Life Savings Gone With One Click

インデックス作成: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]So, kind of setting up our porch again so we can get sitting on it. Got the firewood stand off of it. Got our chairs back up here. Carolyn's got a table up here we can sit and drink our coffee from.

[00:00:13]So.

[00:00:15]I like holding the camera, but I think I'm just going to sit back and relax today.

[00:00:22]So, business is really slow and I just can't figure it out.

[00:00:27]I mean, people say the economy, the economy, the economy.

[00:00:32]But when I look at the economy, it's no worse than it was 2 years ago. Gas prices were just as high 2 years ago.

[00:00:39]Egg prices were through the roof.

[00:00:41]I mean, I think they were close to $8 a dozen.

[00:00:45]And now they're like a $1.50 a dozen.

[00:00:47]So, I don't see it as through the roof.

[00:00:51]I guess I'm wrong.

[00:00:54]But I mean, just things don't seem that bad to me.

[00:00:58]But for whatever reason, people aren't bringing in their lawnmowers. Now, it has been a lot colder. I was looking at some other videos the other day uh from last year, this this time span last year, and I was just covered in sweat and had a I don't know, four or five lawnmowers sitting here.

[00:01:14]So, I got a weed eater and a chainsaw right now and I'm waiting on carburetors for both of them.

[00:01:21]But I I look at other, you know, Facebook groups, I look at YouTube channels, and they don't seem all that busy either.

[00:01:28]So, I guess it's just a slow time of the year, whether it's the weather, but what I will say is I keep seeing everybody wanting their boats detailed.

[00:01:40]So, that But yesterday I I noted that the summer rentals for for built, you know, people who come out here for the summer rentals is only at 17% this year. So, it's way down.

[00:01:57]But then a guy that I know has been on this watching my YouTube videos for years.

[00:02:03]His name's U Rome.

[00:02:06]I hope that I'm saying that right. It's either U Rome or U Rome 1.

[00:02:10]And he makes YouTube videos and I You know what? You You ought to go check him out.

[00:02:15]He does a lot of uh Bible studies and he also does a lot of uh automotive repairs.

[00:02:22]So, go check him out. I'd appreciate it just as a personal favor.

[00:02:26]Yeah.

[00:02:27]You know, we talked once about uh helping you about about him becoming monetized is what it was.

[00:02:35]And uh you know, it is a real struggle. I will give him that. It is It is terrible trying to grow a YouTube channel.

[00:02:46]Anyway, go check him out. I'd appreciate it.

[00:02:48]So, I don't know. I guess business Did I tell you what he did? Anyway, he he he messaged me yesterday and said that his business is a little slow, too. So, that Although, I feel bad for him. That's not what I'm trying to say here. I don't want you to think I'm being callous to his business problems.

[00:03:08]Made me feel like at least I'm not in this sinking boat alone.

[00:03:13]So, it was kind of good news to me that, you know, just get through this year and maybe next year things will pick up. I mean, people have to have lawnmowers.

[00:03:23]I mean, I'm kind at a disadvantage.

[00:03:25]The this I guess the thing that I am worried about the most is weed eaters.

[00:03:33]People are going to buy electric weed eaters. And that's just that's just a given. So, they're not going to buy gas weed eaters anymore. Unless they go to Home Depot, they might pick up uh What are those uh Troy-Bilt I guess it's Troy-Bilt.

[00:03:49]So, uh I don't even think it's Troy-Bilt. What is that? I don't know.

[00:03:53]Um Yeah, Troy-Bilt.

[00:03:57]But I would imagine a lot of them just go to Walmart and pick up a weed eater.

[00:04:02]So, that brings me to are they buying electric lawn mowers?

[00:04:08]You know, riding mowers.

[00:04:10]And I bet they're not. I I just I just bet they're not.

[00:04:14]And I think there's a mentality in the country of Missouri, in the country.

[00:04:18]Now, I'm not talking about the city, but in the country they got to have a gas-powered lawn mower. And I think buying an electric lawn mower on lot, you know, in in the in this area, it's just full of hot rocks and hills.

[00:04:31]I don't know if they could actually do it.

[00:04:33]I wouldn't buy one, not for this not this for this property.

[00:04:39]So, I guess I got a few things going against me.

[00:04:44]And Carolyn and I have talked about it quite a bit, you know, we're it's it's the lawn mower repair business is extra business extra money. We don't need it.

[00:04:54]It's just extra.

[00:04:56]You know, don't get me wrong. I like having the lawn mower business.

[00:05:01]It's a dream that I've always wanted to do.

[00:05:04]But I guess some years you just have bad years. I don't know.

[00:05:07]You know, if you can suffer through the bad years, and I figured that out when I was ran my own consulting firm. You get through the bad years, the good years are just beyond amazing.

[00:05:16]So, the thing I really wanted to talk about today is I made a stupid stupid stupid mistake. I I I I don't even know what Well, I do know why I made this mistake. I panicked is what it was.

[00:05:32]And it it just took over. My panic did.

