now on bbc news, talking business. hello, everybody! a very warm welcome to talking business weekly with me, aaron heslehurst. let s go and take a look at what is on the show. hey, need more money? how about a side hustle? as millions look for ways to make extra cash, we are going to take a look at the boom in the second jobs market. does your outlook signature need a makeover? here is a trick for anning your photo and clickable icons into your signature. whether it is giving software tips on tiktok or starting a global travel company, the side hustle can lead to riches and rewards but it can also open people up to being the victim of scammers. i will be talking about the possibilities and perils of the side hustle, with these two there they are. cat, who s gig on tiktok has changed her life, as well as from the consumer committee of america. plus, i talk to the big boss of the travel company flix on how he turned his side hustle into a global transport disrupter. wherever
From around the world, once again, a big hello and a warm welcome to the show. You know, fraud and scams, theyre nothing new. But with each technological change, the fraudsters, they are quick to pounce on new possibilities. Weve all had emails, phone calls and Text Messages trying to scam us out of cash by people pretending to be someone we know or with a Time Limited Offer thats just too good to miss. Or maybe theyre pretending to be a tax official or a utility which asks us to transfer money urgently to them. Well, now, as Artificial Intelligence promises to speed up the world of business, the fraudsters, theyre already taking advantage of these new possibilities. In april, jennifer distefano, a mum in arizona in the United States, received a phone call from an unknown number. She thought it might be her doctor. Instead, she heard the voice of a 15 year old daughter, briana. She told the rest of the story to the United States senate. It was brianna sobbing and crying, saying, mom. A
Shutdown. So we are keeping a close eye on everything that is happening there. Lets take a look now at what House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy had to sayjust after the bill was passed. Just moments ago on the house floor, we passed by overwhelming numbers the ability to keep government open for the next six weeks. Youve got to understand why we are here. The senate has produced not one Appropriation Bill through the floor. The house . More than 70 . Discretionary spending has now passed. I do not believe our troops need to be punished for us not getting the work done. So i ask congress will stay in session the next two weeks, continue to work to get this done. The bill keeps the governments funding at 2023 levels, but only for now, it also freezes the us s aid to ukraine. Democrats had originally tried to plug this gap with a 6 Billion Dollar aid package, but that measure was removed from the resolution in order to secure the votes needed to pass it all of this only lasts for 45 days, so the
when you are further down the line do you realise it is all a scam. in just three months of last year, america s federal trade commission found that fake business and job opportunities led americans to being scammed out of nearly $70 billion $70 million injust three months. those people, they are often the most vulnerable, and as the cost of living goes up, there are fears that more will fall prey to scammers. so, i caught up with the director of consumer protection for the consumer federation of america. erin whitty, a real pleasure having you on the show. basically, are there more scams going on these days, and if so, why? yeah, thanks, aaron, so definitely, there are more scams. i think that we really saw an increase in 2020 of course, this was during a global pandemic. people were home, they were spending more time on social media, scanning the internet, and it really created a fertile ground for criminals to design and target schemes that
the data that they have and the more reports that they have and the more information they have, the better outreach that they can do and perhaps even law enforcement to go after some of these criminals. let me end on this, erin, are you concerned that people are more susceptible as we endure this part of living crisis? absolutely, look, this increased pressure on consumers to earn more money might make them more susceptible but i think more importantly it gives a big tool to criminals who are designing these schemes and this conduct. so, consumers might be out there looking more often than they otherwise would have, and deceptive videos or website content can make it seem like it s very easy, but the fact is that often it s not, you have to put in a lot of time and effort, unless you can capitalise on an existing skill, it is something where you don t go into this with the expectation that you are going to earn a lot of money. maybe it s just something that