Ep. 1 – Living a Joyous Life

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/8749340/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/0d084e/” height=”90″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”custom”]Theme: Welcome to our exploration of living a consistently Joyous life. Party till checkout time!

Hello everyone, Welcome and Happy New Year! This is my first show of the year with Hub for Humanity and my dear friend Patti Teel. Patti and I go way back we’ll finally be doing a regular series and I am so thrilled to be spending time with you. We will be sharing experiences and insights with you about how to lead a vibrant, healthy happy life or as my tag line says, party till checkout time! We will use the structure from my new book, Joyous Every Day Living and also spontaneous topics that just come up to be explored.

The basic subject of all the talks is how to generate and maintain Joy or happiness throughout our lives and become accustomed to feeling good and choosing what makes us feel good. Believing that is our essential nature and purpose, so that we are in tune with and reflect the source of our aliveness.  That is the unblocked sense of self or life force and possibility.

Every year I decide to choose a word that describes my intention or direction for the year. Mine is Unlimited. After many years of paying homage to limitations and the accompanying forcing that it takes to move forward. Relaxed therefore, my backup word. Think about it, a theme will usually easily appear. Abundance, love, courage, self-care, expansion? What is your word for the New Year?

I recently had my first health experience, started with our natural disasters here in SB brought everything to the surface. I actually spent much of the holiday season doing “winter” or taking it easy and reflecting and identifying some of these learned patterns that were restricting me in every area. I didn’t dwell there but I did spend some time looking at where I was congested and looking at its source from my different parental lineages. We tend to focus so much on the pain rather than the message, what is it telling us me and what’s next.

Three part process of identify, I spent some great time looking at the patterns and their origins, not to stay there but to be able to differentiate between that and create new.  Be happy enjoy life now in a state of positive expectation.

Tell that new Story!!! So therefore the party how about choosing happiness? How about 2019 to be a year of fun and play! Sing and dance and laugh and smile and rejoice

Chapter one, one the of biggest ways to party and have life filled with Joy is movement.

For our unplugged segment:

Anger over the current politics and news, body parts, value in life and what they have done with it trauma over political system fear of being who you are.

It also brings up the topic of not letting outside influences disturb your happiness. in is that you allow the very forces that you are fighting against or disturbed by to win by giving them your power and your health and your attention. It is much more productive to place your attention elsewhere such is on all the positive things that are happening or that you could do yourself?

Joyous Longevity Segment 1:

Movement is essential for happiness, physical, mental and emotional. Get up and move or just sit and breathe. Find one way to do this daily!

 

 

 

 

Social Security Scam

Transcript

  1. I wanted to share a scam alert recently put out by the SB PD.  This was titled, Fraud Targeting Social Security Beneficiaries.
  2. The Inspector General for the Social Security Administration is warning the public and social security beneficiaries in particular to be aware of fraud schemes that target personal information.  As we know, scammers use this personal information to steal our identity and steal our money.

Comment:  What would be an example of how scammers might try and trick you into giving out personal information?

  1. Criminals use phone calls, emails and other methods to get your information.  For example, you might get an email supposedly from your bank, saying that the bank has detected possible fraudulent activity on your account, and asking you to click on a link, which then asks you to provide personal information to verify that you are the rightful account holder.   And the original email will have your bank’s letterhead, so you might be tricked into thinking this is actually coming from your bank.
  2. Another thing they are doing here in Santa Barbara is calling and saying that there is a big problem with your social security account and it may be cancelled.  You are then instructed to call another number where of course you will be asked for all kinds of personal information to verify your account.

Comment:   I can imagine that would be very frightening for a senior to think that their social security is going to be cut off!   What do the scammers do with this information?

  1. I’m guessing a lot of people don’t know this, but we all have the ability to go to the social security administration web site and access our social security information.  If a scammer gets your social security number, they can try and open a “My social security account” on that website using your ss number.  They can then redirect your social benefits to them!

