Why I Started the Easy Prey Podcast: Scams and Fraud

Hi, I’m Chris Parker , and thank you for checking out the Easy Prey Podcast —where I interview fascinating guests, both victims, and experts on scams and fraud. I want to provide entertaining and eye-opening information on the important topic of scams and fraud. It’s not that I think scams are a fun and exciting topic—not at all. But it is a very important topic for you to know about, now more than ever. Statistics show that one in 10 people will fall victim to a scam in North America this year. Every year, decent people and good companies lose billions (with a “B”) dollars scams and fraud…con artists and crooks. Let me give you some background on how the Easy Prey podcast came about. It started with my other primary focus and business. I am the CEO of WhatIsMyIPAddress.com , which gets more than 8 million visits every month. An IP address, if you’re wondering, is a number related to your internet connection whenever and wherever, you’re online. The same goes for other internet-connected devices too, like your mobile phone and tablet. Millions of people count on WhatIsMyIPAddress.com when they need to look up their IP address…and I’m glad to help them. And then there are thousands of people who want more than their IP address. They want help tracking down someone on the internet—someone who scammed them out of their money. Sometimes it’s a few hundred or thousands of dollars. And sometimes it’s their life savings. It’s always a terribly sad story, especially when the embarrassed and devastated victims are at their rope’s end. Out of desperation, they reach out to me, hoping I can help them find the person who stole their money. And it hurts when I have to tell them that there’s nothing I can do. For one this, It’s virtually impossible to track a scam artist down. On top of that, WhatIsMyIPAddress.com is simply not able to do that. Worse than that, it’s simply too late. Often, even the police can’t help scam victims recover their money because the money and the scammers are gone. I can only imagine what it feels like to be in that situation. So, I began researching and reading up on scams and fraud. We started writing more articles about it for WhatIsMyIPAddress.com . And I started appearing as a guest on various podcasts to talk about scams. I even made my first TV appearance to talk about romance scams. It was a start, but I wanted to do more. I came across a report on a survey of scam victims, conducted by a few well-known North American organizations, including the Better Business Bureau. The report concluded with this key fact. We are less likely of falling for a when we’re aware of the kind of scams are out there. In the other words, we’d be safer if we knew what danger signs to look for and what to do when we realize we’re talking to a scammer. The report said awareness is power, and that knowledge is the best defense against scams. That’s when I knew what I could do. I can’t help people after a con artist has ripped them off, I knew that. But, I realized I could help them avoid losing money to a scam in the first place . That’s an even better outcome. My goal is simple: to open my podcast listeners’ eyes to the different types of fraud out there, and how scams work, and then provide information that could help them avoid being easy prey and becoming a victim statistic. On the Easy Prey Podcast, I interview experts on tax scams, romance scams, phony lottery winnings, eBay and Craigslist rip-offs, phishing and more. I also talk about other situations where you could be “easy prey” for someone looking to take advantage of you. And if you’ve been a victim or some other type fraud scam, I would love to hear from you. Your story could be on the podcast if it might help prevent someone else from falling into the same trap. Visit easyprey.com/mystory for more information.