Ken Khachigian on the state of the Governor's Race

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at two oh five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, mister Randy Wags in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: John, there is already talking Sacramento Assembly when Matt Haney is thinking about putting forth a bill that would change Caesar Chaves day to Dolores Ware today until we find out what she did, well, she's a victim in all this, but she also covered for him.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: She did. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is jellphone number one. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is the author of Reagan and Nixon, where you can get the book. It's about his conversations and work with Presidents Reagan and Nixon, available online at Reagan and Nixon dot com. Ken Kachigian, welcome.

00:00:53
Speaker 3: Hey, John. Always great to be with you.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: Well, thanks so much for stopping by. And we have a brand new poll to drop today in the race for governor here in the state of California that showed the nightmare scenario for Democrats yet again. It showed former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton finishing in first place and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, another Republican, finishing in second place, with Eric Swalwell winning the bronze and Katie Porter and Tom Steyer right behind him.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw that poll. And you've got the Democratic Party chairman, of course, the original party, the DEI, trying to get the the the minority candidates out of the race to make room for the straight white candidates. What do you think of that? So to make room for a Swallwell and and Porter and the new guy Mahon, the mayor of santase who we really don't know much about other than he'll end up being another left winger. So, but it's if the if the Republicans get out in force uh and and discipline themselves, and the Republican Party gets organized for once, and the state party chair and the county chairs organize their masses, and the party organizations get organized and and vote heavily for either Bianco and Hilton in the primary, and maybe the two of them will get out there, and the Democrats are disorganized and none of them want to get out of this race. We can end up with the top two Republicans in the race, and one of them we'll get elected, we'll have a Republican government. But what's likely to happen, John, is that the Democrats and their labor union pals, the s c i U and ther teachers' unions and related unions, are in huge panic mode. And of course they've got hundreds of millions of dollars in their war chest and they're going to start getting they're one of the great monopolies in American politics, and they'll probably get together and try to figure out along with the Democratic National Committee and then Democratic National Governors Association, and decide what's their best option. And the best option for them will probably try to figure out how to pour money against one of the Republican candidates and for one of the Republican candidates so that one of them does well and the other does poorly, so that one of them survives in the primary one of them goes down. But that means they also have to choose one of the Democrats as their favorite candidate. So it's it's but they're having a tough time because they've got all their Democrat pals like Slawall and Porter and who who've who've treed their party line over the years and kissed up to them and Styre, who made that of course outlet Atlantish promises. But then they've got Zavir Basera, and and Antonio Viragosa, by the way, who is a h who's been a friend of mine in the past. I think Antonio is he's the only one that's actually has any governing experience in that group as mayor of Los Angeles. And but they've got these uh and already candidates who they've got to deal with. So I think they have a Hobson's choice as a partisan Republican. I'm having a delightful time watching the squirm.

00:05:15
Speaker 1: Over the course of your correspondence and your conversations with former President Nixon, did you ever talk about his run for the governorship in California? And I asked that question because Nixon is a guy who thought a lot about issues like China. He thought a lot about the Cold War, he thought a lot about Vietnam. He thought a lot about a lot of federal issues, a lot of international issues. He never really, even back when he was a congressman from California, showed much interest in state and local issues. He was a guy who looked at the globe, not at the state, and it seemed like and based on what I've read, he was disinterested in water and deals with the Indians and all the issues that a governor would have to deal with, and that was part of the reason I think that he lost that election to Pat Brown. When you look at Eric Swallwell, who's the leading Democratic candidate right now, I see a lot of those elements in him where he only wants to talk about Donald Trump. Hell, he doesn't even live in the state of California. He lives in Maryland, so I'm not even sure he could find us on a map. But he has no interest on California issues and certainly no understanding of them, and that has to drive the other candidates crazy, especially the ones who have a background in state and local government where they actually do know something about it. They may not have the answers, but they've at least done the reading and they understand the issues. He has no understanding of it, and that has to drive them crazy. And when the chairman of the California Democratic Party comes to them and says it's time for you to get out of the way for this guy who knows nothing and has no interest in learning anything, that has to make them furious.

