Welcome to Money Matters , the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have , make the money you need and save the money you want . Now here is your host , ms Kim .
Chapman , welcome to another edition of Money Matters . Yay , it is 2025 . How many of you are glad to see the door close on 2024 ? No matter what happened in 2024 , it's in the past , and now we want to focus on 2025 and , specifically , how to financially thrive in 2025 .
Now that can be a bit challenging because , with AI , scammers are everywhere and we want to be able to keep your money safe . So today we're going to focus on financial crimes and with me I have an expert , a specialist here , sergeant Brian Lashua . Lashua . Right , correct , all right , and he's going to help us .
You know , look at how can we better protect ourselves and protect our money . I tell you , there are scams everywhere . I had him laughing . The other day Somebody sent me a $10 e-card for Chick-fil-A . I saw it and it took me less than a second to immediately delete it because I'm just so afraid of being scammed .
And later that day I actually found out it was a legitimate e-gift card . So hopefully he can help us find out what are the clues to look for , what's real , what's not real and how can we keep our money safe . So let's start with how do we define financial crimes ?
Financial crimes for the everyday person . Is somebody else wanting your money ?
Well , that could be me and taking steps to illegally obtain it . All right , so that's what we draw the line .
Right . So financial crimes what we're seeing you mentioned AI , which is starting to come into play , but a lot of the financial crimes that we deal with here locally in Baton Rouge is the same scams that these criminals have been running for years . They're just constantly evolving and progressing .
As technology changes , the scams change a little bit , but at its base , it's the same thing .
So what type of trends maybe , specifically , that you see in the Baton Rouge area ?
Lately . A lot of it has been to do with two things One , the gift card scam . With two things . One , the gift card scam . People will receive a call or get a pop up ad on their computer saying that their computer has been compromised or that they have a family member in jail in some city , and or they have a warrant for their arrest .
And whatever the scam scammers say to get them on the hook , they always want to be paid by gift cards or iTunes cards or Amazon gift cards and they convince the victim to go to all these different stores and purchase $500 gift cards and they'll get six , eight , 10 of them and scratch off the numbers on the back and either text them a photo of the card or
give them the PIN number , and as soon as you do that , that money is gone . What people have to understand is no legitimate business gets paid by gift card . That is your number one red flag . Nobody takes gift cards as payment , no legitimate business . Tactics that they use generally revolve around speed or fear .
They're going to try to make you afraid , either for your safety If you don't do this , a warrant will be issued for your arrest within the hour or the speed . Hey , you need to stay on the line while this is going on . You know , go ahead and go . Do this now If you don't Pressure Right .
So what age group , or is there a particular person or type of person that's targeted more so than others ?
I would say nobody .
No one group is targeted more than the others , because a lot of these scammers they don't know they're generally phishing scams and it just with technology , you know things like that , still pay their bills by checks , which is a whole nother conversation we need to have , but generally your elderly people are the ones that fall victim to it more often .
Generally your elderly people are the ones that fall victim to it more often . And I'd probably like to add busy people , because I think that sometimes , when we talk about scams , we often have Carmen Million with the BBB come in and talk about it . We're such a busy generation .
We're multitasking , we're doing five things at one time and in a calm environment oh of course you can't scam me , right . And in a calm environment , oh of course you can't scam me , right .
But when I'm busy and I've got a headache and I've got a deadline and the kids are screaming and the train is making me late , all it takes is just that one little second , that little window of time , right ?
And so , speaking of time , you know , of course we just got over the holidays , so we like to think that crime does ramp up , at least in my opinion , around that time of the year In your world , in terms of you see this all the time . Is there any particular time of the year that you see more crime , especially financial crime , than other .
Financial crimes generally are steady year round . Now we do see an uptick in specific types of financial crimes after certain events . During the holidays we see more credit card , debit card fraud because a lot of people are spending more money online . They're going to websites that may not be secure things of that nature .
After a hurricane we see a large uptick in residential contractor fraud Contractors coming in from out of state . They're not licensed . They do shoddy work . They get paid up front . They may work one or two days and then you never see them again . So it depends on what's going on at that time frame . But financial crimes are generally constant throughout the year .
It just changes depending on what's happening .
So if somebody feels that they've been a victim of a financial crime , what do you think is the first step ? What should they do immediately once that light bulb goes off and they're like oh my God , I think I've just been scammed or somebody's stolen my money ?
