Money Archives

Meta removes 63,000 accounts linked to sextortion scams

July 24, 2024
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, said it recently removed thousands of accounts linked to sextortion scams. Those scams involve online predators posing as someone they are not to lure a person into sending sexual photos or videos of themselves, only to use them as blackmail unless the person pays them or gives them banking information.

Meta said it took down 63,000 accounts originating from Nigeria alone, including one sextortion ring of 2,500 accounts linked to a group of about 20 people. Meta also said it removed 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook groups, all from Nigeria. Those pages and groups provided tips for scammers like scripts for talking with victims and links to collections of photos that scammers could use when making fake accounts to trick people.

Nigeria became a hotspot for sextortion crimes in recent years. Meta said many of the accounts it recently shut down were linked to a group called the “Yahoo Boys,” a group of criminals in Nigeria known for financial scams.

This crackdown comes as Meta tests new technology to help steer users away from these types of scams.

The most common platforms for sextortion scams are Instagram and Snapchat, according to a recent study from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Thorn, a nonprofit that uses technology to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material.
Related Stories
26 states now require a personal finance class in high school. But is that too late?

July 10, 2024
California just became the 26th state to require high schoolers to take a personal finance class to graduate. Mandating these courses in public education is widely supported but it has taken the country a long time to implement.

According to Next Gen Personal Finance, only five states had the same requirement five years ago. Research from Next Gen and Tyton Partners found that California students who take the one-semester course will experience a $127,000 lifetime benefit.

Straight Arrow News Business Correspondent Simone Del Rosario spoke about the benefits of early financial literacy with Maya Corbic, an accountant by trade and author who has built an online community around teaching kids about money.

The following has been edited for clarity. You can watch the full interview in the video at the top of this page.

Simone Del Rosario: Maya, first of all, I wanted to get your reaction to this California law and others like it.

Maya Corbic: I think that’s fantastic news. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. And I’m excited to see that more states are actually making financial literacy part of their curriculum. I think it’s a long time coming. We’ve needed this for a long time.

Simone Del Rosario: One class is better than nothing but is it enough?

Maya Corbic: I don’t think it’s enough. I really feel like this is something that should be part of our curriculum from early grades, including kindergarten all the way until the end of high school. As somebody who has been teaching financial literacy to kids, I do find that sometimes we have to repeat certain lessons because they forget and we also have to make them applicable to real life.

Another thing is that these financial literacy curriculums do not cover some lessons such as investing and how to invest so that we can become financially free. They don’t really go into details of debt and credit scores and some other lessons, but something is better than nothing.

Simone Del Rosario: What do you know about what is going into these courses and can you expand more on what’s missing from them?

Maya Corbic: I do know for sure that financial literacy that’s currently be introduced in schools is not covering the basics of investing and all different aspects that we should be teaching our children when it comes to investing. And investing is really important because we cannot only save our way to wealth.

Saving is a first step to investing because we need to save some money in order to invest it. But if we’re only saving our money, there is a huge difference in terms of return, especially if we’re looking long term. Somebody who’s saving the same amount for 10 years versus investing the same amount of money for 10 years, the results are drastically different.

Simone Del Rosario: You said that we should be teaching kids as soon as kindergarten. What do you teach kindergartners about money?

Maya Corbic: What I have been teaching kindergarteners about money is just the basics. Kindergarteners are smart enough and they can understand the difference between needs and wants. They understand that needs are things we need for survival, wants are nice to have but we don’t need them for survival, and that we should spend our money on needs first and wants.

They’re too young to understand that some things that we buy can be a mixture of needs and wants. So that’s something that I teach much later on. But they can also understand different currencies and different monetary denominations that we have.

They also pick up on habits, too, if, for example, parents are giving them allowance. What I mean by habits is for them to learn that as soon as they get some money that comes in, they need to take a portion and save it. This is a habit that they can practice into later years so that when they become adults, this is just something that they do.

Simone Del Rosario: I know you’re in Canada. Is the public education system there more advanced when it comes to teaching kids about finance?

Maya Corbic: I wish I could say this, but it’s not. We had some recent changes as well and some of the financial literacy curriculum was introduced to our schools at a high school level. I don’t know all the details, but again, it seems like it’s a good start. It’s just not covering enough.

