Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbs here with you until seven, and then Michael
Speaker 2: Monks will come aboard and undoubtedly give us all that
Speaker 2: we need to know via his wonderful, wonderful show Michael
Speaker 2: Monks Presents. That's from seven to nine. So make sure
Speaker 2: you keep it locked right here if you've missed anything
Speaker 2: thus far, featured segments under KFIAM six forty dot com
Speaker 2: is where you want to go to make sure that
Speaker 2: you keep up to date with this show, Michael's show,
Speaker 2: all the shows, but definitely this show. We just had
Speaker 2: a wonderful interview with our friend Ac Christiansen, Aaron Ac
Speaker 2: Christiansen of Animal Advocacy Network, and he's out there. He
Speaker 2: left southern California to go out to Texas. Let me
Speaker 2: just be clear, because he traveled by caravan to Texas
Speaker 2: to help with the animal recovery and rescue efforts, and
Speaker 2: he painted a really grim but hopeful picture of what's
Speaker 2: going on out there in Texas. Make sure you listen
Speaker 2: to that. It was something, it was impactful. We're also
Speaker 2: keeping tabs on some really big stories that maybe should
Speaker 2: be bigger, and I know we're covering it right here
Speaker 2: on KFI. You heard it right there from our KFI
Speaker 2: twenty four hour newsroom. There was a body of a
Speaker 2: toddler found early this morning in Panorama City in a
Speaker 2: parking lot, apparently in a trash bin. They're saying it's
Speaker 2: a residence, but that the toddler, approximately three to four
Speaker 2: years old, was found in this trash bin. Authorities are,
Speaker 2: of course investigating, but we don't have many details. We
Speaker 2: don't have a why, a suspect, any causation, anything. And
Speaker 2: this story absolutely needs to unfold so we can find
Speaker 2: out what the heck happened. President Trump announced the thirty
Speaker 2: percent tariff on Mexico and the European Union. It's going
Speaker 2: to take effect August first. Prices will shoot up if
Speaker 2: this tariff situation goes through. I know we're the tariffs
Speaker 2: are kind of threatened and then they pull back, but
Speaker 2: this one could very well happen on August first. And
Speaker 2: of course Vice President jd Vance is in the Southland.
Speaker 2: He's at Disneyland today enjoying himself, and we'll see what
Speaker 2: else he has in store. On his docket as he's
Speaker 2: in southern California. Will he meet with Mayor Bess? Will
Speaker 2: he meet with the supervisor and leadership out there in
Speaker 2: Orange County?
Speaker 3: What will he do? When will he leave? What will
Speaker 3: he eat? What will he wear?
Speaker 2: We'll find out as many details as we can share
Speaker 2: with you and make sure that we do so we
Speaker 2: have a talk back. You guys like our show, Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening. Let's hear what you have to say.
Speaker 3: And Tiffany, I hope you're having a good saturday.
Speaker 2: Thank you stocking me whenever I light up your woy
Speaker 2: comes on the radio. Oh okay, well, thank you, short
Speaker 2: and sweet and to the point, I appreciate she ate
Speaker 2: that I am having a good Saturday, and I hope
Speaker 2: the same for all of you. Kayla's not with us,
Speaker 2: but Richie is, so shout out to Richie who is
Speaker 2: manning all of the things production and doing a wonderful
Speaker 2: job keeping us on track. So I'm having a good
Speaker 2: Saturday because I have a great team around me. Raoul's
Speaker 2: in there, Nikki's in there, Brigitta's in there, and Richie
Speaker 2: of course, and Kayla, we love you, we miss you.
Speaker 2: We know she's listening and make sure you get those
Speaker 2: talkbacks in because she's listening as well. Now it's the
Speaker 2: sixth month, six month anniversary. I think anniversary might be
Speaker 2: an inappropriate name, but we know we're commemorating the six
Speaker 2: months that have passed since the Palisades and Eaten fires,
Speaker 2: and it doesn't feel like six months at all for me.
Speaker 2: It feels like this is something These fires are something
Speaker 2: that occurred maybe a couple of months ago. Six months
Speaker 2: is quite a long time for positive things, and even
Speaker 2: longer when it comes to a situation like this where
Speaker 2: survivors are saying they are still struggling because La has
Speaker 2: never experienced this kind of loss on this kind of scale.