Call your bank , freeze your account . Okay , if someone does . Let's say , your credit card or debit card is compromised on a skimmer at a gas station , at a grocery store . We've been seeing those pop up here lately and the way the skimmers generally work , they have Bluetooth skimmers to where they can immediately download your information .
A lot of the ones we're seeing lately they're on a particular terminal in a grocery store , at a gas station and they're only there for one or two days and then the criminals come , pull them off and then they can download the information manually .
Well , once you see a charge pop up on your card for $30 at Domino's Pizza in Florida , call your bank , freeze your account , because at that point it's only $30 . But you have the information to know that your account is now compromised , so cut it off before it gets bad .
Wow , so what type of resources are available for people that have become victims of crime ?
Well again , the Better Business Bureau you mentioned them earlier is a great resource . But call your local police department , your local sheriff's office , whatever jurisdiction you happen to live in , and report it . I have very good detectives that work for me , uh , and we can begin investigating it .
Uh , a lot of times we can connect your crime to someone else's crime . Uh , especially nowadays , everything leaves a paper trail . Yes , so if your account is compromised , you lost X amount of money .
We can find out where that money went , and a lot of times your money went to a bank account , to a 75-year-old lady in Des Moines , iowa , and we call her , and she's actually a victim as well . Her account has been compromised .
They're just using that to funnel your money into her account and then from her account to someone else's account , and it may go through six or seven accounts before it finally lands overseas somewhere .
Generally , so we mentioned earlier , of course , that sometimes it is the senior citizens that are a little bit more vulnerable . So what can family members do to protect their loved ones , especially the older ones , from becoming a victim of a financial crime ?
Stay in touch with them . You know a lot of these elderly victims don't have active family members in their life . I mean they may have a daughter or a granddaughter that comes checks on them once a week . You know things like that .
But stay in contact with them , talk to them so they feel comfortable letting you know what's going on with their life , especially like the romance scams that we see a lot of with our elderly victims . They may feel embarrassed and not want to talk to you about that by the time . You know , keep active on their accounts .
You know , have access to their accounts just so you can keep track of everything . Uh , but by the time a lot of these family members realize what's going on I mean , a hundred thousand dollars may be missing and they're just too embarrassed to say anything .
Or they may still believe that this person they've been communicating with online truly is the love of their life and their golden years .
Perhaps right .
Right .
So how does law enforcement work with financial institutions to help detect financial crime ? And then I've always wanted to know how often do these consumers ever get that money back ?
Do these consumers ever get that money back ? So , as far as working with financial institutions , we have monthly or every other month meetings with a lot of the financial institutions locally through BRASBA , Talk about trends that are going on and financial institutions really work with us . Well , you know we need information .
We go through the courts , we get our you know the appropriate court orders or subpoenas , give it to the financial institutions and they give us , you know , whatever information we think we may need . I'm sorry .
What was the second part of the question ? I guess we'll cut it right there .
I don't know .
It's okay , that's know . Let me go back and see what was the first part of the question . Oh , detectives , crimes , and then you know how often is money recovered . Ok , gotcha .
Now , as far as victims getting their money recovered , we do recover a large amount of the funds . That's good to know . Sometimes it takes a while , especially if we are able to make an arrest on a case . It does have to go through the judicial process , which you know can take some time .
Yes , but restitution is something that the judges do order time , but restitution is something that the judges do order . If it's not a large amount of money , a lot of times the financial institution will just reimburse the victim , but at that point the bank is now at a loss , so the reimbursement would be issued to the bank at a later date .
So outside of okay , we've got the online shopping scams and definitely the financial institutions . What are some other scams that people should really be on the lookout for and what are those types of scams Like we talked about ?
Some things almost seem like it should be common sense that , oh , maybe I shouldn't be paying a company with a gift card , or perhaps you know why would somebody be saying I have to go to jail if I owe money . So what are those scams that maybe are just so unique and just kind of underhanded that even you know , the highest IQ person could get scammed ?
One of the ones that we have seen in the past few years . The criminals do a more targeted research on their victims . They will find out through social media or just public records , your family members' information , and you mentioned AI earlier .
They have called individuals hey , your grandson was in a wreck in New Orleans , Somebody's in the hospital because of it ? He was drinking . He needs $50,000 bail and it has to be posted within the next three hours . And so the name that they give is actually their grandson and they know their grandson lives in New Orleans .
