EnRich Your Life

Episode 7 - Don't Let Hackers Derail Your Goals: Cybersecurity & Identity Theft Tips

• Richard Leimgruber, CRPC® • Season 1 • Episode 7

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In this episode, Rich sits down with cybersecurity expert Oscar Capel to break down how identity theft happens, and how you can stop it. From weak passwords to risky public Wi-Fi habits, they cover the real-world consequences of digital carelessness and how a few simple tools like VPNs, password managers, and multi-factor authentication can protect your personal data.  This episode underscores the emotional toll of identity theft and the importance of staying vigilant as cyber threats continue to evolve.

What you’ll learn:

  • Why email and text scams are getting smarter
  • What to do if someone gains access to your computer or personal info
  • Common red flags and how to verify before you act
  • How to talk to your loved ones so they don’t fall victim next

Chapter Markers:
03:27 Defining Identity Theft and Cloning
07:08 Scams: Phishing, Smishing, and More
09:39 Preventing Scams and Identity Theft
17:05 Medical Identity Theft Risks
19:00 The Emotional Impact of Identity Theft
19:57 Common Scams and How They Work
24:11 The Importance of VPNs and Cybersecurity
30:01 Reputation Management and Social Media
30:50 Live Cybersecurity Maps and Global Threats

Want to know more about our Guest?
Oscar Capel-Owner, Capel and Associates NYC
CITRMS Certified IdentityTheft Risk Management Specialist
LegalShield Independent Associate
Team leader with The Fuller Center for Housing NYC Chapter
Phone: +16465787097
Website: https://ocapel.legalshieldassociate.com/
Facebook: LegalShieldIndependentAssociateOscarCapel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-capel


Filmed and recorded at Studio on the Avenue/LMC Media
Mamaroneck, NY
https://lmcmedia.org/
Produced and Edited by Vekterly
https://www.vekterly.com/

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice, a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or financial decision, or legal advice. By engaging with this material, you acknowledge and agree with its intended purpose. Any examples provided are hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Neither Rich Leimgruber, the EnRich Your Life Podcast, nor its representatives are advising or suggesting any specific action or decision. Before making any financial, legal, or tax decisions, individuals should consult their own financial advisor, accountant, legal professional, or other qualified professional before making financial decisions. All opinions expressed are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any affiliated financial institutions. The views shared may not be suitable for every individual or situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and all investments carry risk. Please note that any strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors, and the appropriateness of any specific investment or strategy will depend on individual circumstances.

Episode 7 - Don't Let Hackers Derail Your Goals: Cybersecurity & Identity Theft Tips

[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to EnRich Your Life where financial wisdom meets everyday life hosted by Richard Leimgruber, a financial advisor with over 25 years of experience. This podcast brings you powerful insights to make smart choices and build your financial future. Get ready to dive into practical strategies to grow, protect, and shape your financial story one podcast at a time.

[00:00:26] Rich L: Welcome to EnRich Your Life. 

[00:00:28] I'm your host, Richard Leimgruber, and usually we talk about financial strategies to help you grow your assets. Today we're taking a different twist, and we're going to be talking about ways to protect your assets. Something that we've all heard about, and that's called identity theft and scams.

[00:00:50] As part of my required training in my career, I must every year take several hours of courses [00:01:00] and classes to learn how to identify certain types of scams that a client might be experiencing. And I have to tell you, I've had several experiences in my career where a client has called up and asked me certain questions about something that was happening.

[00:01:19] And so I have to learn how to ask certain questions and identify if I think that there might be a scam or an identity theft, possibly happening. And so I think it's extremely important for my listeners to understand that there's ways to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft and scams.

[00:01:41] And I have the pleasure today to introduce my guest, Oscar Capel.  

[00:01:46] Oscar Capel is a board member of our local, Chamber of Commerce. But he's also a small business owner, and you're an associate with LegalShield.

[00:01:55] Mm. Which is a company that actually helps clients, I guess [00:02:00] fight when they are a part of some sort of identity theft after witnessing firsthand how a 30 year family business can go under from the lack of qualified

[00:02:09] legal consultation, Oscar's mission has become to protect and empower families and local businesses who have a smaller budget or maybe might not be able to afford, having legal help. today our, our topic is going to be on identity theft and scams. And so Oscar, thank you very much for being here.

