I just posted an article on Medium and Substack about how community members are using neighborhood forums like Next Door to warn neighbors about the latest scam. The article includes some examples of recent warnings that can help anyone avoid those scams. Here are the first two paragraphs of the article. You can read more on Medium at https://tinyurl.com/22b9du93 or Substack at https://gini.substack.com/publish/post/147608303.
Today, there are more and more scams due to using social media, the internet, online banking, and other digital tools in the Digital Age. At the same time, there is a growing movement of people on the social media and community forums, like Next Door, who are taking steps to protect each other. For example, they send out warnings about the latest scams to avoid, often when they have encountered, become suspicious, recognized, and avoided the scam. And often community members warn others after they have been taken themselves, sometimes for substantial amounts of money. Additionally, banks, utilities, shipping companies, large retailers, and others have been sending out warning emails about scams to avoid. So as the scammers find new ways to scam victims, individuals, companies, and organizations are identifying the latest scams and how to avoid them.
I have been especially interested in following these developments, since I have a Facebook group "Scammed" with 6500 members where I have been posting the latest articles about scams, though most of the individuals now joining the group are scammers offering scam recovery methods to group members. The recovery offer is a classic scam of getting payments and personal information from individuals who have already been scammed. The scammers take their money with claims they might recover much larger losses, but then they don't recover anything. Or they use the identity information of victims to access their computers or financial accounts to scam them again. Even though I have an announcement on the front page of the group stating that I will block anyone offering to recover funds themselves or recommending a "recovery expert," they keep posting their offers and I keep blocking them, perhaps 2 to 5 a day, over 1000 at this point, an example of how relentless and persistent these scammers can be….
Thus, as these neighborhood postings show, be aware of these scams by scammers targeting individuals all over the U.S. and internationally, so you can avoid becoming a victim. You can find other information I have written about scams and avoiding them in my books and films about scams. My most recent book is Scams in the Digital Age published by American Leadership Books, which also published The Big Con, which was turned into the documentaries, "Conned: A True Story" and I Was Scammed, which was turned into "Con Artists Unveiled," distributed by Gravitas Ventures. The books are on Amazon and the films can be seen on Amazon, too, or on Apple TV as Conned: A True Story - Apple TV and Con Artists Unveiled - Apple TV.
For more information about different scams and to schedule interviews, email or call:
Karen Andrews to Gini Graham Scott
Executive Assistant
Changemakers Publishing and Writing
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 804-6333
Changemakerspub@att.net
www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com
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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include Ghost Story and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Scams in the Digital Age, and Love and Sex in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.