Well , they can't call their grandson to find out because he's in jail to find out because he's in jail . So they go to their bank , they draw out the cash and then the criminals tell them hey , I'm sending a courier to pick up the money and they will send either an Uber or an accomplice .
They'll go by the house , they'll pick up $50,000 in a shoebox and leave , and the victim is waiting to hear back from their . He said I don't know what you're talking about . I haven't been in a wreck . Wow . I would like to talk about checks . Okay , that is a problem nationwide With the exterior blue US postal mailboxes .
You should look at those mailboxes as a shredder . Oh , wow , if you're putting mail in that it may not come out . If you do steal mail , mail your checks go inside , drop it at the box inside .
That is just a simple metal box outside and these criminals either have found a key somewhere or just use a crowbar and they're in and out of that box in under a minute and the checks that you mail for $30 for your Cox cable bill is being cashed in Houston for $3,000 . Wow .
So definitely keep an eye on your checks or pay your bills online through whatever institution . Again , the elderly generation doesn't necessarily feel comfortable with that . They can do it . They just don't feel comfortable . They would rather write out a check , keep a log of it . But those checks have all your information .
They have your name , your address , your bank account number and once you put it in that blue box you're taking your chances , and it's almost surprising because you don't see check writing as much today as you did 10 or 15 years ago . But I see the criminals have not avoided that . Right , Correct . Wow , that's pretty unique .
So you know , of course we talk about those red flags , things that you should look for . What are the things that you find that consumers just you know , I guess just not thinking what are those things that they're doing that just makes them an easy target .
Shopping online through unsecure websites . Everybody knows , at the top of the website , on the little address bar on the left , there's a lock Right and it's either locked or unlocked . If it's unlocked , don't do it . Don't do it . Don't put your information in there . Shop through either . Shop locally in person .
But if you do order online , go through your major companies . You know your Amazons , your Walmarts . Don't click a link on Facebook because you saw a product that you like . I was actually a victim of that .
Tell us about that .
About seven , eight years ago I'd ordered a bracelet from my wife that I saw on a Facebook ad . I actually got the bracelet in . Everything seemed legit . It was a good price not ridiculously cheap to where it would make you raise an eyebrow . And then , about 18 months later , I noticed a charge on my account and it was for like $5 that I didn't recognize .
So I researched it and this company that I bought that bracelet from had set up an auto draft and I had been paying $5 a month since I bought that bracelet for a year and a half . So I called the bank and we stopped it . I was able to be reimbursed .
It wasn't , you know , an exorbitant amount of money $5 a month , something that you wouldn't necessarily notice .
And that's what they were banking on Right .
And if I hadn't noticed it ? I mean , it took me a year and a half to notice it , but by that time they had a little money , you know , and I'm sure I wasn't the only one .
Of course , yeah , if you multiply that by all the people that you know don't look at their statements , and that's definitely one of my pet peeves .
We have to learn to look at our statements and look at what we're paying for , because , like you said , five dollars , one dollar , it adds up over time and so they're making , you know , tons of money on the other end , right ?
Whereas if they'd have been charging me $50 or $500 a month , I would have immediately noticed and they wouldn't have got anything but small amounts goes under the radar .
Well , definitely law enforcement , and there are always scams with law enforcement . So can you tell us what to look out for if somebody's trying to pose as a law enforcement officer ? Or those , like you said , they give you those calls to say , hey , we're going to arrest you if you don't take care of this debt ?
So what are some things that we should know law enforcement would never do ?
Well , several things . One with technology , nowadays phone numbers can be spoofed . Yes , you will get a . You could get a phone call on your cell phone and it will say Baton Rouge City Police , 389-2000 , which is our main number . It looks legitimate and people get a call . This is so-and-so with the Baton Rouge Police Department .
These are actual cases I've seen and they give the name of an actual Baton Rouge police officer that the criminals found in a newspaper or something like that . Generally , by the time it goes through , that officer has already retired .
But they will call and say hey , you have a warrant or you will have a warrant out for your arrest for an unpaid traffic ticket or whatever . Baton Rouge police or any law enforcement agency will never call you and tell you if you don't pay whatever money , you're going to have a warrant out for your arrest .
That's not something that happens If you have unpaid parking tickets . So if you have unpaid parking tickets , that's going to come from the court system and you will get a letter in the mail and then you can go on the court system website and look up and see what's going on .