00:07:02
Speaker 3: Well, it does have to be good. Previous, by the way I had, I had long discussions with President Nixon about that sixty two campaign, and and he he said that a lot of he got a lot of advice not to do it. President Eisenhower told him not to do it. Missus Nixon didn't want him to run, and and he waited very carefully back and forth. And but you know, he basically he was restless, and and he didn't want to practice law, and he felt that he just had to be running for something. And I think and and he looking back, I know he felt that it wasn't the right thing to do. Now, going thinking about Swallow, you're you're absolutely right, there's there's some of that same thing. But at least uh Nixon, you know, he was a congressman and senator and vice president traveled the state. And Nixon knew where Tillery County wash and Bakersfield was a Swawell I couldn't find Wasasco or Boildale on the map. And let me tell you what I would do with Swallwell, you know, he really is not a resident, as you know there when he comes to California, he lives in a hotel. But what I would do is Swalwell if I was running against him as a Democrat. You know, he lives in Washington. He has a home in Washington. His wife lives there and has three children live there. His kids don't even go to public school in California. And so if your kids don't go to California schools, how can you say you're running for governor if your kids don't go to public schools? That's insane?

00:08:51
Speaker 4: Uh?

00:08:51
Speaker 3: And then he's going to be seeking the endorsement of the cal Teachers' Association and your kids don't go to public schools in California. How crazy is that? John? It's it's that's that disqualifies them, just as equally as the fact that he doesn't even live here. This guy's a nutcase from a to Z. You know, he doesn't want people who work for Ice. He said that if they live in California, they can't ever get another job here forever. He's just a looney tune to begin with. He would be a hunter disasters of California. I wouldn't run him for running a sewer district in Inland Empire.

00:09:44
Speaker 1: I just don't know why they're going to be willing, and they haven't yet, but I think they're moving in that direction to put all of their eggs in this guy's basket when you know he's reckless. He's one of these cable news bomb throwers. This would be the equivalent of the Republicans nominating Marjorie Taylor Green to run for governor, or that woman from Colorado who always has the Jessica Rabbit bress out on display. I don't understand why you would go in that direction, given all the liabilities that would be associated with someone like that.

00:10:18
Speaker 3: Well, again, it just makes no sense to me. He's just he's not even a moving target. He's got a bullseye on his back. He says whatever comes to his head, and it's uh. This guy makes on some days, he makes mom Domni, the the socialist, the semi comments, the mayor of New York look like a reasonable conservative. Sometimes again, he would be just and you know, if he did become governor, John you you know within weeks, Well, let me back up. You know, he ran for president and I can't remember the last cycle. I believe twenty twenty. He ran for president twenty twenty, so you know, he's got his eyes on the presidency, so if he ran for if he won the governorship, he'd immediately started running for president. So he has no interest in California. So on inauguration day, the man he became government started running for president, so he has You're right, he has no interest in California, so he'd be heading for Washington. He'd start international travel just like Newsom is doing now. And if I were Hicks this Democrat Party leader, I'd see this guy is a radical, crazy case that is going to bring boom to the to the Democratic Party and be a heavyweight that's gonna they will bear for a long time to come.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Ken Kachigian, who was an advisor and writer to former presidents Reagan and Nixon. You can go ahead and get his book, his excellent book where he talks about all that at Reagan and Nixon dot com. Ken. Let's move on to Iran here for a second, because yesterday the Israeli government took out two of Iran's top officials, a top official of the military, a top official in the government, maybe even the guy that was running the government. Considering the Ayatola's son seems to be under the weather. Shall we say, what do you make of those two kills? And where do you see Iran going?