[00:02:30] It's a pleasure seeing you again. Thank you for inviting me. Absolutely. I guess I typically start out by asking, my, my guests, why did you get into this business? Tell me how you got here today. 

[00:02:42] Oscar C: Sure. You mentioned the 30 year plus business was a place I was working for and it went bankrupt.

[00:02:49] So I'm like, you know, I was a dental technician. I'm a great dental technician, but All the work is being outsourced, so I didn't have an industry to go back to. So, [00:03:00] luckily, I had LegalShield and IDShield as protecting my family, and I said, this is something people need, and let me go out and show people how to protect their family and their business, you know, with a very affordable system.

[00:03:14] Rich L: Thank you. So, you know, we always hear a lot on the news about somebody getting hacked or somebody getting scammed, and I guess my first question to you to help our listeners understand what they truly are is, what exactly is data hacking? What is identity theft, data breaches, and elder scams?

[00:03:31] Oscar C: All of that is, well, let's, they're apples and potatoes. Each one is different and each one has a different solution. Let's do that. 30, 000 foot view. Identity theft, as people think of it, I like to say, it's not identity theft. It's identity cloning. So, if, if you have your car in your driveway and it gets stolen, that's auto theft.

[00:03:56] Your car is missing. But now, what if your car is [00:04:00] cloned? Down to the last scratch on the bumper. And that car is now, while your car is sitting in the driveway, that car is out running red lights, running over puppies, whatever it's doing. Your license plate is showing up. The cops are going to come to you.

[00:04:15] Because everything points to you. So that's, that's identity cloning. Identity theft is identity cloning. They're not stealing Richard Leimgruber's information. They're stealing every single number that points to you. 

[00:04:30] Rich L: And using it for their own purposes. 

[00:04:32] Oscar C: And it's being, it's being cloned. It's being sold and resold.

[00:04:36] So, our information, you were, we were talking earlier, you, you said, , the evolution of identity theft, all right? It went from really one on one, which was a simple, , , dumpster dive. Somebody going through your garbage. Then they started paying employees. If you're a, if you're a minimum wage employee working at a, in a medical facility, and someone [00:05:00] comes to you and says, I'll give you $500 for every hundred names you give me.

[00:05:05] And that information goes on a thumb drive, it goes to this person, boom, they have all our information. And then they said, well, let's cut out the middleman. Let's go right to the data source. So now that the hacking that you're seeing is hacking into huge systems. When we had, the Equifax breach, there was a close to 150 million records stolen, and they were the headlines were, we're going to look over our shoulder for the rest of our lives.

[00:05:34] And now we're up to 35, 39 billion records that are stolen, so our information is out there. That was what's stolen, and that's what's being used against us. So that is identity theft. 

[00:05:47] Rich L: And so, with identity theft, they're looking for certain financial information, right? They're looking for social security numbers, they're looking for your address, your driver's license number, [00:06:00] your, passports, some signatures.

[00:06:03] How do they, how do you think the most common way they're looking to get those? 

[00:06:08] Oscar C: They're getting it 

[00:06:08] through the data breaches. When there was a video that the, copiers that are leased. As soon as the lease is over, they're supposed to clear the two terabytes of memory and, and ship it out and sell it for pennies on the dollar.

[00:06:22] And they went out and did an investigation. They just bought three, just, you know. One of them still had the papers in the glass. None of them were cleared out. Oh, wow. So, all, when you go to the doctor, when I do, when I do workshops, I'll put up a picture of the form you fill out when you go to the doctor's office.

[00:06:40] All your information is on there. Plus, they said, who's your, who to contact in case of an emergency. Now you're giving someone else's information out. So that is, that is what's being, what's being stolen and used against us. Right. So that's, and data breaches, there's no way to stop it now. Plus, they already have our information.

[00:06:59] Right. [00:07:00] 

[00:07:00] Rich L: How about other ways they're trying to get our information? Like our user IDs, our passwords for our bank accounts. I know there's a phrase called phishing that we have to look out for. 

[00:07:10] Oscar C: There's phishing, smishing, vishing. I mean, there's, there's a new one every week. There's just, it's, that part is the scam part.

[00:07:21] Okay. So we did identity theft and we're doing scams. Scams are targeted to you. Identity theft is your information being sold. A scam is one on one with you. 