Speaker 2: Measuring progress six months after the fires has been hard
Speaker 2: and painful, but it's being done, and whether it's considering
Speaker 2: the feelings of loss. Thirty people died, thousands of homes gone, countless,
Speaker 2: animal life, long term plans derailed, battles with insurance companies,
Speaker 2: financial duress, mental anguish, all of that after six months
Speaker 2: is still too raw for the people who were directly impacted,
Speaker 2: and progress does in fact still seem fleeting for many,
Speaker 2: especially those again who were the victims, are continuing in
Speaker 2: their healing from this situation. A an audio clip from
Speaker 2: KTLA that lays it out very well.
Speaker 4: It's been a long six months for those affected by
Speaker 4: the Eden and Palisade wildfires, and while city officials say
Speaker 4: eighty percent of residential sites have now been cleared, evidence
Speaker 4: like these burnt cars, charred signs, bulldozers, and building remains
Speaker 4: smelling of smoke shows how things are nowhere near back
Speaker 4: to normal in Altadena or Pacific Palisades. Governor Gavin Newsom
Speaker 4: came to town to mark the milestone and highlight the
Speaker 4: progress and hear concerns.
Speaker 5: None of us are naive that there are parcels remaining
Speaker 5: that need debris removal. They're close to two thousand people
Speaker 5: that have chosen their own path to the debris removal,
Speaker 5: and there are commercial properties that are independent of this process.
Speaker 4: The Palisades and Eaten fires burned a combined thirty seven
Speaker 4: thousand acres, destroyed more than sixteen thousand structures, and killed
Speaker 4: thirty people. This group of fire survivors says their community
Speaker 4: is still in pain every day and came together to
Speaker 4: share about the challenges of rebuilding, losing temporary housing, and
Speaker 4: still not getting payments from insurance companies.
Speaker 6: It has been disrespectful, disheartening, and predatory trying to get
Speaker 6: through all the paperwork and the insurance and getting things
Speaker 6: done on the property and who's coming over to do
Speaker 6: what for you?
Speaker 2: We need our insurance payouts now to survive and to rebuild.
Speaker 2: Thirty deaths, tens of thousands of acres, scorched, thousands of homes,
Speaker 2: multiple thousands of animals as well. Again the situation with insurance,
Speaker 2: and if you've been staying up to date on this story,
Speaker 2: then you know quite a few people have not received
Speaker 2: their insurance payouts or what they received was far below
Speaker 2: what they were expecting to be able to hopefully get
Speaker 2: them back on track. And then there's the mental anguish,
Speaker 2: the mental capacity that's being pushed for people who have
Speaker 2: experienced these two fires, which all contributes to the fact
Speaker 2: that modern Los Angeles, what we know LA to be,
Speaker 2: has never experienced this type of loss. So because we've
Speaker 2: never experienced this type of loss, there are no easy
Speaker 2: road maps to navigate how to best respond to these
Speaker 2: situations in the time since it has passed these fires
Speaker 2: have passed. There are individual challenges, there are collective challenges,
Speaker 2: and on the other side. We're going to go through
Speaker 2: what those challenges include. They cover cleanup, they cover assessing
Speaker 2: financial loss, they cover questions about neighborhood rebuilding, they cover
Speaker 2: city and county response. Because we're right here, it's fire
Speaker 2: season all year round, but especially in the warmer months
Speaker 2: of the year as we are in now. And if
Speaker 2: you're that fire app that we all download it during
Speaker 2: the fires, I can't think of the name of it
Speaker 2: right now, but that fire app that we all became
Speaker 2: very accustomed to. If you have that app, then you've
Speaker 2: seen it go off a lot over the last couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. What does that mean for the future should
Speaker 2: something like this happen again. So there are quite a
Speaker 2: few things that are being discussed in the six months
Speaker 2: since the Palisades and Eaten fires, and we will get
Speaker 2: into reviewing where we are as a region. On the
Speaker 2: other side of the break, It's Saturdays with Tiffany right
Speaker 2: here on KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand KFI.
Speaker 2: AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany
Speaker 2: Hubbs here with you until seven. It's Saturdays with Tiffany,
Speaker 2: as it always is at this time, and we're talking
Speaker 2: about the six months since the Palisades and Eaten fires,
Speaker 2: and in the last segment, I was struggling to remember
Speaker 2: the name of the fire app, that fire watching app
Speaker 2: that we all downloaded, because you downloaded it, I downloaded.