[00:05:37]So, I am very cautious about hackers because I have a YouTube channel. And you hear it all the time on YouTube, people getting hacked, losing their channel for days, and it's just tons of work trying to get your channel back.

[00:05:52]And the reason I would say 90% of these people get hacked is we get offers every stinking day in you in email wanting you to sell some of their product.

[00:06:05]And it's almost impossible to figure out anymore if it's a hacker or if it's a legitimate business.

[00:06:11]The only company that has contacted me that I feel like is absolutely legitimate is Hippo they sell aftermarket lawn mower parts.

[00:06:21]And the reason I feel like they were legitimate was they contacted me through my YouTube channel.

[00:06:27]Not through email.

[00:06:28]And then they asked for my email address.

[00:06:31]But I still haven't contacted Well, I I guess I did contact them. I didn't give them any information.

[00:06:36]Nothing.

[00:06:37]So, I feel it I mean it was just a reply to an email is what it was. I didn't click any links or do anything like that.

[00:06:45]I just replied and they said, "Oh, no, we'll give you a free carburetor if you'll advertise it."

[00:06:50]So, you know, that's that's pretty good.

[00:06:51]I've never taken them up on their offer.

[00:06:54]And I've gotten other salesmen to contact me. But that that's that's the only one I've ever contacted.

[00:07:02]And then years ago I contacted Berkey.

[00:07:04]But that was before this hacking thing became such a big deal.

[00:07:09]I I forget how it was. I I guess they contacted me.

[00:07:14]Walmart contacted me once.

[00:07:17]But the rest of them I I feel like are just complete um you know, just really sketchy. So, I I don't even look at them anymore.

[00:07:27]As soon as I get them I just swipe them away. I I don't even open them up. I don't look at any of them. I don't care what the business name is.

[00:07:34]Doesn't matter to me. I just don't look.

[00:07:37]Because my YouTube channel is everything. If I lose that then I don't know. That would be a tough tough pill to to swallow. Just today I watched a video of this lady. She created a second Google account. I'm not really sure exactly what happened, so I'm not going to try to pretend I do.

[00:07:53]But she she created a second Gmail account is what she did.

[00:07:58]And somehow that account got hacked.

[00:08:00]And it shut down her other Google account.

[00:08:04]So somehow both accounts got hacked. I mean it like I said, I don't know exactly what happened. But she's lost her YouTube channel. She's lost Google, and she has apparently from what she says no way to access anything.

[00:08:15]And it's not like you really contact anybody. I mean you can go on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it. I think there's a way to contact people there.

[00:08:23]But you know, it's just it's better just not to not to click anything.

[00:08:29]And I'm so paranoid about it.

[00:08:31]I I don't ever click anything. I I don't do anything strange like create second accounts or nothing. I don't do anything like that. Anything that can be tied to my email account or my YouTube account or my Google account, I don't touch.

[00:08:48]When not long ago I guess somebody tried to hack my account and failed. So they locked my account out for 7 days.

[00:08:56]I mean I didn't have access to anything.

[00:09:00]But for some reason they still allowed me to upload videos on my phone.

[00:09:06]So that's what I did. I just I didn't understand why I was able to have access to my phone.

[00:09:15]I guess cuz I was using apps. It's about the best thing I could come to the conclusion of. Uh you know, the YouTube studio app, the YouTube app, the Google app, the Gemini app. I was using apps. But anytime I went to the internet on my phone, I was locked out.

[00:09:34]So that was the only thing came to mind.

[00:09:36]So fortunately I still had a backup of plan. And just like the other day, YouTube wouldn't let me upload a video from my desktop. They had a problem.

[00:09:44]They had a a legitimate problem they fixed.

[00:09:47]But, I noticed that nobody uploaded videos that day.

[00:09:50]Well, I again was able to get on my phone, upload a video. It was a real pain. It didn't work smoothly.

[00:09:57]But, I got through it. And it took several hours to get through it.

[00:10:02]But, you know, you just just don't do anything that causes the the algorithm to think, "Whoa, this ain't the right person."

[00:10:12]But, boy, I tell you this morning, I made an absolute catastrophe move. I don't even know what I was thinking.

[00:10:19]Fortunately, I lucked out. I really did luck out. Well, I kind of lucked out.

[00:10:24]No, I totally lucked out. Let's I don't know how to put this. So, I have a checking account from one bank and a a savings account from another bank.

[00:10:35]And I do that deliberately because you get different, you know, uh protections.

[00:10:41]Uh what is that? FCTCIA, whatever it is. You know, you federal government insures your money up to like $250,000. I've never had that much money, but that's the way I was always taught.

[00:10:52]You separate your money. And And the other reason you separate your money is if something is hacked, they're not stealing all your money from one account.

[00:11:01]They got to go to several different accounts to hack to steal all your money.

[00:11:05]So, you know, you you So, that's that's the thought process.

[00:11:10]Well, recently, I started transferring money from our checking account to our savings account a little bit more aggressively than I'd ever have before because Carolyn's coming up on some sort of Medicaid plan part B or something.