[00:07:32] Rich L: It's actually getting that information so they can turn around and sell it. 

[00:07:35] Oscar C: Right. And the reason they're really good at doing that is they turn off your thinking brain and they put you in the emotional state.

[00:07:44] Your social security number You know, is going to be shut down if, if you don't do this, you know, your Medicaid is going to be shut off if you don't do this immediately.

[00:07:53] The first thing you've got to realize is it's something immediate. 

[00:07:57] Rich L: They want you to, they want you to think outside the box. Like [00:08:00] like be all confused and think it's a, , this is a something that has to be handled immediately. 

[00:08:05] Oscar C: In an email or in a text. First of all, you know, I'm 65. I'm used to mailing.

[00:08:11] So, the government still does that. They still mail things. Insurance companies mail you things. They don't send you a text or an email. So, the number one thing is, where is it coming from? And, again, emails can be, or websites can be duplicated with just one letter off. And you're not reading that you're, it looks like medicare.

[00:08:35] gov. Okay. That must be my Medicare. No, it's medic, you know, whatever, dot gov, and all of a sudden it's, it's a fraudulent website and you start putting your information in, and that, that's a one on one problem. That's the difference between a scam and identity theft, and, again, we volunteer our information like that.

[00:08:55] But, another, chamber member, , who is a, , PNC, [00:09:00] insurance, called me up and said, I got a problem. One of my customers just, you know, did something really, really bad. Put me in touch with him. He was trying to get, , health insurance. It was too expensive, you know, with her. So he went to a website and it's like, Wow, health insurance.

[00:09:16] He puts in all this information and has an epiphany. Oh my God, is this real? And then found out that it's, it was a fraudulent website. So, she called me up, what can you do? I helped him, you know, immediately we set up a three way call with the agency, and, and had everything locked down. Gave him step by step instructions on what to do.

[00:09:35] That's what I do to help people. Make sure that they are, they are locked down. 

[00:09:39] Rich L: And so there's a couple of ways that you can prevent being being scammed. Right. And one of the ways that I know, and I've always been able to tell is when you get an email from something like social security.

[00:09:51] gov, or what have you, you're supposed to take your cursor and hover over the email address. And it will actually show you where the [00:10:00] email is going, right, or where it came from, because people can mask it so that it looks like it's coming from. So and then the other way is, like you had mentioned, The IRS is not going to send you a text message.

[00:10:12] EasyPass is not going to send you a text message saying that you have a unpaid, toll that you just went through. there's certain ways that you can not be, Put into a position where you're getting scammed and that is understand if you really do want to find out if you do have a, , an issue with a toll, well, then just go to the easy pass website and, and reach out to them that way, or call your bank instead of responding to that text message or email and call the representative that you know

[00:10:45] Oscar C: call the source. 

[00:10:46] Rich L: Right. 

[00:10:46] Oscar C: Here's a notification. Call the source. I, I got a letter from the chamber, an email from the chamber a few years ago. It's like, hey, we're, we're doing this and this, here's a link to it. I'm like, hmm, I don't, I, [00:11:00] I don't trust this. I called Mike and, and I said, Mike, did you send me this?

[00:11:04] And he says, it's, you know, my, my email was compromised, ignore it. Right. Now it's coming from someone I know. It's coming from an email that I know. But there's a link in there. It's like, why, why wouldn't you just put the paper that, you know, you're, you have a PDF or something, it would be in the email. I wouldn't need a link to it.

[00:11:26] Correct. So anytime you're asked to click a link, that's a, that's a red flag. Anytime you have to act immediately, that's a red flag. The other, the other scams, and, and we talked about it, is, is, an elder scam is a grandma scam. 

[00:11:43] Rich L: We've heard of those. 

[00:11:44] Oscar C: Grandma, I got a problem. Is this Jimmy? Yeah, it's Jimmy.

[00:11:47] That was the old way. The new way, now we have AI. We have voice, , voice capture. Now Jimmy's voice is calling Grandma. 

[00:11:56] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:11:58] Oscar C: So what do you do? [00:12:00] My simple, simple set up a family code. A phrase or a name. Right? That's great. 

[00:12:07] Blue Pickles. Don't use your dog's name. Our information is out there. So our, you know, they get the vet's information, they know you, they know your dog's name.