No police officers ever going to call you and ask you for money at no point in time , under any circumstance . So as soon as you hear that , just hang up the phone .
And I think the people that have tickets out there , as soon as they hear it , they freeze and they react accordingly Correct .
Yes , that's just not something that we do . All right , so are there other financial crimes that our consumers should be aware of ? And then even further . We're talking about consumers on an individual , but it's because of individuals .
We had three or four cases and it goes back to speed and fear , where an employee would get a call hey , this is , or get a text this is your boss . I need you to go buy these gift cards to pay off this vendor . They do it , money's gone . We've already talked about that .
We've also had cases where they would call the cashier or whoever happens to answer the phone hey , this is the FBI . Your boss is under surveillance for money laundering . He's probably going to be going to jail for a very long time If you don't want to go with him .
Oh , wow .
I need you to prove that you're not involved in this . I need you to take all the money out of the register , I need you to take all the money out of the safe and I need you to go to a Bitcoin machine and deposit that money and they give them the Bitcoin address to send the money through .
Well , cryptocurrency it's still fairly new , but it's been around long enough to where law enforcement can track cryptocurrency to a certain extent . But it's very easy for the criminals to move that money from wallet to wallet to wallet and then it's gone . So again , the FBI is not going to call a business and say give us all your money through Bitcoin .
Take time , think about it . That doesn't make sense . Be intentional with your actions , with your thoughts . When the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up , just stop . Take a breath . You're not about to go to jail if you don't do this and just think about it .
Just plain old . Use that common sense . So you've been in law enforcement for a while . Can you tell us maybe some harrowing stories of financial crimes that you know ? Maybe even that hair on your head stand up .
There are so many . I mean , we've had religious institutions in the city that have been scammed for over a million dollars , wow , wow , by having lackluster security measures on their accounts where multiple people had access to , where their accounts and passwords were written down and left out in the open for anybody to see .
We're a church , right , honest people here ? Exactly no , I think people just need to know , like I mentioned before , be intentional with what you do with your money . You work hard for it . When you are scammed , you know the Baton Rouge Police Department or whatever jurisdiction you live in , those officers are going to work hard to try and get your money back .
Work hard to try and get your money back . But some of these , these scams that the gift cards , the checks there is a money trail , but the money trail can only go so far . We're here for the citizens , but the citizens have to be responsible for their own actions and just make smart decisions , because the scams are everywhere .
Yes , they most definitely are . So when they do contact law enforcement to say , hey , I think I've become a victim , what type of information should they be prepared to get , and is a police report done every time somebody is calling ?
If people call to report a crime , a police report is always written . They need to have the basic information about what happened to the initial reporting officer . Now , once that officer writes his report , the case will get forwarded to the appropriate detective division for follow-up . In these cases , it will come to my office . It will come to my desk .
I'll look over the cases . I'll assign it to one of my detectives . Now , when my detective calls you , they're going to need your account number .
They're going to need your name , date of birth , address , things like that , and some victims are a little wary of it because they were just a victim and if they don't feel comfortable giving out that information over the phone , my detectives will come out to your house and sit down with you face to face .
You know , let them feel more comfortable that way , because we need that information for any subpoenas or court orders that we issues . Hey , you know , five thousand000 was wired from this PayPal account . We need to know where it went . But we have to have that account number in order to get the information .
So any information , date and times of the transactions , if they have it , where the transactions took place , because the victims they can , you know , pull it up on their app or log into their account .
And they can pull it up on their app or log into their account and they can get that information almost immediately , Whereas if we do a court order , subpoena , it may take us two or three weeks to get that information , and speed is the key for us at that point .
We're trying to work these cases as quickly as possible because the quicker we work it , the higher probability of getting the funds back . So once we find out the funds went to this account , then we issue another court order to that bank . If those funds are still there , we can reverse the transaction .
Now , as unfortunate as it is , a lot of times people that are victims of crime , it's their own family members , people that they know on an intimate relationship , and you'll find people oh you know , I want my money back , but then I don't want to turn in my son , I don't want to turn in my brother , I don't want to turn in my uncle .
What advice or what recommendations do you make for somebody that finds themselves in that particular situation ?
They have to make a decision situation . They have to make a decision . We are a law enforcement agency . We are not the mafia that goes shake people down Again . We're not going to call you hey , you need to pay this money back or you're going to go to jail . That is not what we do .
