Month: September 2019

At a workshop by Iowa Fraud Fighters, representatives from the Attorney General’s office shared warning signs of the different types of scams that target consumers. There are so many!

Everyone, but especially senior citizens are targeted by pyramid schemes, oil/gas/metal schemes, free dinner or vacation seminars, and promissory notes. Scammers prey on elderly who may not be as computer savvy and fool them into giving permission to allow the scammer to take over their computer and access all its data or they commit affinity group fraud by sending (false) messages to friends saying “I made this great investment, you should, too.” The presenters shared stories about “heartbreak schemes” where the caller knows enough information about loved ones to have you believe they are in trouble and need money now or callers that require a bank account number to deposit a “prize.”

Everyone in the room came with the thought: “Oh, I am smarter than that; I could never be conned,” but their stories and video of those who thought the same thing – yet still lost thousands or more – reinforced the sophisticated ways that “the bad guys” are using technology to make fake circumstances appear real — in person, via email, social media, calls or postal mail.

Their tips: never answer the phone of a number you don’t know; realize that paying by credit card offers more protection than gift cards, debit cards or cash; don’t rely on your Caller ID (scammers spoof the name and phone numbers); double-check all your bank and credit card statements and verify any charity or investment vehicle through the attorney general’s office before you donate. It sounds like common sense, but the only thing common about fraud these days is the frequency with which it happens to smart people.

While doing some purging, my sister found my childhood copy of Mother Goose in 5 Languages. It was a progressive concept back in the 1960s to have 45 rpm records with recitations of nursery rhymes in French, Spanish, Latin, German and English – probably the only place I heard a language other than English at that point in my life.

This book was trying to make the skills of language appreciation and cultural awareness easily accessible (and even fun) for children.

How can you adopt a similar approach and make things that are good for others become appealing? Having fruit cut up and on the counter instead of a tray of cookies. Making a company’s retirement savings plan opt-out instead of opt-in. Creating a neighborhood walking group that leaves from the bus stop every morning after dropping off the kids – when you’re up and out already.

In most cases, easy trumps good – you’ll do what is easy before you’ll do what is good for you. Take a lesson from Mother Goose and try to merge the two.

This week I paid a premium price to see Shawshank Redemption in the theatre – even though I own it and practically have it memorized. It was the 25^th Anniversary special showing and I thought I needed to take advantage of the opportunity to see it on the big screen for the first time.

I wasn’t interested in the film when it first came out, falsely believing that it was a film about prisons. It’s really a story about friendship – and about hope. I sometimes watch the movie when I’m feeling blue and need a dose of inspiration and renewed faith in the future.

As Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) says: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Everyone should have a go-to source of encouragement for those moments when doubt creeps in. Whether it’s a prayer, a song, a poem, or a movie — don’t hesitate to fuel hope with the words that speak to your spirit.

We need to destigmatize failure.

Everyone knows the saying of “trial and error” but somehow most overlook the “error” portion of the phrase. Too many times we try things and expect them to work, rather than going into the experiment with a mindset of learning – whether that be from success or failure. Most new things are learned from refining what doesn’t work. We need those lessons to be as valuable as the rest.

I have a paperweight on my desk that reads: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” For many people, the answer would be to do more than they are doing now.

Don’t let the fear of “errors” keep you from the trial portion of the equation. It’s by doing that we learn and only by learning that we can do new.