Hi, I'm Ed Leon.

Welcome to the 260, where we cover life and community in northeast Indiana.

On this episode, how to protect yourself from the dozens of scams that seem to be coming for us every day.

The Fort Wayne Zoo is here with some of their animal ambassadors, and how one local woman turned her passion for teaching art into her dream business.

It's all right now.

On the 260.

Unfortunately, scams and scammers are after us, folks.

And theyre after our wallets.

And now, with artificial intelligence, they are getting more and more sophisticated to the point that any of us can get taken in by their criminal tactics.

Here to warn us about the latest scams is the president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, serving northern Indiana.

Jan Diaz.

Jan, welcome to the 260 Well Ed, thank you for having me.

I'm so excited to be here.

Thank you.

So before we get into all the scams, is there like a universal vulnerability that these criminals are targeting?

Is there some psychological aspects that that manipulating us with?

Yeah, that is a great question because, you know, the answer is yes.

Really a thousand times yes on that one, because these scammers have become very professional at what they do, very good at what they do, and they understand human behavior.

They understand the tendency to want to purchase something or to think that things maybe are not too good to be true.

And so they will leverage that and use that, especially in scams like romance scams or online purchases where they say, you know, if you don't buy now, you're going to lose out.

Well, human behavior says, well, I don't want to lose out.

I want to buy it now.

Yeah.

And that's a lot of the tactics that they use that pressure.

Yeah.

Knowing human behavior to get people to fall for it.

And this is happening all across northeastern Indiana.

Yes.

In all age groups.

Right.

That's correct.

Yeah.

That's correct.

So you think sometimes that maybe senior people are more vulnerable to this, but it's happening to young people alike.

Correct.

And so what a lot of people don't realize is, you know, when you think of scams, you think of, oh, yeah, senior citizen, they're falling for romance scams or even cryptocurrency scams, investment scams.

But what's happening is it's really the younger people, those who are ages 18 to 24 are also second in line to losing money to the seniors.

And you know what's happening with with the younger.

Yeah.

Let's talk about some of the scams that are targeting them like jobs.

Right.

They're trying to get jobs, start a career.

That's right.

Jobs.

You know, what's the scam going on with jobs?

Yeah.

So the employment scam, you know, what's happening is a lot of these scammers are just randomly texting people, you know, offering them a quote unquote job.

Well, we know it's a fake job offer, but when a younger... But obviously somebody doesn't.

Right.

I get these all the time.

Yes.

Yes I do too.

I think everybody because everyone listening to us, sometimes you feel like, well, why am I getting this?

And you're not really being targeted.

Right.

It's a whole it's like a, like a, you know, a shotgun approach.

Exactly.

It's going to hit somebody.

That's right.

And if you're a person who has put your resume out there while you're thinking, okay, this is legit, because I just posted my resume online a day ago and this company is answering.

So a lot of these things are taking place through texting.

And when you stop to think about it, a legitimate employer is not going to text you and offer you a job via text.

But that's exactly what these scammers are doing and the interview process.

There really isn't one, but they're enticing, especially younger folks.

You know, we're in a post Covid era, and a lot of people do want to work from home.

They want that remote work.

That's a real lure, right?

That's correct.

You can earn this money from home.

Yes.

And not only earn money from home, but we're going to pay you a ton of money.

Yeah, boatload of money that that's going to blow your mind.

And it's going to sound like it's too good to be true.

And the younger 18 to 24 year olds, they're falling for it.

So what advice do you have for them.

Is that just like anything from text just that's wrong.

That's ignore it.

Ignore it because it's dangerous.

Yes, I would say as a rule of thumb, pretty much.

And it's, you know, there may be an employer out there who might want to text a candidate.

We have a position open, but there's going to be a process.

Any employer who's legitimate is going to have a process.

When they hire someone, they're going to it's not going to be a rush deal.

They're not going to offer a job to someone just on the spot just because they responded to the text.

Because what's happening is if a person does respond to a job offer text, the next step is, well, let's ask for your Social Security number.

What happens?

Yes.

What happens?

What's the chain of danger that happens?

Yeah.

Great question.

That chain of danger is either if they click on that link, it's going to put malware on their device, or it's going to take them to a website where they're going to give up their personal identifying information, things like date of birth, things like Social Security number.

