This is my very first post on the That Scam Show blog – but what a long and eventful journey this has been already!

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve written a book, learned a little about publishing, had an epiphany, and rearranged all my work goals so that the ideas will now be presented on YouTube instead of in books. It makes perfect sense now, but I never saw that coming!

Who would have thought that a researcher/writer would become a late-onset YouTuber?
Not me!

This last couple of months have been a whirlwind of learning about everything that YouTube involves – from how to use video equipment properly right through to how to use editing programs, along with all the unexpected necessities of production scheduling and search engine optimization. It’s been months since I’ve watched a movie or TV because every spare moment is spent learning from friends and how-to YouTubers (who are mighty helpful, I must add).

But Why? you might ask.

Over the past 15 years or so, since I first became interested in specializing in fraud, I’ve become accustomed to the lack of general conversation on any fraud topic, limited instead to reading statistics and reports and academic articles which don’t appeal to most people. But if non-expert people don’t want to read this information, what help is it to them?

Despite all the information available, more people are getting scammed, in more ways, than ever before. I wanted to find a way to fill the gap between up-to-date information and people who would find it useful.

Everybody needs to know what I know, and I’m keen to give it away – but how to do that in a way that will pique interest for long enough to explain that scams are not as simple as they seem?

I thought about it for years, on and off. Then, one day a friend asked me about a video I had made when a Tech Support scammer called me right when I was in the mood to waste as much of his time as possible. I had loaded it to YouTube for fun…

(That first video is awful really. The point was to make it long, but there are some funny moments in it, so I will leave it online.)

Anyway, that’s how I realized that the way to do this was to use video. On the one hand, I think it’s hilarious that I would start this new adventure in my 50s; putting myself out there alongside a bazillion youngsters and their more-popular topics. But on the other hand, I am right in scammers’ target demographic: I am approached a lot by scammers because I am theoretically an ideal potential victim. But every time one approaches me, I have more information to pass on to others so they know what to watch out for.

If I can use what I know to save just one person like me a whole lot of heartache and financial loss, I will have achieved a good thing. Somebody has got to get the conversation started, so why not me?

I’m committed – 100%.

So… the YouTube channel is set up and ready to go.

The channel will launch in July 2019 with a Live
Question & Answer broadcast.

If you would like to watch the Live launch, subscribe to the channel so you can receive a notification about the date and time, and it will even remind you when it’s time to log on to YouTube.

That Scam Show also has this website, so that I can post all the source materials I refer to in the videos in a single place, for others to find easily if they want to. I will also post blogs about the process of trying to start open online conversations about these topics.

There are also social media accounts, at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, all set up and ready to go. I’m so excited!

Thanks for visiting already. I hope you will introduce yourself in the Comments, and return to this site soon and see that I have made progress.

Good company in a journey
makes the way seem shorter.

Izaak Walton

Until next time…