[00:12:17] Don't use that. Something stupid that makes no sense to anybody else. You know, I use, please don't use pickles because everybody else is, you know, but, but it's, it's something that only the family would know. And that, that now is absolutely the only way I know so far, you know, to beat that, that grandma scam.

[00:12:35] Rich L: It's almost being prepared for something to happen, right? That's the whole idea. Have a rendezvous point if there was ever a crazy thing happening. 

[00:12:42] Oscar C: We have the skills. We have these things. Now, put them into the, 

[00:12:45] the, the scam security part of your brain. 

[00:12:48] Rich L: And so, I guess, when you talked about the, , evolution of identity theft, we're now at a point where it's gotten much more technologically advanced. Yes. And [00:13:00] one 

[00:13:00] of the things I want to remind listeners too is that these scammers, the people who are calling, who are texting you, it's a numbers game to them.

[00:13:10] They might have out of a day, a thousand calls going out and if they can get one or two people to fall for it, 

[00:13:19] Oscar C: That's a few thousand dollars. 

[00:13:20] Rich L: It's a few thousand dollars on their part. So The other thing is I want my listeners to understand that if something like this ever does happen to you, don't be ashamed.

[00:13:30] Don't be embarrassed. What you need to do is number one, call the police department and get a police report. Yes. And number two is Start looking through and calling your credit cards and your banks and your financial advisers and just let them know that you might have had a breach in your data and these companies, like the banks, like the investment companies can put alerts on the account. They can put in an added layer of [00:14:00] security so that you might have to ask about blue pickles or you might have to ask another password or something that maybe wasn't originally there, right? So let's talk a little bit about setting up passwords, right? One of the ways to avoid getting scammed is to make sure that hackers aren't going to be able to get in your email.

[00:14:20] But if they happen to get in your email, Okay. They have everything. They look at your sent folders. They look at where you've sent. Okay. I sent an email to my financial advisor at financialadvisor. com. Now they know you have an account and they're going to start looking to reach out to that, , that company to try and get them to send you money.

[00:14:41] Right? So there's certain things that we can do. Number one is make sure we update your passwords, right? 

[00:14:48] Oscar C: Two factor authentication. Absolutely. That can be defeated also. There's nothing that they can't do. But, it is, it is the second line of the fence. Which is to, [00:15:00] and I have it on everything.

[00:15:01] Another thing is, set up your bank accounts with a one dollar notification if there's a change in your, in your bank. Because a lot of times, if they're able to get through all the layers of security and get to your bank. They're going to do a $1 transaction. If that goes through, the next one's whatever was left in your account.

[00:15:22] So if the $1 doesn't go through, it's not going to happen. That's a good 

[00:15:26] Rich L: idea. Back to the passwords. Yes. Most people, and, and we've seen, you know, We've seen password one, two, three, or one through six. And what I want my listeners to know is that is what scammers automatically think. That's what they believe that your password is going to be.

[00:15:47] And they're going to try it if they happen to get onto the website and know what your username or password is. So the idea is to mask a password. And as an example. The word podcast, instead of saying P O D C A S T, [00:16:00] maybe it's P with a zero, D, and then C S T, dollar sign, or what have you. And just making sure, like, you're, you're masking the actual words.

[00:16:11] But there's another thing that you could do too, buying a program that will scramble and update passwords. Do you know much about that? 

[00:16:19] Oscar C: Yeah, that's a part of ID shield has that they've partnered with Trend Micro, which is huge. And they offer one is password manager.

[00:16:29] So you just got to remember that you're one password. and your password, and it'll ask you to change your password. And then you can start using the generated passwords, which are like 16 digits long, that make random letters and whatever it is. So that is the best way to do it. You'll also be getting notifications if there are data breaches that involve your email.

[00:16:53] So now you know, okay, there's been a data breach. It involves my email. Go back to your password manager. Change your email password [00:17:00] to a new 16 digit random number, you're locked in, right? One of the things you said and, and it stood out, it's like, you know, your identity's stolen and you mentioned a bunch of financial things.

[00:17:14] That is what everybody's thinking, it's, it's, you know, they're going to get my financial. It's like, no, they're getting everything. And the most dangerous one, and people don't realize, is your medical ID. Your insurance card. That information is stolen. Now, I, I believe it's, it's in the book, a story of, a husband and wife got into a car accident.