Comment:  How awful!  So the victim will stop getting their benefits, and not know what happened!  And the benefit are deposited automatically in their account once a month, they might write checks against it thinking the checks will be good!

  1. Right – So then, they will have bad check fees on top of having no ss.

Comment:   What tips do you have to guard against this?

  1. One thing you can do is activate your own ss account, so the scammers cant.

Comment:   So in other words, beat them to it!

  1. And as we always tell people, never provide your personal information when receiving unsolicited calls of contacts.    And if you get a call from someone claiming to be from the SSA, contact the SSA on a number you know to do valid and ask them if they called.

 Comment:  What should a person do if they become a victim of this scam?

  1. You should contact SSA right away.   They will refer it to the office of the inspector general.   The toll free number is 1-800-772-1213.   And if you receive an email from SSA telling you that you have opened a “my SS account” and you did not, notify them immediately.
  2. You can also report suspicious activity to the SS fraud hotline 1-8-269-0271,   There is a number for deaf or hearing impaired:   1-866-501-2101










Fraudulent Online Vehicle Sales

Transcript

  1. I recently received a public service announcement from the FBI that I thought I should share with your listeners.
  2. This is a warning regarding the fraudulent on line sale of cars and other recreational vehicles.
  3. Here’s how it works: Criminals are posting online advertisements of items that they don’t have!

Comment:  So this could be a posting on Craig’s List?

  1. Yes, any online sales site.  And the ad usually includes photos matching the description of the car, along with a phone number or email address to contact the supposed seller.

Comment:   A lot of people buy and sell on line, and these are legitimate sales.   How can you tell the difference between a fraudulent sale, and one that’s legit?

  1. Usually the price is much discounted, and there is a need for speed.
  2. Once you make contact, the criminal will send you more photos along with a seemingly logical explanation, such as:
  • The seller is moving to another location or being deployed to the military
  • The seller received the car as part of a divorce settlement
  • The car belonged to a relative who has died.

Comment:  So the crook is trying to make it sound like they just want to get rid of the car, and will take a lower price

  1.   And of course they are usually out of state so the sale can’t happen face to face.

Comment:  So how is the transaction supposed to take place?

  1. Here’s the big red flag.   The buyer is told to purchase pre-paid gift cards in the amount of the sale price and to share the code on the back of the card with the seller.

Comment:   It seems that this is a red flag for so many scams.   If you are told to pay by way of a prepaid gift card, like a green dot card, it’s a scam.

  1. Very true.   And of course once you had purchased the gift card and given the crook the numbers on the back, the crook can activate the card and take the money.

Comment:   And I’m assuming the car will not be delivered. 

  1. That’s right. The crook will tell you the car will be delivered in a couple of days, but it never happens, and phone calls will go unanswered.

Comment:   If you want to purchase something on line, how do you protect yourself from this kind of scam?

  1. The FBI gives some tips:
  • Be suspicious if the purchase price is too low.
  • Avoid sellers who refuse to meet in person or who refuse to allow you to physically inspect the car.
  • Ask for the vin number, license plate and the name of the current registered owner
  • Use the internet to research the person or company involved in selling the car

Comment:   So if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.    If someone is a victim of this scam, where should they report it?

  1. The FBI asks that you report this on their website, ic3.gov.
  2. I also wanted to remind your listeners of something very important: If you lost money to a scammer and the scammer had you send money through Western Union, you can file a claim to get your money back!
  3. For example, if you fell victim to the sweetheart scam, or the tech support scam, or the lottery scam, any scam where you sent money to Western Union, you can file a claim with the Federal Trade Commission

Comment:  Is there a site people should go to?

  1. Yes, it’s FTC.gov/WU. The FTC stands for Federal Trade Commission, and the WU stands for Western Union.

Comment:  Is there a deadline for filing this claim?

  1. Yes, and this is really important: You need to file by May 31st of this year.   And your loss has to be between 1/1/04 and 1/19/17