00:13:01
Speaker 3: You know? I I found that absolutely fascinating that, uh, the Israeli's theory now of taking their leadership out one by one. I think his name was Eli Georgani, And there's this excellent strategy on their part, uh to to go after them Ali Lar, Johnny Laria and Johnny I think is his name, and to target them one by one, and and they're getting assistance from Iranians themselves. And now the Iranian leadership is hiding in buses and under bridges and they're all they all know they've got bullseyes on their backs. And I think it's an excellent strategy that uh compliments what's going on. So if if they continue to take out the leader ship that way, it's going to and they're not just doing that, they're taking out the revolutionary Guard leadership as well, which is going to start making the Revolutionary Guard nervous as well as the other leaders who are creating terrorism on the streets, which frightened the Iranian people, so that if they continue doing that, you may finally get to the point within a few weeks where they might not be fearful of getting into the streets. So I don't think that's a I mean, I think that's an excellent strategy. And the thing is, John, the naysayers have been so terrible in this the left wing, by the cheerleaders for failure, the ones that who take their hatred for or Trump over the goodwill of America to the degree that they really do almost want a defeat for the cause that we're engaged in now just so they can have an embarrassment of Trump. You read the newspaper, if you watch an you watch some of the lunatics on MS what do they call it MS now or whatever it is, and and even a lot of the headlines and some of the more reasonable newspapers where the analysts are suggesting all the obstacle so called obstacles for in the pathways to victory and neuron. But you have to remember what we endured with the the killing, the murders of trun and forty one Marine and the Big Root Barracks, uh and and in Germany, and then killings in the Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. That was all fostered by by Iran providing money to the training to the terrorists. They and they've been fostering this all over the world, and there's a there is a method to what the strategy here. And so I think if Trump six to his guns, literally six to his guns, then I think there's some strategic sense of it. But he's doing this in the face of what as I saw, I called this the cheerleaders for failure. And every White House has this and some of that internally. You can already see the sour grape and sour greats I read. I write about this my book in chapter sixteen, where you have internal people within the White and the Reagan White House who had sur grapes on some of Reagan's policies leaking against them. And now you're seeing some of this within the even Trump's administration, where they disagree with his policies, which is not good, and Trump can single them out and get them out, and it's probably good. That's a fellow Kent I got out of there, Frankly.

00:17:24
Speaker 1: Ken Kachigian. The book is Behind Closed Doors in the Room with Reagan and Nixon, available online at Amazon dot com. Ken always a pleasure, Thank you, John, great to be with you. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone offer.

00:17:41
Speaker 2: Telephone number, telephone offer. Wait, what are we selling.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Oh, dear, well, if the cartels can sell time shares, we can certainly sell something.

00:17:52
Speaker 2: We tried to. I want to buy some time.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two to two two is the telephone number. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And Randy, you can listen to us on the weekends in the Central Valley.

00:18:14
Speaker 2: That's what we sell. Best of us. If you can't get enough of this nonsense, we have more for you. Every Saturday at noon, I put together a package called the Fix California Hour replay and at air Saturday at noon, not on KBC, not on KSFO, although I think they run several hours of US all the time on the weekends whenever they haven't sold something, but on KMJ Saturday at noon you can hear the Fix California our replay. And you can also hear us promoting the Fixed California Our replay on those replays. Because I'm too lazy to edit those out. I'm very busy you are Saturday night about Town five Andy on the am dial. I swear at some point we're gonna have something else to promote.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: All Right, the topics have been pretty heavy today, thanks in part to Caesar Chavez.

00:19:13
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you this right now. Nothing that has been discussed on today's show will end up on the fixed California our replay.

00:19:21
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, we're going to lighten the mood by opening up the California cry bladder.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: Don't you go anywhere? Actually it's a pretty dark one.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: Oh no, eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number? What eight hundred two to two two five two two two. Let's go to Angel and Pomona Angel.

00:19:41
Speaker 3: Hello, Hi, I'm not a first time call. Are you called heavy before? And thank you for taking my call?

00:19:49
Speaker 5: Love your show, you guys tell us good news and a fun way. But I want to talk about says Oar chav Is. Okay, now, I'm not sticking up for the guy, but why are we canceling him when he ha hasn't had due process? Okay, I could say that, you know, Barbius Dreis and raped me thirty years ago. Are they going to cancel her?

00:20:10
Speaker 1: Yet none of these allegations came out when he was still alive, when it could be litigated in a court of laws. So you're one hundred percent correct about that.

00:20:19
Speaker 5: Why why is everybody so sensitive nowadays with these things? You know, oh, it's changed the names back to another name, or it's not celebrate his holiday. What have we come to already?

00:20:32
Speaker 1: Here's what's a bad look for him. The people who are making the allegations are essentially his entire social network.

00:20:42
Speaker 3: Well, either way, it's still an allegation. I mean, that's a bad look for Sures.

00:20:47
Speaker 5: But you know, it's still an allegation.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: Whatever happened to do process?