[00:11:26]And you can't have over a certain amount of money in your checking account.

[00:11:30]We weren't too, you know, we weren't we weren't close to that uh amount. But I I thought, you know what? It's just safer that they think that, you know, we share an account is is the point.

[00:11:44]So, it's just safer if they think that my money is is in the savings account, her money is in the checking account, and it's all, you know, legit. Not that we were breaking any rules. I just wanted to make sure that we were absolutely within whatever it is they wanted us to do.

[00:12:01]So, I [snorts] I I was transferring money to the savings account, a a larger sum of money, quite a bit larger sum of money, each month than I had in the previous months. You know, I always put a little bit of money in the savings, but I was, you know, transferring.

[00:12:16]So, yesterday I transferred money.

[00:12:19]I I do it on what, the 14th of every month.

[00:12:24]And uh everything went smooth. They took the money from the checking account just like they do, but then it takes 3 days for the the savings account to process that money.

[00:12:33]Or you got to pay for the the there's a fee if you want it faster. And nah, I always wait the 3 days.

[00:12:41]So, this morning I get an email from from the bank, from the savings account.

[00:12:46]And I think, oh, it's just letting me know that they've received the money from the checking account. I I really didn't think about it too hard. So, I open it up and it says, "Your account has been blocked because somebody has tried to change the password more than three times."

[00:13:06]And I just oh my goodness, what is going on? I mean, I was just totally freaked that some hacker was trying to get into my account.

[00:13:16]So, I jump onto my computer and I open up the website, the bank's website, and it did. It said, "Your account has been blocked."

[00:13:26]And here's where I made a mistake. I went back to the phone where I got, you know, checked my email.

[00:13:31]The email was still open and I hit report fraud button.

[00:13:37]It opened up with the web page and gave me the phone number. I called the phone number and I'm talking and Carolyn says, "What phone number did you get that from?" You know, I'm we're wait I'm on hold because they they said, "Okay, give us a minute so we can look at this."

[00:13:53]She said, "Did you Did you click the phone number on the the email?" And I went, "Ah!"

[00:14:02]I just I mean, I was already panicked because of the the the account had already been um tampered with.

[00:14:11]And now here I am even more panicked than I am telling people my personal information on a phone that So, I I I went to Gemini and I said, "Okay, what's the probability of this happening?" And the probability is absolutely through the roof.

[00:14:27]What a hacker will do is they will deliberately get, you know, get in there and try to change your password and fail and then send you an email saying, "Hey, you've been hacked.

[00:14:38]Call this number." And so now I'm just boom boom boom boom boom boom.

[00:14:44]And so I I try to think back to what I did. Okay, I went to the website outside of the email and I checked to make sure I was actually blocked. I was.

[00:14:55]So, then I took a snapshot of the web page that the email took me to where I hit the the phone. I took a screenshot of that and I gave it to to Gemini, the AI, and I said, "Is this a legitimate web page?"

[00:15:11]"I am 100% confident that this is a legitimate web page."

[00:15:16]Ah!

[00:15:18]Okay, so I'm a little bit less stressed, but but still pretty stressed.

[00:15:21]Well, the guy gets back on the phone and says, "It's my boss is not in the office yet.

[00:15:28]He'll be here at 8:00 a.m.

[00:15:32]Eastern time.

[00:15:34]So, it's 6:30 my time, 7:30 his time.

[00:15:37]Can you call back?"

[00:15:40]And then I was like, "If it's a scammer, he's not going to ask me to call back.

[00:15:46]He's going to try to keep me on the on the phone."

[00:15:49]So, again, I Gemini'd that and it said, "Yeah, that that's that's just no way that's going to happen."

[00:15:57]So, AI gave me the phone number that I was supposed to call, the fraud number, and said, "This is the number you're supposed to call to verify or to to fix your account." So, I went back to the phone number that I called and it was the same number.

[00:16:16]And so, it was just ah, there was that half hour there. I was just absolutely panicked that I messed up. How did I do that?

[00:16:24]How did I decide, "You know what? I'm going to click this email link." I I never do that. Never.

[00:16:32]But, again, I did check to make sure my my account was blocked. Although, like I said, AI said they they will do that to try to trick you.

[00:16:42]So, I lucked out.

[00:16:46]So, don't do that.

[00:16:49]Ah, make sure you go to the account itself. The thing is is that the the webpage did not have a the correct phone number.

[00:16:58]The webpage that I went to, it did not have fraud reporting.

[00:17:01]So, the the the phone number that I was supposed to call, according to AI, is not on the webpage. Although, I could have probably been transferred to the right number. But, anyway, I got it all cleared up.

[00:17:12]I did call back. They did fix it. It took them two tries, but they got it fixed, so well, we got all of our money back, but boy, I sure was panicked.

[00:17:22]So, if you'll click this up next box, take the video over to my other channel.

[00:17:25]Really appreciate it. Go check it out.

[00:17:26]So, I hope I can inspire you. Don't click that email.

[00:17:30]So, you can live your dreams. Thanks for watching.