They're going to say, well, we need to pay you.

So you need to give us your bank account information.

So it's like turning over your entire savings and financial information and your identity to a scammer.

And that's what's happening with a lot of these.

That's one one variation.

We see a lot of variations on these scams.

Another variation with an employment scam is is they set it up like a true employer.

They send that person a check and then they call and say, oh, we sent you too much money send us, you know, X amount of dollars back.

Well, what's happened is that the check is fake.

There is no, you know, there's no money in that bank.

But when they deposit it and then a day later, they withdraw money from the account.

They got your account.

Yeah.

They've lost that money because they're sending it back to the scammer.

And the scammer won't even now respond to calls or texts or emails.

They're gone.

Another scam that you mentioned that that you told us that young people are falling for has to do with loans, student loans.

Thats Correct.

Yes.

Schooling.

And we've even had instances where a student is contacted by someone that they think is from the federal government or student loan agency.

And what's happening is they are setting up fake accounts, fake account numbers.

And there is an instance where student had been paying for actually over a year.

Come to find out that they are not putting any money toward their actual student loan.

And so these things are happening at a high rate, unfortunately.

But then again, there's a lot of variations with those student loan scams as well.

They will pretend to be someone an official.

And the whole the whole goal of the scammer is to gain or to earn someone's trust.

So they will do that.

They may even have a lot of information on the student.

They might have their name, their address.

They might have the date that they've graduated.

So much of our information is out there, right?

It is.

It's been it's been stolen via security breaches that have happened from completely different organizations.

Right.

That's right.

But somehow gets into the hands of these criminal organizations.

By the way, where are these scammers or does that matter?

You know, that doesn't matter right there.

Theyre all over the world.

They literally are, They're here.

They're overseas.

You just don't know who you're talking to anymore or even who you're texting with or you're emailing because they can, you know, they can call you and put a caller ID on there, and it's not the place of the caller ID, or they can spoof a phone number and make it seem like it's a real phone number and all sorts of things.

It's unfortunate for our older viewers what what should they be concerned about?

I'm sure you get a lot of these calls to the Better Business Bureau saying, I think I've been I've made a mistake here.

What do they need to look out for?

You know, for for anyone who is 50 and above, just make sure you have a support group, have someone that you can bounce things off of if you're receiving calls, receiving texts, and don't jump at anything.

At anything.

It's like there really is anything anymore.

It really is.

Don't click on links because that can put malware in there.

Can put malware on your device.

Yes.

And don't believe just face value.

If they say they're even if they're coming to a person's door and they're saying, I'm with such and such company and they come from legitimate organizations, right?

Or they pretend to come to you from from legitimate organization.

I'm telling you, what are those?

And they gotten so good, I got I was recruited by a reputable recruiting job, you know, recruiters from Washington, D.C., very well known for this.

I had to end up it was so legitimate seeming that I had to end up calling the company and saying, do you have.

Do you have this person working on your.

Because it was it was so good.

And it was they stole all the, the, the branding and the phone numbers from.

It's incredible.

It really is.

Yea, yea.

Beware.

Yes.

Jan Diaz is president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, serving northern Indiana.

If you have any questions about this stuff or anything else that they can help you with.

You can find them at BBB.org Thank you so much Jan Jan: Thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure to be here.

The Fort Wayne Zoo is one of Northeast Indiana's most beloved attractions.

But behind every animal encounter at the zoo is the bigger mission of helping children and families understand the importance of protecting wildlife and the natural world.

That's why they have a full slate of hands on learning, animal encounters, camps, school programs, and community outreach.

And here to update us at what's happening at the zoo is Logan Sunday, director of conservation education at the Fort Wayne Zoo.

Nice to meet you, man.

Nice to meet you.

Thank you for coming in.

So tell me what conservation means at the Fort Wayne Zoo.

Yeah.

So a big part of conservation is all about connection.

That's the first part of our mission is connecting people to animals.

And in order for people to want to save the planet and care about wildlife, they have to connect to it first and kind of care on that personal level.

And that's the education that you're doing.

Yeah.

So, Logan, you brought some cool animals for us today.