I feel that the parents will have to pick up wherever the school stops and teach the additional lessons that the schools do not teach.

Simone Del Rosario: At least here in the United States, nearly half of these states have yet to take up this type of curriculum. What would be your message to those states that aren’t taking this step?

Maya Corbic: My message would be that they really seriously need to consider this because this is something that is going to benefit their citizens, the next generation, and it can make the next generation that much better off. Their lives can be better off and then the generations that will come after them. So it is definitely in their interest to do this for the benefit of these young people.
Related Stories
Johns Hopkins Medical School receives $1 billion gift to diversify health care field

July 9, 2024
Johns Hopkins Medical School will no longer charge tuition for a significant portion of its students, following a $1 billion donation from Michael Bloomberg. The billionaire philanthropist and former New York governor aims to tackle issues of accessibility and diversity within the health care field through the contribution.

The donation, made through Bloomberg Philanthropies, is set to benefit medical students whose families earn less than $300,000 annually. For those from families earning under $175,000, the support extends beyond tuition to cover living expenses and fees, effectively removing substantial financial barriers that often deter students from pursuing medical careers.

“By reducing the financial barriers to these essential fields, we can free more students to pursue careers they’re passionate about and enable them to serve more of the families and communities who need them the most,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Johns Hopkins University affirmed that every dollar of the donation will directly support students, underscoring a commitment to equity and accessibility in medical training. This move follows a similar initiative earlier this year at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where philanthropist Ruth Gottesman also donated $1 billion to ensure tuition-free education with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
Related Stories
California sets aside $12 million for nation’s largest reparations effort

June 28, 2024
The state of California announced on Friday, June 28, that it will be allocating $12 million in its next budget to provide compensation to Black residents for racial injustices. Th effort would be the largest government-funded reparations effort of its kind in the country.

The money is a far cry from the billions of dollars that a reparations task force recommended earlier this year. However, considering the state is facing a $50 billion budget shortfall, some advocates said that they were pleased any money got allocated for reparations. Still, some said that while the money is a step in the right direction that “it’s not enough” but added that this is “the first time ever” reparations “will be a line item in a state budget.”

Movements to compensate Black people for the wounds of slavery and segregation in the United States gained new steam following the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands a Minneapolis police officer and the ensuing protests.

The movement has prompted expanded efforts to explore reparations across the United States. For instance, the District of Columbia’s 2025 budget proposal includes $1.5 million to study the feasibility of reparations and to come up with proposals to address the harms of slavery.

However, some efforts to compensate Black people for a history of racism have hit a roadblock. In late May, a conservative advocacy group sued to halt the country’s first ever government-funded reparations program in Evanston, Illinois. The plaintiffs argue that the effort to compensate Black residents through reparations discriminates against other ethnicities. Despite the challenge, around $5 million has already been paid out to 193 Black residents.

In another setback for reparations advocates, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a lawsuit seeking reparations for the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

California’s effort to deliver on its reparations promise still face opposition from Republicans as well as some Asian and Latino lawmakers, who argue that it’s unfair to make current residents pay for the wrongs of the past.

The Golden State’s budget still doesn’t outline how the reparations will be paid out to Black residents, but state lawmakers said that it will be worked into reparations-related bills currently circulating in the Legislature.
Related Stories
Survey: Almost half of Gen X says it’ll take a ‘miracle’ to retire

June 20, 2024
Generation X, formerly the “slacker generation,” is getting older and reaching retirement age. As of June 2024, the oldest Gen Xers will be 59 and a half — the youngest that a person can be to draw retirement assets without penalties. However, many say they are far from prepared.

In fact, almost half of them, 41%, say it would take a “miracle” for them to be able to retire, according to a new survey. While many Gen Xers say they plan to retire someday, nearly 1 in 4 say they won’t.

More than a quarter, 30%, of Gen Xers also said they’ll have to go back to work after they retire because they don’t think they’ll have enough savings to last the whole time.

Another recent study found the average Gen X household with a private retirement plan only has about $40,000 in savings, while 40% said they don’t have retirement savings at all.

Gen Xers are also worried public benefits will keep shrinking. More than 75% say increased public debt will impact their retirement benefits.

Meanwhile, about 1 in 3 are worried they’ll run out of money trying to cover health care costs in retirement.

