Consumer Education for Fraud Protection with Doug Shadel

Some scammers love the challenge of deceiving those they target
while others are forced to scam. Those that thrive off of
destroying others try to heighten your emotions very quickly.
Both excited and angry responses can get you into making
irrational decisions. 


Today’s guest is Doug Shadel. Doug is a former fraud investigator
and special assistant to the Attorney General at the Washington
State Attorney General’s office. He served as state director for
AARP Washington and Strategy Director for AARP’s national
anti-fraud efforts. Doug has collaborated on numerous educational
videos and academic studies and co-authored five books about
fraud. He also co-authored the AARP Fraud Frontier 2021 Report.
He is currently Managing Director of Fraud Prevention Strategies
LLC, a Seattle-based consulting firm.
Show Notes:

[1:08] - Doug shares his background and career in fighting
fraud.

[2:43] - Robo-calls have been a long lasting problem that
Doug has been working on with AARP and Nomorobo.

[7:11] - Over the years, Doug has interviewed numerous
scammers. They all say their primary goal is to get a victim in a
heightened emotional state.

[9:07] - Doug describes the research that shows when people
are in a heightened emotional state, they are more likely to fall
victim to a scam.

[10:57] - Block the incoming robocalls to begin with to help
avoid a scammer manipulating you into a heightened emotional
state.

[13:17] - It still is very dangerous to answer these phone
calls because a lot of them are really persuasive and really good
at what they do.

[14:34] - There isn’t a specific demographic profile. Doug
explains what people who fall victim to a scam have in common.

[16:49] - The FCC has come down hard on robocallers, but this
has just caused scammers to be more careful and even more
skilled.

[18:09] - Have you recently received calls asking for a
donation? Doug describes how these work.

[21:12] - The number one red flag of a robocall is the threat
of loss.

[25:22] - Caller ID is not reliable. It is very common and
easy for scammers to spoof a call.

[27:48] - There are some legitimate needs for people to be
able to spoof a call.

[29:42] - Assume it is a scam if you did not initiate the
contact.

[33:08] - By and large, scammers will not cause violence on a
victim, even if they threaten them. They follow the path of least
resistance.

[36:02] - Doug describes some software he uses to edit videos
that incorporates AI. These tools are great, but are also used by
scammers.

[39:26] - Grandparent scams are really common. Doug describes
what people have said after falling victim.

[40:40] - There is an illusion of invulnerability. If you are
convinced that you are not vulnerable to something, you won’t do
anything to prevent it.

[43:04] - There’s a lot more money for scammers to make in
scamming an employee of a large company than individuals.

[46:10] - The pandemic also had a big impact on the scamming
industry.

[50:50] - The AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline is
1-877-908-3360.

[53:00] - Always report a scam when you know of one. It helps
more than you know.



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