[00:17:35] The husband was hurt badly. The woman wasn't. She hears the doctor say, well, we better give him some insulin, because he's diabetic and he has all these, and she's like, wait a minute. Are you talking about my husband? It's like, yeah, you know, it says here. that he needs insulin because he, he probably had a, a diabetic attack.

[00:17:51] That's why the car crashed. And she's like, no, you know, he's not diabetic. He doesn't have HIV. He doesn't, where's this information coming from? And it's like it's in, it's in his chart. And [00:18:00] the doctor says, I also see two blood types. What's his blood type? So here's the problem. HIPAA laws does not allow that family to go into that record and see what is what.

[00:18:13] That's where the problem comes in. The fact that, you know, you could die in an emergency if you have the wrong information on your medical records. Yeah. That's, that's where the licensed private investigators come in. They're able to do that. They're able to go in and make sure that your records are still, right.

[00:18:29] One thing that, that I talk about in the, workshop is you can't buy car insurance after you hit a tree. There's pieces everywhere. The idea is to, like, when you're doing a, an upgrade on your computer, it says we're setting a reset point in case the program doesn't work.

[00:18:45] We go back to what it looks like. You need to establish a reset point for who you are and, and, you know, what your blood type is and, and all of that. You need to establish that. So that has to be done first. [00:19:00] The other thing I talk about and nobody realizes, the emotional impact of identity theft. You're violated in a way that there's no answer.

[00:19:09] It's not alright, somebody stole my car. No, that's a person that stole my car. Your information is out there, it's being used, and, and it takes a toll emotionally on every person that has had an identity theft and, and is trying to deal with. It, years trying to fix your, identity, thousands of dollars, and whatever you're doing, whatever kind of work you're doing, your mind isn't.

[00:19:31] Isn't it work because you're trying to figure out how to, how to stop this fire. 

[00:19:37] Rich L: It's definitely an emotional toll. I mean, It's it's a violation of your privacy, and again, that's where I go back and I say to to someone who might have just gone through this. It wasn't your fault. These guys. All they do is practicing every single day. It's a numbers game to them. And ultimately, they'll get somebody eventually. I mean, Even some of my smartest [00:20:00] clients have had issues with this where they said, no, I know this is not a scam.

[00:20:04] All I need to do is put five thousand dollars in the account and they'll put it back after I pay it and That's one of the obvious signs of a scam. Nobody's ever going to ask you to Pay them in order to get that money back first 

[00:20:17] Oscar C: that there's so many we you know We'd be on here for three days talking about all the different scams, I was telling you earlier, there was, , was watching a report and they're talking about scams and stuff and, and he says, like, you know, it, it can't be that easy and he says, dial your mom's number.

[00:20:34] And they put it on speakerphone. And he says, , Mrs. Smith, this is, , Joe from, , from ABC Bank. Your son's here. He's getting a loan for the car. He probably told you about it and, , he can't remember his social security number. Do you know it? He goes, yeah, it's 123456. He says, thank you very much. He hangs up.

[00:20:49] And the reporter's like, what just happened? He says, it's that easy. Because you're not thinking. It's, oh, the bank is calling about my son. They know the son's name. She knows the bank. [00:21:00] Everything's on the up and up. But it's a scam. 

[00:21:02] Rich L: So it's almost like we have to verify. 

[00:21:06] Oscar C: Trust but verify. 

[00:21:06] Rich L: Trust but verify.

[00:21:07] Don't trust but verify. But not even trust but verify. And, and again, it's always, it's always inbound, right? You're always sitting on your couch. Maybe you're watching TV and all of a sudden you get a text message saying that, your easy pass is due. When has that ever happened? And it must be that most people think, oh, this must be new technology.

[00:21:24] How convenient. They're sending text messages. It's a scam. 

[00:21:28] Oscar C: I got two in a row. It was great. I took a screenshot. It was like, your easy pass. I'm like from two different emails. This is AI robotics and, and it's just, it's not somebody sitting there at a keyboard. It's like you take this data, you put it into this database and you have the, and you have the emails go out.

[00:21:44] Rich L: One of the things that I, to do with, I do get a phone call from a client or a friend or a family member is I just go on Google or I go on, you know, one of the websites and I just say, Hey, , if somebody called me and said this, is this a scam? And most likely it is. 