Still, though, the survey also found Gen Xers want to retire at 60, which is notably earlier than their predecessors, the baby boomers —who want to retire at 68. However, they only expect their retirement period to last about 20 years, which is shorter than what many retirees actually have.
Related Stories
Majority of Americans in favor of medical debt forgiveness: Poll

June 18, 2024
Even for those who have insurance, medical can bills can rack up fast in the event of an emergency and that can quickly land people in medical debt. That’s why medical debt forgiveness has become a priority for some lawmakers, and a new poll shows a majority of Americans are all for it.

The poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 51% of Americans say it’s “extremely” or “very important” for the U.S. government to provide debt relief for those who have yet to pay off medical treatment.

The poll found support for medical debt forgiveness is especially high in cases where a person was the victim of health care fraud, like being wrongfully billed for services. However, that’s not the only time Americans think relief should be granted.

Of those surveyed, 59% said medical debt should be forgiven when the patient has made on-time payments toward an existing loan for 20 years. Meanwhile, 56% call for forgiveness if a person has large amounts of medical debt compared to their income or is experiencing financial hardship.

While reducing student loan debt has been a focus for President Joe Biden, the poll found Americans are more likely to say medical debt relief should be a government priority. Comparatively, about 4 in 10 U.S. adults said it’s “extremely” or “very important” for the government to provide student debt relief.

The Biden administration did, however, release a new proposal on Tuesday, June 11, that would protect Americans from having their credit history cratered by medical bills.

The rule change, announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would prevent almost any medical debt from appearing on credit reports. In a statement, the CFPB said medical bills “have little to no predictive value when it comes to repaying other loans.“
Related Stories
A third of Americans say tipping culture is out of control: Survey

June 6, 2024
More and more Americans are starting to think tipping culture is getting out of control, according to a new survey. That same survey also found people are getting stingier when it comes to tipping for certain services.

The survey by finance comparison site Bankrate looked at multiple categories, including tipping restaurant waitstaff, rideshare and taxi drivers, hairdressers and food deliverers. It found tipping frequency across all categories has declined over the past few years.

Bankrate found the number of Americans who think tipping culture has gotten out of control is 35%, up 5% from last year. It also found a little less than two-thirds have some negative perception of tipping.

Older generations like baby boomers and Gen Xers have more negative attitudes about tipping. Bankrate found 72% of baby boomers and 62% of Gen Xers reported having at least one negative view on the matter. It was lower for younger generations — with 51% of millennials and 45% of Gen Zers reporting at least one negative take.

The survey found the percentage of people who always tip for services like a haircut, eating at a sit-down restaurant or taking a taxi ride increased slightly compared to 2023. However, each is down at least 7% compared to 2021.

The survey also found quality of service is still the biggest factor for most tippers. Sixty-four percent of people said the amount they tip is based on service. However, 10% said they always tip the same amount, regardless of service quality.

A big driving source behind the tipping burnout could be “tipflation,” the widespread expansion of gratuity to more industries. Customers are often prompted to leave a tip, even if they have had minimal or no contact with an actual person during the transaction.

About 34% of respondents to Bankrate’s survey said they were annoyed by pre-entered tip screens, and the survey found those screens can result in a smaller tip.

Just 14% of people said they tip more when given a pre-entered tip screen, while 25% of people said they tip less or not at all when given one. In fact, the survey found tipping for coffee shop baristas, furniture and appliance delivery workers, and takeout food workers is down from 2023.
Related Stories

26 states now require a personal finance class in high school. But is that too late?

Johns Hopkins Medical School receives $1 billion gift to diversify health care field

California sets aside $12 million for nation’s largest reparations effort

Majority of Americans in favor of medical debt forgiveness: Poll

A third of Americans say tipping culture is out of control: Survey

Certified unbiased reporting

Transparent and credible

Newsletter

Stay connected

Meta removes 63,000 accounts linked to sextortion scams

26 states now require a personal finance class in high school. But is that too late?

Johns Hopkins Medical School receives $1 billion gift to diversify health care field

California sets aside $12 million for nation’s largest reparations effort

Survey: Almost half of Gen X says it’ll take a ‘miracle’ to retire

Majority of Americans in favor of medical debt forgiveness: Poll

A third of Americans say tipping culture is out of control: Survey