Sometimes a podcast can be used as a scam to get personal and financial information from the guest in the guise of conducting an interview.
That's what a multi-published book author, screenplay writer, and film producer Gini Graham Scott discovered when a podcast producer invited her to speak about one of her books, Women with Partners in Prison, published by American Leadership Books.
As she discovered during the interview, not only did the host give out the name of her book and website incorrectly, even after being corrected, but there were callers asking weird questions, such as how they could get into prison to meet women who wanted to meet prisoners and what crimes did she recommend they commit to become prisoners. Plus though host announced her phone number several times, even though Scott told him she did not give permission to give out her phone number.
Finally the host had an offer for her because of the errors he had made on the show. By way of apology, the podcast producer would send her a check for $500, but couldn't send a check as Scott requested. Instead, the producer could deposit the payment directly in her bank. And when Scott turned that offer down, saying she wouldn't give out her bank account, the host said that the show producer would now send $1000 for his missteps, and did Scott really want to refuse that generous offer. Yes, she did. After she hung up, she even got a few calls on the number the host announced on the air, though she quickly hung up and didn't answer when the caller repeatedly call again.
Later, in thinking about what happened, Scott turned her experience into an article warning about podcast scams: "Beware the Podcast Scammer" published on Medium and Substack. As the article begins:
"If you are trying to promote something, you may want to be interviewed on podcasts. This can be an easy way to get out your message with a phone or video call connection. However, sometimes, the podcast may turn out to be another way to conduct a scam, reveal personal and privacy information about you that listeners can use, or be a kind of a crank or prank call with callers in on the joke.
"I just experienced one such podcast after a producer called me to set up a call about one of the books I was trying to promote for a publisher – Women with Partners in Prison, originally called Love and Sex in Prison published by American Leadership Books. Though I had given the show producer who called me the correct title and my website, the host immediately announced the wrong title, and though I corrected him, he repeated the wrong title two more times during the program. And he gave out the wrong website twice, too."
Then, the article describes her experience, and concludes with some tips to recognize and avoid a podcast scam. You can read the whole article on Medium at https://ginigrahamscott.medium.com/beware-the-podcast-scammer-7f270502f8c8 or on Substack at https://gini.substack.com/publish/post/147359410. You can also sign up to be a subscriber on either platform, where Gini has been posting articles about scams and how to avoid them, along with articles on personality typing, using visioning, and a unique approach to videos about the latest news.
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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 AI Evolution, Conned: A True Story, and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include What's Type of Dog Are You?, The New American Middle Ages, and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Women with Partners in Prison, and Women in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.