Let's let's start meeting some of them and then we'll talk along the way.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Who is this?

This guy here?

Yeah.

So this is one of our giant African millipedes that we have at the zoo.

Boy.

He's dark.

Yeah.

So that's a great adaptation.

You can go ahead and touch him there.

He is dark Because he's going to live on the forest floor in the rainforest in Africa.

And do you take this animal to.

What do you do with him?

You brought him here.

Do you take him to schools?

Yeah.

So he is meeting all sorts of campers at the zoo during summer camp.

But he also is going out to schools for our programs like zoomable and GSI.

Now, our ZSI program in particular stands for Zoo Scientific Inquiry, and it's a multi-year program.

And at the end, the fifth graders actually take care of these millipedes.

Is this is that what's called inquiry based environmental learning?

Yeah.

So it is very inquiry based.

It's all about kind of following.

What does that mean, inquiry based?

Yeah.

Inquiry based is all about asking questions.

So we don't really go in knowing what we're going to teach necessarily with those students each and every day.

We let them kind of guide that discussion, what they're interested in and what they want to learn.

Interesting.

What are those two like antennae right at the top there.

Yeah.

So that's a great example of inquiry learning asking those good questions.

They are antenna.

So he does not have great eyesight as a millipede.

He's going to explore his world kind of by feeling around with those antenna.

Okay.

Does he have a name?

Does not have a. He does not have a name.

All right.

But you do have a name for the next.

Our next, the next star of the show I sure do.

And he's got a great name.

His name is Ace.

So tell us about Ace.

Yeah.

I got this.

I'll slide that in.

Ace is actually a blue tongued skink.

Oh, wow.

And you'll see why as he comes out.

Why he has that name.

Bluetongue skink.

Ace!

Nice to meet you, buddy.

So there he goes.

Yep.

If we look really close, he'll kind of be using that tongue to smell his environment.

Yeah.

There came.

Wow.

That's.

It's a long tongue.

It is a long.

Is that how he eats and things?

That is how he eats.

That's also how he's going to smell.

So as a reptile, he has what's called a Jacobson's organ.

So that's going to be a really cool adaptation that lets him stick that tongue out and smell around.

How old is ace?

Ace is, I don't remember.

How old do these skinks live?

Yeah, they can live into their 20s, typically.

So he could have a long life ahead of him.

Still connecting to all sorts of kids.

So with such a variety of animals.

animals.

And you also have big primates and big cats.

What?

How do you think about the education efforts?

How do you make sure that people get a sampling of all the animals?

Yeah.

So with our programs, we're always looking at kind of conservation all around the world.

So connecting them to different regions.

We're also at the zoo kind of focusing on different animals with each of our camps and programs.

So we're always trying to broaden kids kids horizons.

They might not have a chance to see an animal from Africa without something like.

The Fort Wayne Zoo.

Right and Ace, Do you take him around to schools as well?

We do.

Yeah.

He's a very popular ambassador.

One thing that I always love about ace is kids remember him.

So year after year when the zoo comes back, they ask about Ace, and they're always excited to see him.

Bluetongue.

He's chillin.

He's chillin like a villain right now.

He also brought us a little tortoise.

Will you go go get him?

Yeah I sure.

Well, I'll just have to put away.

Oh, you have to put him away.

They don't coexist in the in their natural habitat.

Nope.

They don't.

So ace is actually from Australia.

Okay.

And there's there's Lauren.

Thank you for your assistance.

Lauren.

And then this is Thomas.

Okay.

Thomas the turtle.

Thomas the tortoise.

My bad, my bad.

It's so apropos.

How cool is he?

Well, tell me about him.

Yeah.

So Thomas is a Russian tortoise.

So a lot of times when people think Russia, they're thinking, you know, cold, icy.

But this is a very big country.

So there are parts of it that are warm and desert.

And that's where you're going to find a tortoise like Thomas.

And did you get him from Russia as he was he born in Russia?

No.

So actually, that's a great question.

A lot of our zoo animals are going to come from other zoos.

So we're big advocates of keeping animals in the wild and out in nature.

So we work with other AZA accredited zoos all the time for having animals for programs.

Yeah.

Explain how the zoo is part of it.