[00:21:59] Oscar C: With AI you can do [00:22:00] that.

[00:22:00] Rich L: If, if you feel like something's not right, you probably, your intuition is probably correct. Reach out to a family member, reach out to your financial advisor, reach out to a friend, somebody who might be able to help you to make sure before pulling the trigger and sending out money or going to buy a target gift card or whatever the scam might be.

[00:22:20] Um. Yeah. Ask. There's no reason why you can't ask the people that around you that you love just to get verification to get a second, speak to your spouse, speak to your children. It happens all the time and it happens more frequently than ever. And there's more and more of these scams coming around. Just as an example, there's funeral and cemetery scams that are out there for seniors.

[00:22:42] , obviously we talked about cyber fraud, driving accident scams, where somebody might just cut in front of you and slam on their brakes. 

[00:22:49] Oscar C: This is why you need a dash cam, because I've seen it. People stop in front of you, 

[00:22:53] you didn't hit them. They back up into you and everybody gets out of the car like, Oh, I was like, dude, I got a dash cam.[00:23:00] 

[00:23:00] I was like, Oh, okay. 

[00:23:01] Rich L: See you later. Yeah, exactly. Telemarketing and phone scams, right? Internet fraud, email phishing scams, homeowner reverse mortgage scams. It's a big one. Yes. Right? Where's the most amount of equity people have is in their home. And if somebody might be struggling a little bit and they get a phone call from somebody saying, Hey, how would you like the equity out of your house?

[00:23:22] I would say that. 

[00:23:24] Yes, you, you might be on somebody's list as somebody might be in the market, but that's nice. Thank you for calling. Give me the name of your company and I will call you back if that's something that you're very interested in. 

[00:23:36] Verify, go to their websites, right? And there's other things to protect yourself from looking at websites, you know, they're secure websites and it always has an S at the end.

[00:23:45] So it's HTTP. And if it's a secure website, it would say S at the end with the semi colon, right? So there's ways to make sure that we're not 

[00:23:54] Oscar C: my, my Trend Micro. It's great. I have a little shield that shows up before the, even the [00:24:00] HTTPS. So it's already been verified that it's a real website, right? So again, there's layers of things you can do to set up, VPN, have a VPN on your phone.

[00:24:11] All right, go. Somebody said. Going to Starbucks without a VPN is like going to a public bathroom that doesn't have doors on the stalls. You know, it's, all your information is, is out there. 

[00:24:22] Rich L: Let's talk about that. Let's talk about a VPN, Virtual Private Network. 

[00:24:26] Oscar C: Yes. It's, what's funny because I have the VPN on my phone and an iPhone has Find Your Friends, Find Family.

[00:24:35] My wife can never find me. She's like, you don't show up. 

[00:24:38] Rich L: What is that website again? 

[00:24:39] Oscar C: I said, don't call me if I'm going there. Just do the find friends. She's like, I can't find you. I'm like, good. 

[00:24:50] Rich L: That's a good thing. 

[00:24:51] Oscar C: My IP address is actually in Australia. 

[00:24:55] Have it set up. So sometimes I'm trying to order something and it says we don't ship.

[00:24:59] to Australia. [00:25:00] I'm like, okay, but you're looking at my IP address. You're not looking at my address address. I was, , I was at a cyber security conference with, , with some friends. 

[00:25:07] I think it was at a, at a Hilton hotel.

[00:25:09] It's like, who signed into the Hilton Wi Fi? They're like, okay, we have all your information. That is not the Hilton Wi Fi. That's our Wi Fi that we put in there. Wow. Yeah, I mean, at every step you, you're going, right? It's crazy. You leave yourself open to my favorite saying when I start a, a workshop is, identity theft is like frying bacon naked.

[00:25:31] You know, it's going to hurt. You just don't know where, when, or how bad. Exactly. We could. That's actually, I like that. If that's in your head, then you will understand that it's happened already. It's just, when is it going to hit you? How is it going to hit you? One woman applied for a job, I think in Target or something.

[00:25:49] And she said, no, you're, you're already working in our, in our Target in California. I was like, no, no, I'm not. Oh, yes you are. Well, it's your social security number. So Even, even with, with social security number, [00:26:00] they need to do just one more step. All right? Because you can buy a social security number.

