try to trick you and find one that
is like Okay, I got it. It's the URL, or
it's the email address, or it's the language in the text,
or it's the bottom of the foot or of the
(07:21):
email whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Okay, Amazon Prime benefit. What benefit do I have because
I'm the anahom, I'm Amazon Prime plus whatever they held
they're offering. What am I get it getting that I'm
not going to get?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Well, so here's the deal you used to be able
to This was kind of almost like under.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The radar feature.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But you used to be able to share your Amazon
Prime benefits with pretty much anyone that you invited. So,
for instance, I had pretty much all my family members
sharing my free shipping, and I would pay the fee
and they would get the benefit. And that was called
the It was called the Prime invite. Let's see, I
(08:05):
gotta get the exact term here. Let's see here, I'm
just writing a whole thing about it. Okay, it's called
the Prime Invite program. That's what it used to be called.
And so basically, if you were in the know, you
would share your Prime with someone else, and it could
be pretty much anyone that Amazon did not care. And
this went on for many many years, and as of
(08:25):
this week, they now say we're ending that program, and
you can still share your Prime benefits with someone, but
they have to live in your house. So the way
I see this bill is it's kind of like how
Netflix and all the other streaming services started cracking down
on password sharing. Now Amazon is cracking down on Prime
benefits sharing. And so if you are one of these
(08:49):
people that was getting Prime for free for many many
years from a friend, no more, No more, dice October one,
twenty twenty five. That all ends, and Amazon is giving
you fifth teen dollars for the first year of your
Prime if you want to sign up for your own account,
But of course after that it's going to jump up
to the regular price of one hundred and thirty nine dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
It almost seems like you've got the suits sitting around
a table and going, all right.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
What are we gonna do to create more revenue.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Let's get rid of the two bags for free concept,
Let's charge extra for an exit seat. Let's really charge
for Amazon Prime or Netflix? How much is Netflix now
eighty dollars a month or something completely insane. It is
not stopping where it's every moment they're trying to get
(09:39):
revenue and they're making a fortune, aren't they.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Oh of course?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
I mean well Netflix is Amazon is Yeah, I mean look,
and what you're talking about is correct. It's like they
played nice while they were in the growth phase and
while people are still getting used to paying you know,
one hundred and thirty nine dollars a year for free
shipping and all this. It's like in Netflix getting used
to watching you know, old, tired, boring movies on a
(10:05):
TV screen.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Oh sorry do I say that? And originals?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
But you know, now that everyone's used to these things,
it's like, hold on, let's crank it up. How can
we squeeze more revenue out of these people, because by
the way, we are answering to billion dollar budgets and
also a board that wants to make money on our
stock and so yeah, at the end of the day,
we're paying for all this stuff. Now, I will tell
you there's a report today from Reuters saying that Amazon
(10:31):
did not sign up as many people as they thought
they would during Prime Day, and so it wasn't a
ton less. It was like one hundred and sixteen thousand
fewer than the year before. But again, you know, they
want to sign people up, that's why they do Prime
Day and that you know, I don't know if the
two are related, but it's just so convenient that Amazon
is like, Okay, we figured out all the ways to
(10:53):
get people to sign up for Prime. Now let's kind
of smoke out some of these people that are you know,
that are just sharing their benefits with other people.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Hey, I have a question the model where Amazon and
we return Amazon here like crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
As a matter of fact, my wife has a stitch fit.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Or whatever the hell they call it, where the entire
model is returning the package back. Here's a bunch of
clothes to do what you want with them, keep the
ones you want and ship the ones you don't want
back to us, and you go down to the UPS
store drop it off and they do their scan thing
and they're done. Who makes money on that? Does UPS
(11:36):
make money on that? Or they paid enough for I
don't understand the business model on that one.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, on stitch Fix, the business model is, you know,
they hope you forget about the clothes and never return them.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's right, I hope, yeah, And I understand that, But
how does it work with UPS because I don't understand
that business model?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Yeah, so a couple so I you know, this is
the nerd in me. So I asked the UPS store
when I do things like that? Because my wife did
sign up for stitch Fix. There's also another one she
signed up for called like Numbly or something like that,
which they basically you rent your clothes every month, and
of course they make money based on my wife kept
the same clothes for two months. I was like, well,
wait a second, you just paid double what you should
(12:20):
have because you know, the name of the game is
to return these clothes as soon as possible anyway, So
they have a deal with UPS of course for the
shipping right, and the company pays them to ship these
things out and on the return side, so if you
return anything through UPS whatever, the store that collects it
basically gets like a quarter, like a twenty five cents
(12:41):
or fifty cents for handling that return. And you know
UPS is making money too on the back end with
the retailer, but it's all sort of like negotiated how
much they're getting for that. It's not like the retail
rates that you and I would pay if we ship
something back. But you know, it's big business, and I
think UPS and FedEx, well, FedEx never really did Amazon.