You're part of like, a worldwide ecosystem of education and zoo cooperation.

Yeah, we are.

So AZA stands for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

And that's our accrediting body.

And they accredit zoos all around the world.

In the United States there's only about 200 accredited zoos.

So it's kind of the gold standard of animal care.

And they connect us to conservation everywhere.

So we have staff that do conservation work in the Mariana Islands.

You do?

Yea.

Here in Fort Wayne, right here in Fort Wayne.

Yes.

That's so cool.

It is a really amazing thing that our zoo connects people to that global conservation effort.

And how long?

How long will Thomas live?

That's a great question.

He could live to be anywhere from 40 all the way up to 100.

Man!

So when people think about reptiles, you know, they look at them and might think, Thomas is very cute, but he's not really an animal that most people would want to have as a pet because he lives for 100 years.

So that's the thing people really need to think about.

The kids will outgrow outgrow the the the charm of their.

So not really a good pet animal.

So how many species and animals do you have at the zoo now?

Yeah, we have about 200 species and we have 1500 animals.

So there's a lot to see at the Fort Wayne Zoo.

And is there a way that you inspire children to care about animals besides just coming to see them?

Yeah, absolutely.

So it kind of depends on what they're doing, whether it's our school programs, they're actually taking care of them in ZSI so that's a big part in inspiring them, is getting them to see all of the hard work that our team does, taking care of an animal and getting that experience in our camp programs, it's really about being outside, spending time outdoors and coming to love the environment because that is where animals live.

So we really want kids to be inspired to take care of nature in their own backyard.

Are there any new animals that that we need to know about at the zoo?

Oh, we always have some exciting things happening.

So this year we did have some fox kits.

Bat Eared Foxes.

They're very cute.

They have really large ears.

Kind of look like Yoda a little bit.

And they use those to hunt for bugs and things that they kind of listen to them in the ground.

And of course, we did have a baby Orangatang earlier this year: Raya.

All right, Logan, will you come back with more animals?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

All right.

Logan Sunday is director of conservation education at the Fort Wayne Zoo.

As Simon and Garfunkel once sang, it's all happening at the zoo.

So check out their upcoming programs and events at FWZoo.com My next guest has married her passion for creating jewelry, crochet and mixed media with her love of teaching to create her dream business.

It's the Fort Wayne School of Art, and it's built on the philosophy that creativity can be nurtured in everyone.

Let's meet the owner and instructor of the Fort Wayne School of Art, Lauren VanderHorst.

Welcome to the 260 Lauren.

Hello.

Thanks for having me.

So tell me about your art.

Not the art you teach, but the art you make.

I do a lot in my sketchbook, and I do watercolors, pencil drawings, and I like to work with details, so I like using ink.

And I also like to do beads, jewelry, anything that's tiny.

You're working artists, right?

You display your art and then you sell it to.

Right.

Yes.

Where did you learn all that?

Well, I grew up with a love for art, but I wasn't very good at it, so I worked at it.

And if you work at it, it's like any other subject.

You can learn it and you can get good at it.

It's just a matter of keeping a creative practice and muscle memory and.

Okay, then what about the teaching side of it and the teaching side?

And we're in the classroom teaching?

Yes, I taught for about ten years in the classroom.

And then I went on to just do my own artwork shows and various things.

But I missed teaching.

And so I've got a studio on Lafayette, and that's where I teach.

I teach adults primarily drawing classes and watercolor and acrylic, and then I teach home school art and after school for teens and kids.

Were you like a recent peanut butter cup?

It's like, you know, chocolate and peanut butter.

It's like, I love art.

I love teaching.

It's like a natural to do that business.

Yes.

As an art teacher, you get to do all of the different mediums.

And so it's hard to pick just one.

But to be an entrepreneur and start a business is a whole different muscle.

Right.

How's that?

How's that going?

It's going really well.

The community of Fort Wayne, the art community is beautiful, and I really love the First Fridays on Broadway.

It's the reason I started Fort Wayne School of Art is I didn't want it to be just a place where you come and you paint a canvas and leave.

I wanted it to be something where you come and you learn the elements of art, and you bring that home with you and you.

You create a habit at home of keeping a sketchbook, and you have a studio space, right?