If you would like us to investigate the case , we will investigate the case and at that point , if you find out that it's your family member that did it , the victim always has the opportunity to say okay , I don't want to press charges . The victim doesn't want to press charges .
then that's the end of it .
A lot of cases are coming in , not necessarily with family members , but with caregivers . Family member that has a daytime caregiver come through every day once a week . Whatever . Make sure it's a reputable company . Check the BBB , do any research you can on them because they have access to this family member's house .
Five checks on the back of the checkbook can be ripped out and never noticed . But now they have five checks belonging to this individual or they can get their debit card legitimately to go do their grocery shopping for them . Take a picture of the card . Now they have access to their card for any online shopping they want to do .
So just make sure you're going through a reputable company and it goes back to keep an eye on their statements . Make sure everything is adding up .
So here's an interesting question Are there any types of financial crimes that individuals can commit and not really realize ? Oh , that's illegal ? For example , when I do my classes and we're talking about writing checks and say for example , you wrote me a check , you legitimately wanted me to have it , but you forgot to sign it . You just flew off on vacation .
You're going to be gone for two weeks . Can I sign that check for you ? Of course I know that I can't , but in my mind I'm thinking , oh , but you know , sergeant Lashua wanted me to have this check . He's not going to be back for three weeks . I need this money . He knows I need it . He can't come back and sign it .
I'm just going to go ahead and , you know , sign his name . I don't even realize that that's a crime because you legitimately gave me that money . So are there any other crimes ? You know , in that case that's truly fraud , but something that somebody could do and not even realize . Oh , you're breaking the law .
Mobile deposit . Mobile deposit has become very popular . Yes , Not so much on an individual but a family . My wife does a job and she gets paid by a handwritten check . She mobile deposits it . Money goes into our account . She leaves it on the counter . I get up Saturday morning . Oh that's her paycheck . I take it , I go deposit it to the bank .
You're doing her a favor .
Right , Not intentionally trying to defraud . You know a bank or anything like that , but now we've just deposited that check twice .
So who's going to jail you or her ?
Well , at that point it would be me the law enforcement agencies could spot an honest mistake . But I'm at the bank and they're like , oh , this check's already been cashed . They call the police . Hey , he's in the bank right now and I'm sitting there , you know , playing Candy Crush on my phone , waiting for them to deposit the check .
But yeah , just be intentional with your mobile deposits . Let each other know what's going on . We've also had a case where a check was mobile deposited and they were notified that the funds would be available in 48 hours . And they were notified that the funds would be available in 48 hours . Well , they had to pay their car insurance that day .
So they canceled the mobile deposit , brought it to the bank , cashed it , got the money paid their auto insurance Well , the cancellation of the mobile deposit didn't go through . It was again deposited . But once the money showed up in their account twice they call us . Hey , what do I do ?
You know , like well , or they think it's just a miracle .
Right , exactly so yeah , mobile depositing . Just keep an eye on it . Use common sense Again . Be intentional with what you do with your money .
All right . Well , this has been some good information . Hopefully it will help all of our listeners handle their money a little bit better . Keep an eye on it so that it will be safe , so that they can reach those financial goals for 2025 . Any last pieces of advice that you want to give our audience .
Just be safe . I know I keep using the word intentional , but that's the world we live in now , where you need to keep an eye on your money . Nobody is going to look out for your money like you will .
Absolutely Well . Thank you , and hopefully this will help you keep your money safe so that you can financially thrive in 2025 .
It's time for Blueprint Building Blocks Quick , practical steps to strengthen your financial future .
Let's start building . Educate yourself on common scams . Stay up to date on current fraud tactics and scams so you can recognize the warning signs and protect yourself from becoming a victim . Next , strengthen your passwords and security settings .
I know I hate this too , but use unique , strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication on all financial accounts to help protect your account against unauthorized access . Now monitor your financial activity regularly . Regularly review your bank accounts and credit card statements for unusual activity .
If something is wrong , the sooner you catch it , the better off you will be in the long run . And finally , protect your personal information . Be mindful of where and with whom you share personal details , especially online , to reduce your risk of identity theft .
That's a wrap on today's Blueprint Building Blocks . Stay on track with your financial journey . Subscribe to the Money Matters podcast and visit neighborsfcuorg slash financial wellness for more tools to help you build a strong financial future .