(13:01):
UPS did, and remember they lost like a huge amount
of business because Amazon did their own shipping now.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So but I don't I don't think they're hurting.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, when I ship something and I have to pay
for it UPS, it's like fourteen dollars, Yeah, twelve dollars,
And you're telling me they get a quarter from Amazon
to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, that's just the store, so the store gets it.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Amazon obviously has some exclusive you know, some back end
deal that's i'm sure a very good price for the returns,
but no, the store that because I always wondered, like, hey,
if I bring this to like some you know, not
just a UPS store, but some random PO box store, right, like,
what's their interest in dealing with my return and having
to like hold this box and give it to the
(13:47):
UPS people? And so I asked them and they basically said, like, yeah,
we get like a tiny you know whatever. It is
a small a tiny amount for each return that we process,
and so it's in their best interest to take those
because they do make some money on it, not a ton,
but yeah. But the Amazon thing, they I find it
fascinating that Amazon was able to ramp up their own
(14:09):
logistics and now you know, almost every package you get
from them comes from their own trucks, which is quite incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, and I love the technology at the UPS store.
I mean it takes two seconds walk in, they scan it,
they take it, and you're walking out the door literally
in thirty seconds. Right.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, No, it's incredible. And Amazon, you know, when they
do returns at their own stores, and I'm not sure
if the UPS is like this, but I think they
are they put everything into much bigger boxes. So when
you return one thing, they're not just returning it to Amazon,
you know, individually. They sort of group together a whole
bunch of returns so that it's cheaper to ship everything back.
(14:51):
You know, ten items in one box versus ten different boxes.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And then of course you have that small box and
that mass of moving box.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
And yeah, this is completely crazy. Rich, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
We'll talk again next Tuesday. Always say a pleasure. Now,
convenience stores they're all over the world. You get cigarettes
and sodas, and you can pick up laundry detergents. I
picked up milk at a convenience store a couple of
days ago. Now, how about going to a convenience store.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
In South Korea? What can you get?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
How about single malt whiskies eight hundred dollars, French wines,
twenty four carrot gold bars. They have shampoo and conditioner,
not the bottles, but refill stations.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You can get TVs.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You can get dining instant noodles, a noodle bar with
more than two hundred varieties, or of Ramion.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Whatever they have. Ramon is mean ramen.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Maybe that's done, says Ramion. But it's probably ramen, and
you might want to go there and have them wash
and dry your clothes, sign up for a new debit card.
These stores are well, they're known for instantizing of food
(16:25):
where nearly every conceivable dish has turned into some kind
of a packaged meal, spaghetti, Japanese oudon, fried rice that
you squeeze out of a tube. Now that gets kind
of interesting. How do you get fried rice out of
a tube? Well, they somehow are able to do it.
(16:47):
And convenience stores in Korea, well, it's now a twenty
five billion dollar industry and these food products are they're
coming out at a staggering pace. Up to seventy new
food items hit the shelves every single week. Now can
you imagine going to a convenience store where you got
(17:10):
seventy new items that come out every single week?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And the way it works.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
In South Korea the food retail market, if you're not
quick to change, and I mean change immediately. Chiy die In,
who says her obsession with convenience stores is decades old.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
She's written about it.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
She's known as a national media expert, she's on social media,
and she is a convenience.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Store critic author of three books.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
About convenience stores, figure that one out, and she says,
it's all about being diverse and fast and I mean lightning.