00:20:51
Speaker 5: All these people on the left talking about, oh, you can deport these immigrants without due process?

00:20:57
Speaker 3: What about here?

00:20:58
Speaker 4: Is it?

00:20:58
Speaker 5: Because in fact it maybe it's because says that chob Is once called them the w B word in the past.

00:21:07
Speaker 1: You know, I'll tell you one thing they could do. Dolores Werreda is claiming that she had two kids by Chavez. One she said was a full on rape. They could do a DNA test and find out if he's the father. I'm sure now that Maury Povich isn't on the air anymore. He's got to have a couple of those tests lying around somewhere.

00:21:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, but says a backlog in LA Remember, yes, there is, so that'll never happen anyways. Rob Buxa's to busy going after Donald Trump.

00:21:38
Speaker 3: He's never going to put any resources to anything like this.

00:21:42
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you for the call, sir. I appreciate it. Is Maury still with us.

00:21:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, Maury's still alive. He just retired. At some point. You realize that you're too old to be doing that show.

00:21:57
Speaker 1: Why if I was ninety five years old and all I had to do was say you are the father and they would pay me seven figures to do it, I would be doing that in my nineties.

00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's eighty seven. Don't you get to a certain point where you just want to, I don't know, enjoy your money.

00:22:16
Speaker 1: Well, he's not enjoying his money. He's at home with Connie Chung.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: You don't think they travel?

00:22:22
Speaker 1: Would you want to be traveled around the globe with Connie Chung?

00:22:27
Speaker 2: He seems to like her.

00:22:29
Speaker 1: Now, I take the paternity tests over that, all right? I should have read the cut sheet a little bit closer, because usually when we do the crime Blotterer, it's a story that lightens the mood a bit. But today that's apparently not going to happen.

00:22:46
Speaker 2: Now the crime blodder fits perfectly with today's theme.

00:22:50
Speaker 1: All right, it's time to open up the California crime blodder.

00:22:54
Speaker 6: It's happened yet again. This wow, wow, what's not weird?

00:22:57
Speaker 3: Dum dum dunk dun dug, don't funk, don't reach the Califonia crime bladder with jong.

00:23:07
Speaker 1: Okay, Randy, what horrible depraved thing do you have for me today?

00:23:11
Speaker 2: There is a guy trying to kidnap little girls on the loose in the valley your neighborhood. Huh yep, and he's literally luring them with candy.

00:23:24
Speaker 1: Now, why don't we have you go deep cover to catch this guy. We can put you adress, give you piggy tails, have you out on the corner, maybe on a bicycle, and then you can lure them in and then we can arrest him.

00:23:41
Speaker 2: I think I'll pass for more. Here's ABC seven.

00:23:46
Speaker 7: The lapd needs your helped tracking down a kidnapping suspect on the prowl in North Hills Panorama.

00:23:51
Speaker 8: City area investigators are telling us not important, but I just have to point it out.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: Panorama City is the stupidest name for neighborhood in the entire valley because Panorama City is not a city, it's a neighborhood in Los Angeles.

00:24:08
Speaker 8: Investigators are telling us he has been luring young girls into his vehicle. Eyewitness Soonser put a Leah stalwarth is live in North Hills with more on what police are looking for this morning, Leo.

00:24:19
Speaker 9: God Parents, as you well know, there are a lot of pathetic, sick predators out there.

00:24:24
Speaker 2: You know what that's editorializing, but I'm here for it.

00:24:30
Speaker 9: Looking to harm our children. So you need to be advised about this. Now we're outside of the Mission Area police station. We talk to a detective who has a very vague description of the suspect they're looking for. They say, basically, he's in his early twenties and he's still out there. And again they're wanting us to advise you parents again, and I'm sure you've told your kids this over and over again. Stay away from strangers and if a stranger approaches them asking them if they need a ride, they need a bolt. In the opposite direction, screaming, bloody murder necessary. Never hears more on this disturbing story.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: You know, it's stories like this are why parents don't feel comfortable having their kids walk to school, which is why every single parent drives their kid to school, which is why if you live near a school, it is a living nightmare trying to drive around it twice a day.

00:25:16
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.

00:25:18
Speaker 4: The girls were first contacted at North Hills Community Park right off of eighth Street and Columbus.

