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Month: February 2021

Bob Sullivan's podcast projects

Mom is giving all her money to a fake online lover — hear her cry for help

February 23, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

You live with someone for 50 years. You do everything with them. Eat, sleep, cry, laugh, suffer. Then one day, you’re alone. Just thinking about that void can take your breath away. Now imagine someone steps into that void and manages to …ease the pain, just a little. Anyone would [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Can you learn to trust tech again? How do we close the ‘distrust gap?’

February 22, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

INTRODUCTION Americans have become less trusting in recent decades, plenty of surveys seem to agree. Yet trust is a funny thing. People say they don’t trust tech companies, particularly social media companies, but they hungrily gobble up Tweets and Facebook updates all same.  Still, lack of trust in … seemingly everything…is hurting us, a [Keep reading]

Bob Sullivan's podcast projects

How an email could cost you your home in a mortgage closing scam

February 16, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

Wire fraud scams during real estate transactions are perhaps the most believable kind of digital con I’ve ever seen. Buying or selling homes is already an incredibly stressful time. Consumers are classic “tourists” in the land of title companies and wire transfers, vulnerable because everything feels unfamiliar. Add to that [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Podcast: Listen to ID thief and her cast of characters fool consumers, banks

February 9, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

Almost 20 years ago, I wrote a book called Your Evil Twin – Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic. At the time, many consumers hadn’t even heard of identity theft. Criminal imposters were just getting started. Today, it feels like ID theft is everywhere, hitting millions of consumers every year, roughly [Keep reading]

"In Conversation"

What is the original sin of the Internet?

February 3, 2021 Bob Sullivan 3

INTRODUCTION Perhaps you were a holdout against the notion that something is terribly wrong with the Internet. The events surrounding Jan. 6 — both the plot to attack the Capitol and tech giants’ reaction to it — surely make that position harder to defend. The argument that democracy is under [Keep reading]

Bob Sullivan's podcast projects

Pet scams during Covid are big business; listen to a couple of sad tales with happy endings

February 1, 2021 Bob Sullivan 2

As most readers know, I have a dog named Rusty.  I’m on my third rescue dog now. Lucky, Rusty’s older brother, played a big part in a lot of stories I’ve written, so I was really excited to talk with today’s guests in The Perfect Scam podcast, Danny and Alison, [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

When will the U.S. get enough Covid-19 vaccine to stop the madness?

February 1, 2021 Bob Sullivan 0

It seems like an easy enough question to answer: When will everyone in America who wants a vaccine be able to get one? That question implies another one: Why is our current vaccine distribution system such a cluster****? I’ll begin with the end of this story, which is: Best as [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan