My first home computer was a Comodore 64.  Let us not dwell on when that was in terms of the year.  Suffice it to say that it was long ago.  My first PC when I was employed  was an IBM PC with 2 5 1/4’ floppy drives, and no hard drive.  It cost the company maybe $5500.  I have owned many PCs since then.  So, even though I clearly remember using old tech like wired phones,

I remember calls from “boiler room” investment salesmen back in the 70s.
How about “airplanes”? Those chain letter type scams. I actually fell for one of those. I felt so bad that I refunded the people that got in below me.
The Iraq Dinar? I know two people who have died waiting for the currency to revalue, and another guy who still believes it’s going to happen.
The Nigerian Prince scam. A friend of mine lost a couple $k on this one. 

Sounds awful doesn’t it?
The Article in the WSJ was so painful to read but it led me to the awareness of how to protect myself and those I love.
in the article the problem was the spouse trusted the other spouse who was starting the long road of dementia.  How do you protect your financial well being from something like that?
HumbleDollar readers, how do you protect yourselves?  I need your wisdom.

Who Is the Victim of a Ponzi Scheme?

Age: Often 50 or older, particularly retirees looking for stable income or to preserve capital.
Education: Many victims are college-educated—some with advanced degrees.
Financial Status: Typically middle to upper-middle class, with meaningful retirement savings or liquid assets.
Investment Experience: Usually have some experience, but not deep technical knowledge—confident, but not always skeptical.

Sounds like a typical HumbleDollar reader, doesn’t it?
Each year, 20 to 40 Ponzi schemes are uncovered in the U.S.,

I saw this article in the Washington Post and thought that I haven’t sent a check by mail in years.  Am I the minority in this?
I pay all my bills electronically and once in a blue moon, I pay a few bills by the Wells Fargo app.
Also, if you pay by mail, what do do to protect yourself from what is described in the article?

There is an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal about how to find what there is about you on the internet and how to delete it if you want.  Here is the Link.
I read the article followed the suggestions and it was very easy.  I hope it works.  Has anyone tried this?

I just read about an excellent script to use when one gets a call purporting to be from a financial institution that is, “every time a financial institution calls: “Where are you calling from? Thank you. I’m going to hang up and call back.”
Then go find the institution’s phone number (from a statement, the back of the credit card, or by typing in the URL of the website itself and finding it on the website;

The risk of sensitive personal data leaks is higher than ever, fueling identity theft, phishing attacks, financial account hijacks, and scams. It’s also a time when nation-backed hackers skillfully target critical infrastructure like mobile networks. A major hack revealed last year led the FBI to advise trusting only end-to-end encrypted communications.
No security is foolproof against a determined attacker, but you can make yourself a harder target. Nancy and I have so far avoided major cybercrimes but have faced fraud attempts.

Would you recommend stocks and funds without knowing anything about the investors in question? Would you skip even the most basic investment research? Would you promise investors that they’ll double their money within months? Would you ignore the risk that your advice could cause irreparable financial harm?
Welcome to the world of cancer advice.
Multiple times each week, I receive messages offering advice that has the potential to severely damage my health. There are more than 200 types of cancer,

I’m starting to see sites offering passkeys. There’s a good explanation at this link of what passkeys are, how they work, and why they’re even better than passwords with two-factor authentication.
If you’ve begun using passkeys, what has been your experience?

Being my father’s son and of Scottish heritage, I consider myself to be extremely wary when it comes to falling prey to the grifters and scammers of the world. But this morning, I almost got taken.
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed to see what was going on when I came across a post from an acquaintance who I went to high school with announcing that her family was clearing out items from her father’s house.

YOU MIGHT RECALL my article warning about home title theft, where scammers try to claim ownership of your home. Since I wrote the article, the Federal Trade Commission has warned that one preventive measure, so-called title lock insurance, is bogus: It only alerts you to title fraud after the fraud has happened.
Thanks to a recent AARP article, there’s now greater awareness about home title fraud and ways to protect yourself. What can you do to prevent title fraud?

I was making a payment on Zelle recently which our landlord requires us to use to pay our rent. I had completed the process when I suddenly got an alert that I needed to make the payment again as they were having technical problems. This was a red flag to me so I did not make another payment.
I then looked at our checking account online and saw that my payment had been deducted. I also got a text confirmation from the bank.

Bob’s a little out of place in the 21st century. He does not own a computer. He does possess a recent iPhone, but not the depth of understanding to take full advantage of its capabilities. I have to admit that my iPhone skills aren’t all that deep either.
Bob just found out that his SS number is on the dark web. The notices suggested freezing his credit along with some other ideas to protect himself. He tried doing the work on his smart phone,

SOME YEARS AGO, an elderly neighbor came to our door, asking for a favor. She was looking for packing tape because she’d sold her television and needed to ship it. She went on to say that the buyer, who she’d found on eBay, was in Nigeria. It was, of course, an obvious scam. But for whatever reason, she couldn’t see it.
Today, scams like this are better known and easier to recognize. But what makes online fraud such a problem is that the crooks are always developing new tricks.