Pronunciation ChallengeWhy You Should Be Wary About Incredible Online Shopping Deals [Advertiser Content From Zelle®]

Intro:
Hi guys! Welcome back. I bet most of us would agree that online shopping is pretty awesome. I do it quite often as it saves time and money, and there is a big variety of products to choose from. There was a time not too long ago when you could only buy stuff at physical stores. But now, online shopping is so easy and has changed the way we purchase. Today we pay for many things using our credit cards. Even our mobile phones and watches can be used to pay for things - from bus and subway tickets to groceries and almost anything really. All of this is definitely very convenient but it comes with a risk. Some people are trying to take advantage of this system to make a profit, and they have many ways of doing this. Hackers can break into online accounts and steal bank information. Some people have even had their Spotify or Netflix accounts broken into. The hackers then use the accounts for free until they get blocked or the account owner changes the password. So it’s really important to keep our online information safe. There are a few ways of doing this. First of all, you should change your passwords frequently. If you have any online accounts that require credit card information, you should change the passwords often. Make sure you also use a strong password, don’t use your birth date or ABC123. Second, don’t trust just any site that’s asking for online payment. It’s better to stick with big recognized names and not with unknown smaller websites. And third, if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. And that is the topic of today’s video. Before you watch the video, let’s have a listen to our sentence of the day.
Sentence:
Clearly the simplicity is successful. And in order for them to work, these scams use a tactic known as phantom fixation.

Pronunciation Tips:
simplicity
tactic
phantom
fixation

Vocabulary:
1. simplicity KK[sɪmˋplɪsətɪ] IPA//sɪmˈplɪs.ə.t̬i/
n. the fact that something is easy to understand or do
n. the fact that something is ordinary, traditional, or natural, and not complicated
Example:
I love the simplicity of this banking App, it makes wiring money so easy.

2. tactic KK[ˋtæktɪk] IPA//ˈtæk.tɪk/
n. a planned way of doing something
Example:
She studied her opponent’s tactics the night before the fencing competition.


3. fixation KK[fɪkˋseʃən] IPA//fɪkˈseɪ.ʃən/
n. the state of being unable to stop thinking about something or someone, or an unnaturally strong interest in something or someone
n. the process of attaching or sewing something firmly in place

Example:
He cannot stand his wife’s fixation on how the dishes should be stacked inside the sink.

Outro:
There are definitely a lot of scammers out there and some of them are very skillful. There are different ways and levels of scamming too. For example, some people say that pyramid scheme business models are a kind of a scam. You have to pay money to get in, with the promise that you’ll get paid by new members that you recruit. But many people later find out that it’s not that easy to recruit new members, and they never get their money back. There are also telephone scams where people pretend to be a legitimate company representative. These people claim that there is a problem with your info and ask for your bank or credit card details. There are also email frauds, postal scams, etc. I recently watched a movie on Netflix called the “Tinder Swindler”, and it’s based on a true story of a big-time fraudster who pretended to be wealthy, and after befriending many women and gaining their trust, he then pretended to be in some financial emergency and asked each woman to help out. You can probably guess what happened after that! Unfortunately, in real life, these scammers do exist and they are very good at using personal feelings and attachments to cheat money out of innocent people. Many people tend to let their guards down when they are around people whom they (think) they love or admire.
So, it’s really important to read the warning signs as described in the video, and avoid being scammed. Alright, guys, that’s all we have time for today. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to record your pronunciation challenge sentence. Bye bye and see you again next week!

Day 179