[00:26:05] They just check to see if it's valid. The next step is, is that valid social security number linked to your name? If they don't do that, you can work. And if you need workers, you don't do that second step. 

[00:26:19] Rich L: Tell me a little bit about the book you have there. 

[00:26:21] Oscar C: This is a book called, I have it here, If You Are Me, Then Who Am I?

[00:26:26] If You Are Me, Then Who Am I? Then Who Am I? And that is exactly what Identity Theft does. It takes who you are, clones you, does whatever it does. Now, who am I? I have to prove that I'm me. And that is hard to do. 

[00:26:43] Rich L: Yeah, you mentioned before that identity theft is one of the only crimes where you actually have to prove that.

[00:26:50] You're innocent. You're innocent. 

[00:26:52] Oscar C: Everything points to you. 

[00:26:53] Rich L: Everything, you know, because if they have your social security number, they have your user ID and password, and they have your [00:27:00] address and your phone number, any identifying information, well how do I know it wasn't you who gave them that?

[00:27:05] And how do I know that you didn't open up this credit card and go to Best Buy and buy a new stereo system, and the one thing that I will tell you is if you are a victim, it does take time. And, and that's where you would want somebody to come in and legally help you and straighten things out, right?

[00:27:23] Always check your, your credit reports. There's three credit report agencies that, that we're all aware of that you can call. And you can just make sure that your, nobody's opening up a line of credit in your name. 

[00:27:35] Oscar C: Or, or no one's using your, your passport number. Nobody's using your medical ID.

[00:27:40] Nobody's using your driver's, driver's licenses. is our de facto identity card in this country. Other countries have your citizenship, that's our driver's license. That's in someone's hand. 

[00:27:51] Rich L: What we're trained on, one of the biggest ways that identity theft happens is when people put [00:28:00] your name, your social security number, your address, your driver's license, passport, any identifiable information that you're putting into an email and sending it to somebody, a statement, a tax form, don't do it.

[00:28:15] It's not worth it unless there's a secured link that you can send it directly to that company not going through email. If somebody hacks into your email and they go to your sent file and they say, Oh, look at this. This went to your CPA. Oh, and look at this. This is your tax form and look at that tax from your social security number, your address.

[00:28:34] Maybe it's an old tax return that you sent to a bank because you're applying for a mortgage. Now all of a sudden they have how much income that you're making and that's what they're going to use. My biggest advice to anybody that I speak to is to never, ever send secured information via email.

[00:28:50] It's one of the easiest ways to get hacked, right? 

[00:28:53] Oscar C: And even encrypted email. It's really good because you have to click the link to get to the encryption, all of that, but still [00:29:00] FedEx it, that extra 5 is going to cost you to send the information, you know, is, is a world of hurt you're not going to be in.

[00:29:06] It's a physical thing that you're sending. And it's not going to be, trapped in, in 

[00:29:11] Rich L: Even a fax! I mean, the old fax machines, it's still a very secure way to send information. 

[00:29:17] Oscar C: Yeah, but no.

[00:29:18] Rich L: No? 

[00:29:19] Oscar C: When, , um what is that, Hoyt Street, there was a spy shop in Hoyt Street. There was, where, where, I think right next to the, right next to the beer thing, I was walking by one day and they're selling all this stuff. And I'm like, what is this? This was a spy agency and we were decommissioned now and now we're, we're selling all our old stuff.

[00:29:43] And one was a fax machine, a fax intercept machine. I was like, whoa, okay. Holy cow. I thought fax were, were safe. But, you know, at this point, nothing's safe. Okay. It's just, just, you know, make sure you have a good secure system that, that, that, you [00:30:00] have to pay for security. Pay for one that, that has Your licensed private investigator, alerts, and, and here's one thing that, that I talk about all the time, reputation management.

[00:30:14] Yeah. Alright, that's, that's one thing that, that we need to get a hold of. And I tell people, if you have a kid and they're going to get a job, alright, HR is going to go look at their social media. And if he's got an interview on Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday he spent with Bacchanalia with his fraternity brothers, you know, drinking like crazy, I doubt they're going to get the job.

[00:30:36] Rich L: Yeah, you gotta look. 