Speaker 2: It just ballooned back in January as we all were
Speaker 2: watching what was happening with the Eaten fire, the Palisades fire,
Speaker 2: and the other fires that were popping up around that time,
Speaker 2: and my best friend Michelle messaged me and said, watch Duty,
Speaker 2: Watch Duty. And I'm sure a lot of you were
Speaker 2: screaming at your radio or at your phone as well.
Speaker 2: That watch Duty app definitely became a source I think
Speaker 2: of anxiety and trauma. And since the six months have passed,
Speaker 2: we've kind of been quiet when it comes to fires,
Speaker 2: except for i'd say this last week to two weeks
Speaker 2: where my watch Duty app, which I still have, which
Speaker 2: was more or less dormant for a period of time,
Speaker 2: has now been again lighting up like crazy.
Speaker 3: Is just you know, notification and alert after alert.
Speaker 2: This fire one acre, five acres and everything is causing
Speaker 2: me to pause and basically assess the danger and that
Speaker 2: is born of the Palisades and Eaten fires and what
Speaker 2: happened six months ago on January seventh, thirty deaths, thousands
Speaker 2: of homes gone, thousands of acres scorched, and is undoubtedly
Speaker 2: one of the most one of the most dire, one
Speaker 2: of the biggest fires in history in California, only I
Speaker 2: guess superseded by what just happened about a week ago.
Speaker 2: And I think it's still burning out there. But when
Speaker 2: it comes to Palisades and Eaten, LA's just never experienced
Speaker 2: loss on this scale. So that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: The progress, if any, in the six months since the fires,
Speaker 2: and you can measure it in two ways. You can
Speaker 2: measure it individually speaking about the victim of the fire,
Speaker 2: people struggling with the deaths of loved ones. Thirty people
Speaker 2: again died. This was a deadly fire, determining whether to
Speaker 2: rebuild and what that entails, and also assessing the losses financially,
Speaker 2: can you rebuild, what does that look like? Do you
Speaker 2: know what then has to be navigated so that financially
Speaker 2: you can get back on track with your life. Those
Speaker 2: are individual concerns and then there are the collective concerns,
Speaker 2: and I would say even the vicarious concerns that many
Speaker 2: of us are watching as well. Will the neighborhoods that
Speaker 2: people lived in or that maybe you enjoyed visiting, will
Speaker 2: they ever feel and look like what they did? And
Speaker 2: many people six months out are saying no, they're saying
Speaker 2: they can't look like what they used to look like
Speaker 2: because of the way in which private investors, private companies,
Speaker 2: developers are coming into both the Palisades and the Altadena
Speaker 2: and Pasadena areas and buying up land.
Speaker 3: I remember when.
Speaker 2: We first recovering the story, we were doing wall to
Speaker 2: wall coverage for weeks about the Palisades and eaten fires.
Speaker 2: There were whispers about what the recovery process, what the
Speaker 2: rebuilding process would look like. And at the time, people
Speaker 2: were hopeful that they would be able to get back
Speaker 2: into homes, be able to rebuild their neighborhoods. Six months out,
Speaker 2: that's looking less and less likely because of the private
Speaker 2: development companies that have gone in.
Speaker 3: And then let's say you do want.
Speaker 2: To live back in your area, you want to live
Speaker 2: back in the Palisades, you want to live in Alta, Dina,
Speaker 2: or in those areas impacted in Pasadena. Can you afford
Speaker 2: to even live there? Has your neighborhood changed to the
Speaker 2: extent where the cost of living and the rental costs
Speaker 2: or the ability to buy a home has that all
Speaker 2: skyrocketed outside side of your grasp? If you have the
Speaker 2: ability to live there, do you even want to? Do
Speaker 2: you want to live back in an area that is
Speaker 2: a burned zone, is an active recovery zone. There are
Speaker 2: lots of questions, and for all of the uncertainty, there
Speaker 2: have been measurable changes since January. For instance, thousands of
Speaker 2: lots have been cleared, numerous lawsuits have been filed, there
Speaker 2: have been multiple investigations, many of which are still underway,
Speaker 2: and dozens of new building permits have been issued. But
Speaker 2: many people say that's simply not enough. When it comes
Speaker 2: to cleanup. Federal, state, and local officials continue to tout
Speaker 2: and kind of brag about the massive cleanup of the
Speaker 2: Eton and Palisades fired debris. They often say, and you'll
Speaker 2: hear them in press conferences, whether mayor Bess or governor
Speaker 2: Newsom or anyone else.
Speaker 3: They'll say, this is the fastest.
