Our special guest this week (and for upcoming episodes) is ConsumerMan Herb Weisbaum, one of America’s top consumer experts. Known nationally as ConsumerMan, Herb’s been protecting consumers for more than 40 years. Check below for Herb’s website and newsletter information.
Herb does a lot of stories that look out for older adults. ConsumerMan is a font of well-researched, practical information and alerts that help make us wiser consumers:
Consumer alert: One story Herb did recently was about digital coupons. You may think that if you have the club card from that store, you’re going to get the digital price automatically. You’re not—unless you load that digital coupon into your account. Grocery retailers are making millions and millions of dollars on people who think they’re saving money when they’re not. Herb published two articles on this topic:
Protect your personal information*: Herb warns us not to give out personal information unless we’ve initiated the phone call or initiated the online experience. “No one should ever need your password, PIN code, or login information,” he said. “A lot of criminals right now are pretending to be customer service representatives. Some of these scammers will contact you on the phone and say ‘Hi, I’m calling from Amazon. There’s a problem with your account.’ Some of them will send out email or text messages saying they’re from your bank. Don’t click on links in the email! But do click on the links below to learn more about these scams.” Read Herb’s Fraud Alert articles on this topic:
*PLEASE NOTE: We’ll cover Password Managers and Two-Factor Authentication in next week’s Wisdom Wednesday podcast with Herb.
ABOUT HERB WEISBAUM: After 22 years and about 6,500 daily consumer tips, recently Herb hung up his headset for the last time and retired from Northwest Newsradio (KNWN). Thankfully, he’s still writing for Consumers’ Checkbook and hosting their bi-weekly Consumerpedia podcast. If you visit Herb’s ConsumerMan website, you can sign up for his free weekly newsletter and stay up to date on the latest consumer news.