[00:30:38] Oscar C: Your reputation manager, the AI, it's fantastic. It'll go through, put Facebook,

[00:30:43] you know, whatever it is in there, everything you've ever written, every picture you've ever put in there, the AI will scrub it and say, 

[00:30:48] do you want to keep it or do you want to toss it? 

[00:30:50] Rich L: So Oscar you had mentioned before that there's a website that kind of shows you live What's happening across the globe?

[00:30:58] Oscar C: There are several but [00:31:00] one that I like is called Kaspersky with a K and it's it's a live Cybersecurity map and it shows you the different colors of, you know, what they're, what they're looking for that the type of attacks and it's just, you can spin the globe. It's, it's very tactile.

[00:31:16] You can spin the globe and see what's going on. 

[00:31:18] Rich L: A lot of all these hacks are coming, from Russia, from China, from everywhere, from Asia, right?

[00:31:25] And I think when I looked at the map, there wasn't a lot going on in the United States, but I feel like there is. 

[00:31:31] Oscar C: Yeah. It depends on the type of, cause it's a live map. 

[00:31:33] Rich L: It's a live map. 

[00:31:34] Oscar C: So like, you know, at this hour, nobody's attacking, you know, whatever it is, but you see the, and it, and it. It resets every midnight, so it's like 14 million attacks.

[00:31:46] Oh yeah. Holy cow. Cow. It's just today, you know, I think the Pentagon gets 40,000 attacks a day. That's crazy. Kaspersky Live cyber map or something like that. 

[00:31:54] It's, like I said, that's just one of the websites, and I like it because the, it's, it's interactive. You can flatten the map out and see the. [00:32:00] The whole, but it's a little globe sitting there in, in space and you can spin it and see the, and see the attacks. When I do my workshops, I have it on in the background and people are like, what's that?

[00:32:10] I'm like, this is a live shot of what's going on. This is why you're at the workshop. 

[00:32:14] Rich L: I think there's a lot, we could be here all day, right? But I, I think ultimately, I want to say thank you for coming in today and talking about it. If there's one, one last piece of advice for our, our listeners, what would you give them?

[00:32:27] Oscar C: It's stay vigilant because 

[00:32:28] it's, it's, it's evolving. It's changing day to day. There's new ways of getting scammed, there's new AI, I can't wait till quant you know, , the quantum computers come in, it's just gonna, it's gonna make everything crazy. But you just stay vigilant. Stay vigilant. And double check everything. 

[00:32:46] Rich L: And and thank you very much for coming in today. What I would tell our listeners is that if you think there's a possibility that something isn't right, you're probably your intuition is correct. There's plenty of help out [00:33:00] there.

[00:33:00] Make sure that you contact somebody who might be able to help you a little bit better. , contact your banker, contact your advisor, contact Oscar. And let us help you because it's something that you shouldn't be ashamed of. It's something that you need to get corrected immediately.

[00:33:15] Contact if you feel like you've given permission for somebody to come onto your computer. You're going to have to get that computer cleaned out. You have to call a computer, spam guy to come in and clean out that computer and take off any viruses that might be have been put on there.

[00:33:30] Oscar C: Those are all people that I interact with. Give me a call and, and we'll talk. My number is 646 578 7097. I have Do Not Disturb on from 10 o'clock at night till 9 in the morning. So, if you need to send me a text at 2 in the morning, help, I got a problem. I'll see you when I wake up. 

[00:33:48] Rich L: That's a smart move. All right.

[00:33:50] Very good. Well, Oscar, thank you so much. And thank you, everyone, for listening today. I hope you've gotten some valuable information. I think ultimately, [00:34:00] you just have to stay vigilant, like with Oscar said. Please don't forget to share this with your family and your loved ones, people who actually you care about, because if they're part of a scam or they're part of a phishing hack situation, you're the next email that they're looking at.

[00:34:19] If they get into somebody that you love their email while their, your family or a loved one is emailing you, and they're going to try and get into your email next. is a serious issue. It's a serious problem and you should not be afraid to get help immediately.

[00:34:34] Don't sit on it. Don't wait till the next day, get some help. So like and share, this podcast is on, enrichlifepodcast.com. You can also find us on all of your favorite podcast sites, as well as YouTube. We look forward to seeing you at the next one. Thanks so much and have a great day.