Speaker 2: Wild life or excuse me, wildfire recovery in modern history.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people are saying, okay, but it
Speaker 2: doesn't feel like it. And now that things are being recovered,
Speaker 2: Now that those nine thousand parcels and thousands of property
Speaker 2: or excuse me, thousands of pounds of debris, all of
Speaker 2: these things have been cleared away, what does that mean
Speaker 2: for us?
Speaker 3: The pace of the.
Speaker 2: Cleanup, the federally funded and organized cleanup through the US
Speaker 2: Army Corps of Engineers has resulted in two thousand properties
Speaker 2: per month being cleared. That's about twice as fast as
Speaker 2: the twenty eighteen camp fire. That's the one that decimated
Speaker 2: Paradise and has been the subject of a lot of documentaries.
Speaker 2: I think Eaten and Palisades will also receive their fair
Speaker 2: share of documentaries going forward. At the time, Paradise was
Speaker 2: and still remains the most destructive wildfire. Well, the Army
Speaker 2: Corps Engineers are saying, we've cleaned up the Palisades and
Speaker 2: Eaten areas twice as fast as that two thousand properties
Speaker 2: per month, and they're more or less boasting about the speed.
Speaker 2: But as workers continue to gather up the debris, clear
Speaker 2: the wreckage, there's the issue of toxic ash, contaminated soil,
Speaker 2: and other sort of debris that has been moved to
Speaker 2: these four local landfills, resulting in a lot of protests,
Speaker 2: a lot of animosity, and a lot of question about
Speaker 2: how people are going to be impacted by this toxicity
Speaker 2: and if you choose to live back in these burn areas,
Speaker 2: are you still living amongst toxicity. There's so much at
Speaker 2: play and it's going to take a long time to
Speaker 2: really parse through. Then you have the city and county response.
Speaker 2: Most people are still navigating the process to rebuild. You
Speaker 2: have county leaders like Mayor Bess who said that they
Speaker 2: were pledging the ability for property owners to get permits
Speaker 2: to rebuild. But many property owners are criticizing that pledge,
Speaker 2: that streamlined promise, a promise of streamlining the process of
Speaker 2: all of this as being too slow. They're saying that
Speaker 2: not nearly enough people are being granted the permits. More
Speaker 2: than six hundred and fifty applications have been submitted to
Speaker 2: LA's Department of Building in Safety, two hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: of them about have been approved, but one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty five permits have been issued. That is a far
Speaker 2: cry from the number of people who have applied. When
Speaker 2: it comes to FEMA and federal funding. What does that
Speaker 2: look like. Well, as of this week, more than three
Speaker 2: billion dollars in federal funds has been approved for individuals, families,
Speaker 2: and businesses impacted by the that's according to FEMA. But
Speaker 2: you have a lot of victims who are saying, we
Speaker 2: haven't gotten that money, How do we get that money,
Speaker 2: where does it come from, where does it funnel down from.
Speaker 2: And if they have gotten money, they're saying it's not
Speaker 2: enough or it's heavily limited or minimized compared to what
Speaker 2: they were expecting.
Speaker 3: And then there's causation. As fire season continues.
Speaker 2: There are lots of questions about the cause of the
Speaker 2: Palisades and Eaten fires, and there's no definitive cause from
Speaker 2: authorities for either of those fires, but there are certainly theories,
Speaker 2: their theories about the utility company, their theories about people
Speaker 2: involving themselves in the fire.
Speaker 3: But it leads a lot of it causes a lot.
Speaker 2: Of anxiety going forward because if there's no definitive causation,
Speaker 2: then there can be no definitive mitigation, which means people
Speaker 2: feel that they are sitting ducks for this to happen again.
Speaker 3: Legal issues.
Speaker 2: The fires caused a lot of legal issues between the utilities,
Speaker 2: between homeowners, between insurance, and again, people are saying that
Speaker 2: they are struggling six months after the fires. They're saying
Speaker 2: that many of whom have moved back at this point,
Speaker 2: that when they walk around the block, they're re traumatized.
Speaker 2: They say that it just doesn't look like what they remember.
Speaker 2: It feels like a bomb went off, and what made
Speaker 2: the area special is gone. Nearly eighty percent of the
Speaker 2: destroyed homes in Pacific Palisades are now completely cleared lots,
Speaker 2: and the same can be said for the Altadena area.