00:25:23
Speaker 9: LAPD Detective Efren Gutierta says the suspect pulled up next to two girls thirteen and sixteen years old, offering them a ride. This unfolding Sunday, late afternoon. He says, the girls decline, kept walking until the suspect approaching them a second time, several blocks down the road. Yet again they declined.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: However, detective wouldnes sixteen year old have a cell phone and be able to call I don't know for help.

00:25:47
Speaker 1: Or start taking a video of the creep.

00:25:50
Speaker 9: Detective Gutierta says the suspect kept tracking the girls and offering them a ride a third time at nord Off Street and Columbus. This time, he says, they accept it.

00:26:00
Speaker 4: They got into his vehicle and proceeded eastbound. However, instead of going to the location where the girls instructed him to, and suspect drove to the area of Sunburst and Lamona as a residential neighborhood but secluded enough, not enough people or vehicle traffic around. The suspect locked the car doors and then offered them money. We offered them alcohol, drugs, and then he began to unzip or unbutton them.

00:26:26
Speaker 1: Oh no, there we go.

00:26:31
Speaker 2: Seriously, why can't we castraight?

00:26:35
Speaker 1: There's a lot of creeps in this state.

00:26:38
Speaker 2: Lop it off.

00:26:40
Speaker 4: And then he began to unzip or unbutton his shorts, where he asked for a sexual favors and exchange for money.

00:26:48
Speaker 6: The girls were frightened.

00:26:49
Speaker 4: They were able to jump out of the car. The first girl jumped out while the car was stationary, and the second girl jumped out of the car while it was in motion, but neither girl was.

00:26:59
Speaker 2: That's right, he jumped out of the car while it was moving. Wouldn't you this guy's still on the loose. Be extra careful out there because there is somebody literally trying to kidnap young girls driving around the valley, and it's It's so nice to know that even if he does get caught, he'll be out in under twenty years thanks to Elder Parole. Well, you know who we need to catch him. Who's that Black Biden? Where is Black Biden these days?

00:27:32
Speaker 4: Not today?

00:27:33
Speaker 1: Not on Black Biden's watch.

00:27:35
Speaker 2: Black Biden is good and useful for the predators that are online, easy to follow them. It's a paper trail. The ones that are just driving around parks, We're gonna need a little more than Black Biden for that.

00:27:52
Speaker 1: All right, Randy, it's time to reopen the blotter.

00:27:55
Speaker 6: It's happened yet again.

00:27:56
Speaker 1: This wow, wow, what's up here?

00:28:01
Speaker 3: Dundun Dunk preached the Carliponia crime bladder with junk.

00:28:08
Speaker 1: And this one takes us to Lax.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: Finally, a story not about predators, just about a drunk a haul from Australia.

00:28:17
Speaker 1: Thank god for that.

00:28:19
Speaker 2: A TSA agent was assaulted at an Lax bathroom when an irate passenger accused the TSA agent of stealing his passport.

00:28:36
Speaker 1: Let me guess the drunk was in the wrong.

00:28:39
Speaker 2: For more, here is CBSLA out of.

00:28:42
Speaker 8: This developing news. Tonight, a TSA officer attacked at Lax my Rodgers.

00:28:47
Speaker 6: This has nothing to do with the long lines related to the partial government.

00:28:50
Speaker 1: Shutdown, not at all.

00:28:51
Speaker 7: The allegations in this case are actually a little bit confusing. Here at tsagent in full uniform was in between terminal six and terminal seven on this sterole it's called the sterile the airfield after you go through security. When he was in the restroom, a person walked up into him in the restroom and said, hey, you have my passport, and the security officer said, no, I don't know what he's talking about.

00:29:09
Speaker 2: I wonder how many people this guy said that too before he got to the TSA agent. You at my passpart? Now, you at my passpart.

00:29:17
Speaker 1: I wonder if he did it to anyone at the Homeboy's Bakery, because they could pull a gun on him and.

