This week, Scam Squad explores three major scams affecting our County right now. One is a new type of Solar Pannell Scam. The second is a Real Estate Scam using Facebook and a wire transfer that defrauds a couple out of $98,000.00 , preventing them from ever retiring and most likely dying in poverty. The final scam is an impersonation scam where the scammer pretends to be the famous actor Bfad Pitt and amazingly able to defraud the victim out of $850,000.00 their entire life's savings and condemning the victim to die alone in poverty.

This week Scam Squad reviews the new twists in old scams such as the Warrant Scam where you get a phone call or message saying that you owe money for a ticket or a fine. Also Scam Squad warns us about phony calls saying it's time to renew your cable, internet, wi-fi, or phone, or other contract and that you contract is about to expire and you will be fined a huge amount of money if you allow it to expire. The last scam is a bank account scam where they try to get you to withdraw cash and wait at home for a courier to come and pickup. These scams are happing now all over the USA.

Scam Squad - Warrant Scams by Hub for Podcasting

This week Scam Squad explores the new area of ACH Scams. This is a very clever and sophisticated imposter scam, often involving hundreds of thousands of dollars and even several millions of dollars. It is most often used in business transfers involving funds from bank accounts at the bank.

This week Patti and Kristina talk about A.I. scams that have been plaguing the Nation. An A.I. scam is where an imposter steals the voice print and/or image of an individual and then pretends to be them. Because they can make audio and video sound and look very much like the person from whom they stole the voice print and image from and then starts to impersonate them in a variety of illegal ways and situations, mostly to scam or defraud other individuals out of money. Learn ways to help spot A.I. phone calls and videos.

TRAVEL SCAMS - This week, Scam Squad host Patti Teel and Chief D.A. Investigator Kristina Perkins, discuss the latest travel scams, in particular airline ticket booking scams. Investigator Perkins also discusses other scams that are currently attacking Santa Barbara County and the Nation. Be sure to listen to this episode if you are planning to travel or fly soon.

This week, our guest is Montecito Bank, who recently detected a romance scam being perpetrated on one of it's bank customers. Learn about romances scams, as well as about other types of impersonationist scams, by listening to Scam Squad each week.

Commander Bryan Millard, in Grover Beach CA, has spearheaded an all-new Scam Fighting Organization to protect senior citizens from scammers. The local police and several other diverse members of the community have come together to create a strong anti-scam community outreach program called Silver Shield. For more information about this group, be sure to listen to this podcast!

new anti-scam program by Hub for Podcasting

Today we look at the Courier Scams that had been surging in Santa Barbara County, the State, and the Nation. Courier Scams are when a Grandparents Scam, Kidnapping Scam, Extortion Scam, or similar scams where the crooks have remotely pressured the victims into agreeing to hand over large amounts of money in the form of cash, gift cards, gold coins, etc to a courier that shows up at the victims location, receives the money, packages it, and sends it off by mail, ups, fed-x or other means.

This week, host Patti Teel and Greg from the District Attorney's Office, tells us about the huge consequences of Identity Theft and then guides us step by step as to how to very simply and easily, totally guard yourself from Identity Theft.

The Lies they Tell -- Romance Scams Endure by Hub for Podcasting

BIGGEST SCAM EVER by Hub for Podcasting

Deputy District Attorney Kirstina Perkins and Senior Fraud Specialist Shawn Dyer from Montecito Bank and Trust, explain how to protect yourselves from being scammed by two of the worst Bank Imposter Scams, the first being the Bank Imposter Scam and the second as the Pay Pal Imposter Scam. These are very highly sophisticated scams that most victims easily fall for. Listen to Shawn Dyer and Deputy District Attroney Kristina Perkins explain in detail how to spot and protect yourselves from these scams.

An all new scam that Dept D.A. Christina Perkins has recently discovered is what she terms as THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS SCAM. Within the “COMENTS” portion of the You Tube videos, there will be comments with a link saying here is a video of what’s happening, but it will just direct you fo a Phishing Scam to defraud you. So avoid being suckered into the Socila Mecia Comments Scams. Christina also covers a rising problem of Investment Scams that are adopting the use of payments by Cripto Currency. As most of us know, the most dangerous threats to losing your money is by not knowing about the consequences of Cripto Currency.

There is a surge in scaming through healthcare billing in Callforinia

Listen to learn about Bank Scams

Grandparents Scam by Hub for Podcasting

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Chief Investigator Kristina Perkins, of the Santa Barbara County DA's office, discusses the toll that romance scams take on victims.