Speaker 2: So when communities are trying to rebuild themselves and they're
Speaker 2: looking at six months out since the initial situation, since
Speaker 2: the initial fire, they're really wondering will they be able
Speaker 2: to come back, And when they do come back, will
Speaker 2: they have again that strong and tight knit community that
Speaker 2: they once enjoyed. Many are saying no, but six months
Speaker 2: out certainly doesn't feel like a long time, and there's
Speaker 2: a yet a long time to go. When we come back,
Speaker 2: We're going to get into scammers. Gonna Scam one of
Speaker 2: our newest segments, one of my favorite segments. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: tell you about two stories about people scammers who want
Speaker 2: you to separate from your money, and unfortunately there are
Speaker 2: victims in this case, people who have gotten gut as
Speaker 2: you might say. I'll tell you about the stories and
Speaker 2: hopefully you won't fall victim to these newest scams taking
Speaker 2: hold around the Southland. Right here on Saturdays with Tiffany
Speaker 2: KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Kf I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tifmy hobbs here until seven, and then Michael Monks will
Speaker 2: be here taking over the big chair for his wonderful show.
Speaker 2: As always, thank you so much for listening up until
Speaker 2: this point. We have a few more segments to go,
Speaker 2: so don't turn away yet, but I do appreciate you
Speaker 2: sticking around with us. We're following some big stories, including
Speaker 2: Florida lawmakers were allowed to check out that alligator Alcatraz
Speaker 2: and they're not mincing words.
Speaker 3: Oh no.
Speaker 2: The lawmakers who were inside allowed quote unquote inside have
Speaker 2: said that detainees were packed into cages, so they are
Speaker 2: being very critical of what they're seeing inside of that
Speaker 2: immigration detainment center. Aka Alligator Alcatraz.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: As well, that child, unfortunately, who was found in the
Speaker 2: parking lot in Panorama City, deceased. There's still no information,
Speaker 2: no further information coming out about this ordeal. We do
Speaker 2: know that the child was approximately three to four years
Speaker 2: of age. We do not know the gender of the child.
Speaker 2: We do not know any causation or potential reason or suspects.
Speaker 2: But authorities are treating it as a crime scene for sure,
Speaker 2: and I believe that's Apropos will continue to follow that story.
Speaker 2: And then, of course we have Vice President jd Vance
Speaker 2: at Disneyland. He's there at Disneyland with a thirty person entourage.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine being behind him in line. I would
Speaker 2: be pissed if I had to wait for thirty people
Speaker 2: in a group to figure out the seating and they
Speaker 2: get to fast track to the front of the line.
Speaker 2: But I guess, I guess that's a perk of being
Speaker 2: vice president if there are no others. And then lastly,
Speaker 2: right now, there's actually a protest going on in Torrance
Speaker 2: across from City Hall on Torrance Boulevard. People are up
Speaker 2: set that there is a proposal to build housing for
Speaker 2: homeless people. I think one of these hotels or apartment
Speaker 2: complexes is being converted into homeless housing, and the residents
Speaker 2: there are saying, Nope, not in our city. So they
Speaker 2: are out there in Torrents protesting en mass and we'll
Speaker 2: keep you up to date on what's going on there.
Speaker 2: You like your money, I like my money. I don't
Speaker 2: like scammers. But as we know, scammers gone a scam,
Speaker 2: And we have two new scams for you. Unfortunately that
Speaker 2: you may have already fallen victim two. You might be
Speaker 2: primed to fall victim two. And I'm hoping to caution
Speaker 2: you against falling victim two, starting with our very first one,
Speaker 2: which involves those PPP loans. Remember those PPP loans and
Speaker 2: Economic Injury disaster loans that were issued to folks during COVID,
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, twenty twenty of March right March twenty twenty
Speaker 2: through April twenty twenty one, one, that year long period
Speaker 2: in which PPP loans were issued to folks who mated them,
Speaker 2: some didn't, And we definitely found out that there were
Speaker 2: certainly people who took advantage, and then there were people
Speaker 2: who all outscammed the system. And the newest suspects in
Speaker 2: this scam are local boys. One is from Burbank and
Speaker 2: one is from Glendale. We have Noraian Madati, forty years
Speaker 2: old from Burbank and vaz Rick Madatti, brothers from Glendale.
Speaker 3: The older brother, vaz Rick.
Speaker 2: Madatti, forty four, may or may not have pressured at
Speaker 2: the younger brother.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm just surmising you know that peer pressure.
Speaker 3: Who knows?