00:29:22
Speaker 7: Said hey, you have my passport. And the security officer said no, I don't know what he's talking about. Walked out of the bathroom. The man, according to the federal document, began yelling at him, grabbed him by the hair, and threw him against the wall. Take a look at the picture here we pulled out of the federal complaint where you can see that man holding the TSA agent buy his hair and pushed him up against the glass. Now, federal authorities alleged that after this, the TSA agent was able to regain control of the man, force him to the ground, all the while yelling let me go, let me go. Ultimately, the guy kept wanting to know where his backpack and passport were, something the TSA agent said he had no idea what he was talking about. Ultimately, airport police and other assistants from the TSA agents there were able to come and subdue the man put him into custody.

00:30:00
Speaker 1: The man had just gotten off a.

00:30:01
Speaker 7: Flight from Australia, landed at Lax and was headed to Las Vegas.

00:30:04
Speaker 2: Oh, he should have flown direct, he would have just gotten in trouble there. Yep.

00:30:12
Speaker 7: Now, they ultimately were able to find his belongings at a restaurant in Terminal seven that he had apparently visited prior to this interaction.

00:30:18
Speaker 2: Of of course, restaurant or bar. Well, they're all restaurants, but they're all bars. But you're on a seventeen hour flight from Australia to Lax, so you're getting loaded on that flight in your layover when you going Lax to Vegas, you're loading up a little more, you lose your backpack and you decide to go after who you think is responsible, not your own drunk ass.

00:30:49
Speaker 1: What do you think was in that backpack that was so important that he decided to assault a TSA agent? Vega might Now they.

00:30:56
Speaker 7: Ultimately were able to find his belongings at a restaurant in Terminal seven that he had apparently visited prior to this interaction. Now, the federal government did ultimately arrest him just before he was getting on a flight headed to the UK. He now faces chargers here in the United States and could spend several years in federal prison if convicted.

00:31:14
Speaker 4: Mike, thank you very much.

00:31:16
Speaker 2: There you go. Just another case. Is someone getting a little too drunkie at the airport?

00:31:21
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two to two two, And it's time for one more edition to the California Crime Blodder.

00:31:33
Speaker 6: It's happened yet again.

00:31:37
Speaker 1: Nice see time for the California Crime Blodder and this one involves man's best friend.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a way to button off this very dark snows story. Day in the Central Valley, scammers are looking up pictures of people who have lost their dogs, using AI to make it look like the dog is in a veterinary hospital, calling them and demanding money, and people are falling for it. For more on these monsters messing with people's heartstrings over their missing poaches, here's CBS forty seven in the Central Valley.

00:32:24
Speaker 10: We're on your side tonight with a warning about a scam that targets lost pets and their owners. The scam uses images generated by AI to make it seem like that lost pet has turned up at a veterinary hospital.

00:32:37
Speaker 1: And the owner.

00:32:38
Speaker 2: I'm sure at some point AI will be doing magnificent things for the future. Right now, it's a net negative for me.

00:32:48
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm obsessed with Grok every time I travel. Every time I need to find something new, I just go to Grok and they haven't steered me wrong yet and the.

00:33:00
Speaker 10: Owner is told they need to pay to get their pet back. That clinic in Fresno got to call this morning from someone targeted by the scam. This is Chewy, a service dog who's been missing in northwest Fresno since November. Chewey's family got to call this morning and a picture appearing to show you under anesthesia. The caller said that Chewy was at Animal hospital and dental clinic in Fresno. Chewy's owner called the.

00:33:28
Speaker 11: Clinic something and him told him to contact us. He reached out to us. That's all.

00:33:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, first thing you always got to do is whenever you're getting any kind of a message saying hey, call me, look up the number on your own and call that number, because then you might actually get a hold of the real person that's not trying to scam you.

00:33:47
Speaker 1: Every single time he reached out to.

00:33:49
Speaker 11: Us, That's how we found out that he was being scammed.

00:33:51
Speaker 10: Chewy wasn't at the clinic. The picture was a fake.

00:33:55
Speaker 12: When I was on the phone with him, the scammer was actually contacting him at the same time. He to me to not say anything. Let's hear the phone call and I can hear the gentleman on the other line asking him to please send the money now, or that he was not going to see his dog, essentially holding his pet hostage.

00:34:10
Speaker 2: She said, you know what, of all the dark stories, this one upsets me the most.

00:34:17
Speaker 1: How dare they you have a soft spot for dogs?

00:34:20
Speaker 10: She said. The scammer asked for payment through Walmart cvs or Walgreen's gift cards.

00:34:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds legit.