I do, yeah, I saw some pictures and we're going to see a few of them.

That's very nice.

It's lovely.

Yes, it's the perfect size.

I fit 12 comfortably.

I can always add more tables, but primarily 12.

I do events, so I've done several bridal parties, bachelorette parties and a lot of birthdays.

And so they'll pick a subject.

I'll come up with a painting, guide them through it, and we have a great party.

And who's it for?

Is it is it for newbies?

It's very much for beginners.

Yes, I'm working on.

I have another teacher, Sarah Chesboro, and I have guest artists that are local that have taught some more advanced classes, but primarily right now it's very beginner drawing, very beginner watercolor.

A lot of the adults come in and they're just ready to do something with their hands and create something.

Yeah, it's very hands on.

Right.

So you learn by you learn by trying it.

Yes, yes.

Is that did you find that that was that's what worked for kids in your classrooms.

The kids.

It's easy.

They jump in, they jump in and do it.

Yes.

And adults need a little bit more coaxing or a little bit more precious with our work.

And so I have exercises that we can kind of trick our.

What do you mean by that?

More precious with their work.

We try and make things look exactly like what we're drawing our reference.

And we don't necessarily we don't go to a museum to look at photorealism and pencil drawings that look exactly how do you.

So how do you instill that in someone?

Well, we do, I try.

It's kind of tricking your brain.

You have to learn how to actually see what you're drawing.

And so we will often turn a reference photo upside down, and we will draw what we see.

Because our brain likes to think, I know what a tree looks like, and then we'll draw a tree.

But we don't know what this tree looks like.

We don't know what this person's nose looks like.

So you really need to learn to see.

And so there's lots of fun exercises that we do.

And then I give homework assignments for people to work on.

But I love it.

The sketchbooks or a great testimony to the growth that people have.

So you look back at your first few pages and then when you're finished with the class after six weeks, you can see a lot of improvement Talk a little bit about the what kind of what expanding your creativity does for you as an individual to you.

You must see that in your students.

Oh, I do, and we have to allow ourselves to be a beginner at something we can't run before we crawl.

And I forget your question.

Well that's okay.

You had me I was, I was, I was, I was right along with you, so Yeah.

How do you how do you instill that that experimentation in people Well, to have a to have a creative practice where not just sitting down and drawing but kind of your way of life, you take a moment to look at how shadows look on a wall.

We can go through a day and really not have noticed, and you don't pay attention to so much.

But if you do, if you focus on it, that's a whole world opens up.

There's inspiration everywhere.

So I really focus on a book called The Artist Way by Julie Cameron, and she speaks about taking yourself on artist dates.

And so that's where you go to you don't have to go to a museum.

You can go to a park, but it's just where you slow down, look at something, really observe it, and then take a picture of it for later or draw it in.

The moment.

Is that the key to art?

Is that kind of seeing?

Yes, yes for sure.

Okay.

Is it.

And so any advice for people.

Is it what you crochet as well.

Do you have other kinds.

Do you have other kinds of art besides sketching.

And yes, it's primarily drawing and painting.

That's what I'm most passionate about.

And that's what I went to school for.

And so you're not going to just come and paint something.

You'll come and you'll have building blocks to go on to the next project.

Even if it's something like crochet, you can still use those elements of art in your crochet or your sculpture.

When you learn about balance and value and space and all of those terms.

All right.

Well, I appreciate you coming in and telling us about your business.

You know, I hope that more people give themselves the the permission to, to explore art.

And it seems as when people come in and see the space that it's inviting, I really made a point to make it colorful and paintings everywhere.

I have a pair of parrot Luts.

They're called pocket parrots, and so it's an inviting environment.

So if people come in and see it, then they're pretty at ease pretty quickly.

All right.

Well I appreciate it.

Best of luck to you.

And when you tell people how to find you, you can learn all about the classes at FortWayneSchoolofArt.com Thank you so much for being on the 260.

The 260 is a PBS Fort Wayne production made possible by membership donations from viewers like you.

Thank you.

You can support the show by becoming a sustaining member at PBSFortWayne.org That's all the time we have for this episode.

Please take a moment to appreciate the folks who contributed to the making of this show, and I'll see you next time on the 260.