Speaker 2: But we do know that the two brothers were arrested
Speaker 2: for allegedly defrauding the government of get this, two point
Speaker 2: seven million dollars through a scheme that targeted COVID relief
Speaker 2: funds and small business loans. This is according to the
Speaker 2: US Attorney General Office. Now, the alleged crimes took place
Speaker 2: from March of twenty twenty, just as COVID was really
Speaker 2: becoming publicized through April twenty twenty one, when we were
Speaker 2: in the throes of everything unprecedented times. According to the indictment,
Speaker 2: no Ryer, the younger brother, was a banker at Wells Fargo,
Speaker 2: and he opened fraudulent accounts with the names of fake
Speaker 2: companies and stolen or fake identities. Stolen identities that could
Speaker 2: have been you. If you experience some sort of major
Speaker 2: fraud during that time. Then perhaps you are now happy
Speaker 2: to find out, if you didn't already know, that the
Speaker 2: suspects in that crime in which your identity was stolen
Speaker 2: and used to secure PPP loans and disaster loans have
Speaker 2: been caught. The brothers obtained these two point seven million
Speaker 2: dollars through the PPP program and the Disaster loan program.
Speaker 2: According to prosecutors, they're also accused of submitting loan applications
Speaker 2: with fake and stolen identities. They also had false statements
Speaker 2: about revenues, operations, and employees. They were very detailed with
Speaker 2: their scamming. Two of the stolen ID victims were developmentally
Speaker 2: disabled and lived in long term care facilities. That's according
Speaker 2: to court documents, so they were preying on everyone indiscriminately,
Speaker 2: the developmentally, developmentally able and the developmentally disabled. They were
Speaker 2: taken into custody. These two brothers, forty years old and
Speaker 2: forty four. What a life right just this three days
Speaker 2: ago July ninth. Both were charged with one count of
Speaker 2: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud,
Speaker 2: and three counts of money laundering. The younger brother additionally
Speaker 2: was charged with one account of aggravated identity theft and
Speaker 2: one count of making a false statement to a government agent.
Speaker 2: They could face up to twenty years in prison for
Speaker 2: each wire fraud related count and up to ten years
Speaker 2: for each money laundering account. They were released on twenty
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars and fifty thousand dollars bond, respectfully, the
Speaker 2: younger getting twenty five thousand dollars bond and the older
Speaker 2: being released on fifty thousand dollars bond. We'll see if
Speaker 2: they disappear. I don't know if I would have released them.
Speaker 2: But they were released and their trial date is scheduled
Speaker 2: for September second, so they have about two months until
Speaker 2: they have to report and they are out.
Speaker 3: So be forewarned.
Speaker 2: All right, Next and last scam and scammer's gonna scam.
Speaker 2: There are lots of websites online, whether through your social media, Google,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be. And these websites are not necessarily
Speaker 2: credited or accredited legit. They are false shell websites that
Speaker 2: may use the insignia, may use the branding of a
Speaker 2: brand familiar to you, say Shell gas station or say
Speaker 2: o Maha Steaks, or say Apple or Michael Core's Harbor
Speaker 2: freight ARII, whatever it may be, but these websites are
Speaker 2: completely false.
Speaker 3: They use the name and the.
Speaker 2: Labeling, but what they are doing is they are sifting
Speaker 2: your information and then funneling or selling that information to
Speaker 2: third parties to be able to then separate you from
Speaker 2: your money. Everything looks real, the logos, the layout, even
Speaker 2: Apple and Google pay are payment options, but by the
Speaker 2: time you realize you've been scammed, it's too late. I'm
Speaker 2: going to tell you a little bit more about this
Speaker 2: scam on the other side of the break, and before
Speaker 2: we talk to Michael Monks, we're going to get into
Speaker 2: why the t DA is now allowing you to take
Speaker 2: your shoes off in the security line at the airport.
Speaker 2: But what they want you to know before you just
Speaker 2: take or keep your shoes on. I said, take your
Speaker 2: shoes off, keep your shoes on. See I'm still getting
Speaker 2: used to the rollback. You can keep your shoes on,
Speaker 2: but they want you to know some things about what
Speaker 2: to do with these shoes on in the security line.
Speaker 2: We'll get into all of that more clearly on the
Speaker 2: other side of the break. Tiffany Hobbs here with you
Speaker 2: at Saturdays with Tiffany Kfi AM six forty Live everywhere
Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand KFI.