00:34:30
Speaker 1: Okay, At that point, when that's what they're asking for, you have to know it's a scam.

00:34:37
Speaker 2: Well, the thing is, I'm sure this person knew it was a scam. They did the right thing. They called the actual veterinary hospital and realized that, yes, this is bes. But you got to imagine these people wouldn't do this if it didn't work. Some of the time.

00:34:52
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sure there are people out there who are heartbroken that their pet is missing and they're willing to believe anything that will bring their pet.

00:35:00
Speaker 2: Home, including buying Walmart gift cards for the vet, because that's how you pay your anesthesia bill.

00:35:08
Speaker 10: Through Walmart cvs or Walgreen's gift cards. Fresno police say that's a common tactic.

00:35:14
Speaker 13: These scammers will normally ask for payment in gift cards.

00:35:18
Speaker 10: Detective David Lamelli works on fraud cases with Fresno Police. He says, scary, Maybe.

00:35:22
Speaker 2: What we need to do is get rid of the whole concept of gift cards. Just give people cash.

00:35:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you get the gift cards, don't you lose them all the time?

00:35:31
Speaker 2: Or you forget that you had them, and they all have expiration dates, and then you just lose money. But like, instead of giving someone five dollars for Starbucks, just give them five dollars.

00:35:44
Speaker 10: Detective David Lomelli works on fraud cases with Fresno Police. He says scammers use different ploys to get your money, posing as your bank, law enforcement, even a family member.

00:35:55
Speaker 13: If it's a loved one, don't give out any.

00:35:57
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the scary thing that AI can do now, is the AI can mimic your voice or your relative's voice where it'll sound like, oh no, they're in prison right now.

00:36:09
Speaker 1: What does that happen?

00:36:10
Speaker 13: If it's a loved one, don't give out any information, ask for their information, hang up the phone, call that loved one yourself with the number that you've already verified, and speak to them and see if there's an emergency, if something is wrong, And nine times out of ten they're going to say, no, I didn't call you, it wasn't me, he said.

00:36:27
Speaker 10: It's critical to verify who is calling and never give out any personal information.

00:36:34
Speaker 2: Samantha hopes this also, it's really smart at this point. Set your phone to screen all phone numbers that you don't know.

00:36:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I never take a call from a number that I don't I can't identify people that really know me, know, I prefer to text.

00:36:53
Speaker 10: Samantha hopes this serves as a warning and maybe gets Chewy back home.

00:37:00
Speaker 12: Even have his pet here, so it was a little heartbreaking to see that they raised some sort.

00:37:06
Speaker 11: Of hope for him that his pet was here and well, and unfortunately we were not.

00:37:11
Speaker 10: Samantha says, they'll only ask for payment at the end of treatment, not upfront to get your pet.

00:37:17
Speaker 2: Back, and usually not in gift cards.

00:37:20
Speaker 1: No, No, the only people who are asking for gift cards are scam artists.

00:37:25
Speaker 10: And police say, if you're the victim of a scam, contact your bank or financial institution, let them know that your account has been compromised, and then call police so they can start an investigation.

00:37:37
Speaker 2: Don't feel embarrassed, report it. Report all crime, no matter how small, so it counts in the statistics.

00:37:47
Speaker 1: All right, so today was a heavy day.

00:37:50
Speaker 2: Yep.

00:37:52
Speaker 1: Let's hope that on tomorrow's show, we don't start the show by cadsling another holiday because we find out that the Easter Bunny did something he shouldn't be doing. You know, if you need something a little lighter, you can download the podcast of our show of any other day, but today, and the content is much more fun. In fact, do yourself a favor.

00:38:17
Speaker 2: If you didn't get to hear our twelve o'clock hour from yesterday's show, even if you did hear it, you should hear it again because that will enliven your spirits. Forget about all this talk of elder parole and rape allegations for the nineteen sixties and the kidnapper in the valley, and let's just all remember about Katie Porter's financial lesson when it comes to the bakery.

00:38:42
Speaker 11: I'm pulling in to the bakery.

00:38:45
Speaker 1: If you didn't hear that, you need to That was yesterday's twelve o'clock hour. All right, that's going to do it for us today. We'll be back tomorrow at noon for another edition of The John Phillips Show.