So every Friday she goes to convenience stores, a whole
bunch of them near her house, just to keep up
what's new. Over the last two gates two decades, she
(18:11):
estimates she has consumed about eight hundred different varieties of
convenience store Sam got sam Got gim bop.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You want to tell me what that is? Neil delicious, okay?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
And the difference between the two ramen and the one's
Korean and one is Japanese, one is made fresh, one
is dried, and then you.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Add hot water.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So the difference between the two differences between Sam Got
gimbo either okay, but there you can either get that
as a shelter item or a purebread item of the
different ways.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
It's a different thing.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
It's not like convenience stores here where you're just going
in to grab you know, I don't know, milk or
something like that and cigarettes. It's kind of a lifestyle thing,
and you know, it really has to imitate these items
all the damn time.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
She she says, she's consumed, She's consumed eight hundred varieties
of that convenience store sam got gimbop, And this is
what it is. It's rice wrapped in dried seaweed, and
it is a staple in South Korea, the Korean convenience
(19:32):
stores where you can get anything, and I mean anything,
single malt whiskeys, eight hundred dollars, French wines, gold bars,
refill stations for shampoo and conditioner, televisions, dining, instant noodle bar,
(19:53):
two hundred varieties of ramon. I mean, it's just crazy,
and so even a squid game, I had a convenience
store in it. One reviewer in a TikTok video, and
this is why it exploded. I talked about giant cheese,
sausage and only eating food from a Korean convenience store.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Now the meat.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The meat includes a blue lemonade that comes to the
plastic pouch, three XL spicy tuna mayo, samgak gimbop. As
I said, that was rice wrapped in seaweed, and a
carbonara fly flavored bull dack, whatever the hell that is
(20:40):
fire chicken. Actually, it's a cup of noodles, is what
it is. And so South Korean. These reconvenience stores, which
are massive, are expanding into nearby countries Mongolia, Malaysia see
you one of the country's leading operators. More than six
hundred stores just in Asia are set to open its
(21:01):
first US location in Hawaii later this year because the
number of Asians living in Hawaii is astronomical. And this
gets kind of interesting. I'll tell you about this in
a minute. So you have the popularity of Korean culture,
the Korean food boom among American teenagers, young people in
(21:21):
their twenties and thirties. I mean, they just like to
try things, as Neil does. And I'm one of the
people that will lead anything. I mean I will try
anything because I love exotic foods.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Everything in the stores are everywhere and open.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
All the time in these Korean stores in South Korea.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Now you know where they got the idea.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
The first store, the first Korea, the first store in
Korea that opened up as a convenience stores, A little
company called seven to eleven.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That's where they got the idea.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
They opened up seven to eleven, opened up two of
these stores, and from there it has exploded. It's the
first seven elevens opened up for business and Seoul in
the nineteen eighties, and then well, today, South Korea is
the convenience store capital of the world.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
People actually hang out in convenience stores.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's like Starbucks where they just go there and hang.
It's become a social place. So how many are there?
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Now?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
South Korea is about the size of Indiana, and they
have fifty five thousand of these convenience stores for every
well that's one for every nine hundred and forty people,
which is astronomical and no place comes close to that.
And over the last fifteen years the numbers have quadrupled.
(22:55):
Now why is this Why do you think it's this, Well,
there's some very simple reasons. One in four workers in
South Korea is self employed. And so what happens, Well,
older workers are pushed and pushed into early retirement. Some
have been boxed out of traditional labor. The market and
(23:17):
convenience stores are the easiest, most successible form of entrepreneurship.
So the amount of capital that it takes to open
up a convenience store in South Korea is fourteen thousand dollars.
Now keep in mind, you open up in McDonald's here,
it's half a million dollars could be more a subway
(23:42):
shot place.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I'm sorry, the subway sandwich store is what a quarter
of a million dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So the convenience store business is one of the fast
paced and competitive in the country.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
The other thing about convenience stores is see You, for.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Example, has a catalog of all the items they provide
to their stores, and each stores individually owns franchise and
the store owner has to guess which item is going
to sell.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It's a lot about toy stores.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It's much like toy stores guessing what the hot toy
is going to be. They have to guess what the
hot item is going to be. And sometimes there are items. Well,
in one case, there was one item that just came out.
People were around the block to get it, and six
(24:38):
weeks later there was no one buying it because it's
all fad. It's just an interesting place to go.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
The turnover is insane.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yep, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
The catalog, the catalog you buy that you look for
is updated three times a week. Isn't that crazy? Fascinating stuff.
The convenience store in South Korea. All right, we're done, guys,
really quickly. I'm taking phone calls starting in just a
few moments for handle on the Law, and it's of
(25:16):
course marginal legal advice. And there will be no commercials,
there will be no breaks, no weather, no traffic, and
as I've told you many times before, no patients on
my part. The number is eight seven seven five to
zero eleven fifty eight seven seven five to zero eleven fifty.
Starting in just a couple of minutes, you can actually
(25:38):
listen to Gary and Shannon on the phone while you wait.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Well, we start again tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The same crew starts with Amy and Will for wake
up call, and then Neil and I jump in from
six to just about now nine o'clock and of course
say you've got cono and and that makes that make
things run around here, catch in a minute with a
Handle on the Law. Eight seven seven five two zero
(26:07):
eleven fifty. This is KFI AM six forty. You've been
listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my show Monday
through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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