Speaker 2: AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio App. Tiffany
Speaker 2: Hobbs here with you for one final segment. Then Michael
Speaker 2: Monks will be here for Michael Monks Presents from seven
Speaker 2: to nine.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: We're talking about scamming, and I'm extending the Scammer's Gonna
Speaker 2: Scam segment just a little bit before we get into
Speaker 2: the TSA situation with you being allowed to keep your
Speaker 2: shoes on. Thank you TSA because the smells the smells
Speaker 2: alone in the security line. Yeah, all right, So back
Speaker 2: to Scammer's Gonna Scam. I'm telling you about a huge
Speaker 2: scam that's not just impacting California, but it's really a
Speaker 2: global issue that has to do with these fake websites
Speaker 2: that advertised products that look just like.
Speaker 3: The real thing.
Speaker 2: The website itself looks like the real thing. And you
Speaker 2: might have seen something for OREI, that really expensive outerwear brand,
Speaker 2: or Omaha Steaks talking about steak earlier and cross with Neil.
Speaker 2: Omaha Steaks very popular steak Importer, Exporter don't know.
Speaker 3: Uh, distributor.
Speaker 2: Then there's also other sorts of companies Harbor Freight, Apple,
Speaker 2: Michael Cores, and the list goes on and on. And
Speaker 2: what's going on is that these sites look legit, they
Speaker 2: look real. You go through, you buy everything, you enter
Speaker 2: your card information. You know, if you look closely, something
Speaker 2: might look a little off, but it's not a red
Speaker 2: flag enough for you to stop. You just go through,
Speaker 2: You send your payment through. You're expecting that two hundred
Speaker 2: dollars you know bike that actually costs fifteen hundred dollars retail,
Speaker 2: but this site has it for two hundred dollars or
Speaker 2: fifty nine ninety nine or whatever crazy deal it may be.
Speaker 2: And we've all gotten tricked by these crazy deals. They
Speaker 2: prey on us. They know we're vulnerable. And when you
Speaker 2: send all of your payment through, you'll get a tracking number,
Speaker 2: and that tracking number leads to nothing. You go back
Speaker 2: to the website because you're trying to figure out why
Speaker 2: is it now a month since I, you know, did
Speaker 2: this order and the shipment said it was only going
Speaker 2: to take four to six days. It's been a month,
Speaker 2: and you go back to the website. The website's gone
Speaker 2: it's completely gone. You have effectively been duped these criminals. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: it's what they are not Unfortunately, we're not going to
Speaker 2: show them any grace. They're criminals in every sense of
Speaker 2: the word. They are often based overseas, most popularly in Asia,
Speaker 2: usually in China. They take your payment, they ghost you.
Speaker 2: You don't get the product, you don't get a refund,
Speaker 2: there's no customer service to complain to.
Speaker 3: You've been totally faked out and fed up.
Speaker 2: To be honest, you're out of all of your money,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be, ten dollars, hundreds of dollars, whatever
Speaker 2: it may be. Anecdotally, I remember my mother being so
Speaker 2: kind and she's listening I love you, Mom, and she
Speaker 2: did something that I asked her to do. I wanted
Speaker 2: a Christmas present a good daughter, So I said, you know, mom,
Speaker 2: got get this Christmas present. And in twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: I think it was, and I said, can you get
Speaker 2: me this compact treadmill because gyms weren't really opened back
Speaker 2: up at that time, and we weren't really doing the
Speaker 2: gym thing during COVID for whatever your beliefs were, just
Speaker 2: wasn't comfortable.
Speaker 3: So I said, you know, can I get this, Mommy, please,
Speaker 3: can you get me this compact treadmill? Please, please, please please?
Speaker 2: You can combine my birthday and my Christmas gift, my
Speaker 2: birthday's gim minor. First, she said, okay, and I think
Speaker 2: the compact treadmill cost on this website that I saw
Speaker 2: on Facebook or Instagram, it was like eighty nine dollars
Speaker 2: or ninety nine. It was something less than one hundred
Speaker 2: or write about one hundred dollars. I had seen them
Speaker 2: advertised a lot during the COVID lockdown. They were usually
Speaker 2: around that price or two hundred, so I was like,
Speaker 2: this is a deal, this is great.
Speaker 3: She ordered it.
