Tech
Ask the Tech Savvy: My Friend’s Aunt Says She’s Good at Cryptocurrency and Encourages Me to Invest $10,000
- Tech expert Kim Komando gives advice to a man worried about falling for a crypto scam
- Komando also helps a teenage girl get her father to follow her with an AirTag
- Ask Kim Komando a question about your technology problems or concerns
Dear Kim,
A new Facebook a friend says she has an aunt who is really good at cryptocurrencies.
After a bit of trouble with the names, I verified that these are real people.
Aunt showed me three trades where I made 15% on an investment of $500 in 10 minutes while watching on WhatsApp.
I haven’t lost any money at this point.
I wanted to know what you think before I give my aunt $10,000.
— Jim from Sacramento California
Dear Kim, A new Facebook friend says she has an aunt who is really good at cryptocurrencies. I wanted to know what you think before I give my aunt $10,000
Dear Jim
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Jim. This is the classic hog slaughter scam.
I know it seems like things have fallen into place – and that’s the point.
How can I be so sure? What is happening here follows exactly the script used by these criminals. I’ll outline it for you.
Cold outreach: Start with a random message, friend request, direct message, or comment.
Sometimes, the person claims it’s the wrong number or they just liked your profile picture. They are friendly and talkative.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t keep talking if I got the number wrong.
Feeding time: Your new friend slowly gains your trust.
They want to know about your life, maybe send you photos and tell you what they’re into.
Radio show host Kim Komando offers advice to help people navigate the world of technology
After a while the money arrives. It is usually in the guise of an investment opportunity.
They’ve done so well with cryptocurrencies that they want to share it with you too.
Fattening the Pig: This is where money changes hands, but only a small amount.
They will ask you to test with a small investment. Surprise, your money is already growing!
The person might send you a video, photo, or even an account to log in and see how your investment is doing.
Slowly but surely they will convince you to add more and more to your account.
Slaughter: Now you’re convinced and have invested even more. At this stage, victims can earn tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Higher net worth goals could cause millions of people to sit with the scammer.
You may realize something is wrong at this stage and ask to withdraw your money. It’s too late now. Just push and the scammer will disappear, along with all your money.
It’s time to unfriend and block your new friend.
Dear Kim,
I am a 32 year old woman with an overprotective single father. This week I discovered that she secretly placed an AirTag on my car.
I really value my freedom and privacy. I often go to great lengths to erase my social media presence.
Dear Kim, I am a 32-year-old woman with an overprotective single father. This week I discovered that she secretly placed an AirTag on my car
I make sure that only a handful of select friends can contact me and even fewer know what I’m doing. When I was alerted that an unknown AirTag (whose origin I immediately understood) was following me, I was furious.
I called my dad and confronted him. He was surprised that I had found out and he refused to tell me where he was.
I finally found the AirTag hidden under my car, glued to a magnet. I honestly just want to disappear and never see him again.
What do I tell him to make him understand that it’s not okay?
Dear reader, I’m afraid you are too old for this.
You are in a difficult situation: you love your father but not his authoritarian nature. It is unreasonable for any father to slap a hidden tracker in an adult daughter’s car.
About Kim Komando
National Radio Hall of Famer, host of over 510 stations, podcaster and technology expert.
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You absolutely need to talk to him about it.
Explain that hiding a tracker means he doesn’t trust you and doesn’t respect your independence.
It is meant to point out that he only put the tracker on your car because he loves you and cares about you.
After all, he was the only one who raised you.
That’s great, but there are better ways to demonstrate it.
Maybe you can call or text him more often to calm him down.
Tell him that when you travel you will share an itinerary. Take a self-defense course.
Make sure he knows you’ll turn on real-time tracking if you’re on a shared ride.
You’ll only feed the beast if you enable location sharing on your phone or use an app like Life360. You need to set boundaries.
Finally, some details on Apple AirTags. The AirTag must be within approximately 33 feet or 10 meters of an iPhone or other device for the Bluetooth signal to be detected.
You obviously use an iPhone because it warns you when an unknown AirTag is nearby.
For Android users, the process is a little different. To detect AirTags using an Android device, you can download Apple’s “Tracker Detect” app, available on the Google Play Store.
In case you’re wondering how long the AirTag’s battery lasts, it’s about a year.