Speaker 2: She entered her payment information, she got a shipping estimate
Speaker 2: tracking number. After about a month, thing never came, had
Speaker 2: pictures of it, no actual product never came. You know,
Speaker 2: six weeks comes, eight weeks comes. Now We're both like,
Speaker 2: this thing isn't coming. We got scammed. So you try
Speaker 2: and go on the customer service area of the website.
Speaker 2: There's no one to talk to. And luckily for my mom,
Speaker 2: she was able to dispute the charges through her bank
Speaker 2: because she used an appropriate measure way of payment, whereas
Speaker 2: others many others have not been able to recoup their losses.
Speaker 2: And the thing about I never got the treadmill, by
Speaker 2: the way, and just ended up having to go back
Speaker 2: to the gym, which is fine, but even worse that
Speaker 2: these scam sites are popping up faster than regulations can
Speaker 2: shut them down, faster than hosting companies can take them down,
Speaker 2: and even now as we talk, there are many of
Speaker 2: these websites that are still absolutely up. I saw one
Speaker 2: on Facebook that was mimicking a website for this kind
Speaker 2: of bohemian clothing brand, and it looked exactly the same
Speaker 2: word for word, color for color, graphic for graphic, except
Speaker 2: for the fact that the fake website, unbeknownst to the
Speaker 2: many customers there in the comments especially, was advertising the
Speaker 2: goods at about seventy five percent off. So people were
Speaker 2: going to the fake website that was advertising a huge
Speaker 2: summer sale and buying the goods finding out through the
Speaker 2: legitimate website who had to them post regularly on social media,
Speaker 2: Hey guys, that's a scam. Don't buy with them. We're
Speaker 2: trying to get them taken down, but we're having trouble.
Speaker 2: But don't buy with them. Hundreds of comments of people
Speaker 2: saying they sent any amount of money to the fake
Speaker 2: website and that they were unable to get any sort
Speaker 2: of refund. So if you suspect that you might be
Speaker 2: looking at something that is too good to be true,
Speaker 2: it probably is. Here are some other tips to make
Speaker 2: sure you don't fall for these scams. Slow down and read.
Speaker 2: If there are misspelled words, weird domain names, something that
Speaker 2: has an S that shouldn't have an S, probably not real.
Speaker 2: Use virtual cards or a credit card, not a debit
Speaker 2: card when you're shopping, especially back to schools coming up,
Speaker 2: holidays are coming up, try and use a virtual card
Speaker 2: or a credit card so that you can have some
Speaker 2: sort of fraud protection.
Speaker 3: Also, if you like something for Nike, go to Nike
Speaker 3: dot org.
Speaker 2: Don't click on a URL a website name that advertises
Speaker 2: itself as being kind of.
Speaker 3: Nike carrying maybe Nike.
Speaker 2: Products, because if the deal looks too good and those
Speaker 2: nineteen dollars shoes that usually retail at two hundred dollars
Speaker 2: or advertise there, then it's probably a scam.
Speaker 3: No, it's not a scam.
Speaker 2: You can keep your shoes on during airports screenings. But
Speaker 2: here's what the TSA wants you to know. They say
Speaker 2: that they're you know, people are probably going to rush
Speaker 2: to keeping their shoes on, but make sure that you aren't,
Speaker 2: of course, keeping anything in your shoes that would need
Speaker 2: to be removed, whether it's jewelry or definitely don't keep
Speaker 2: anything that might set off a huge issue in that
Speaker 2: tsa screening, laying no sort of weaponry. All this is
Speaker 2: common sense, but they're saying it because people are going
Speaker 2: to do it.
Speaker 3: They're going to try and.
Speaker 2: Get through their alcohol or get through their weed or
Speaker 2: whatever it may be. Make sure that you're not doing
Speaker 2: that because very quickly they could reverse this new policy
Speaker 2: and have us taking our shoes back off. And I
Speaker 2: don't want to smell your long weighted toe funk as
Speaker 2: you are waiting to board your fight. Okay, I just
Speaker 2: you know, we got to do this right, got to
Speaker 2: do this right. Michael Monks is coming up seven to
Speaker 2: nine with Michael Monks Presents. He's going to have a
Speaker 2: great show. Make sure you listen. Thank you for listening here.
Speaker 2: You can still send your talkbacks, just address them to me,
Speaker 2: or make sure you address them to Michael Monks. We
Speaker 2: get that confused sometimes. And I'll see you right here
Speaker 2: next Saturday. From five to seven on Saturdays with Tiffany.
Speaker 2: It's been a blast. Have a great weekend. KFI AM
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