Deepfake Clones Can’t Cry, But They May Very Soon
Something strange occurred to me the other day. I have read many articles about Voice Clone kidnapping scams. In each case, the victim (often a parent) claims that they received a deepfake call from their child who was crying. There is only one problem with that. I have never found a voice cloning service that […]
“Bombin & Billin” -What I Learned at Yahoo Boys School
The Yahoo Boys are notorious and growing like wildfire. With a poverty rate of 40% in Nigeria, the loosely formed scamming empire has no problem recruiting kids who want to make big money in scams. For recruitment, hundreds of “Yahoo Boy Universities” have sprung up everywhere. These are places where young people can work with […]
Toronto Police Announce Major Synthetic ID Sting
Toronto Police have announced a sweeping crackdown on Synthetic Identity after a financial institution warned them of the increasing threat in Canada two years ago. The operation called “Deja Vu” is a first of its kind in Canada and it specifically targeted criminals that use fictitious or stolen PII to create new identities. 680 Unique […]
The Fraud Case of Alice Fries Will Be Hard For Wells Fargo
Alice Fries, a long-time Wells Fargo customer, had $100,000 stolen from her account in October through an increasingly common imposter scam that exploits the bank’s “flawed two-factor authentication system.” That is according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles. Alice Fries is now suing Wells Fargo for the stolen money and damages caused by the […]
How A $25 Million Deepfake CFO Attack Occurred
A newly released video by SumSub brilliantly recreates one of the year’s most notorious deepfake AI cases. The notorious case began with an accounting clerk receiving a phishing email from the multinational company’s “CFO” and ended with the clerk sending five wire transfers to five different banks. Among the insights? The scammers interacted with the […]
BillPay ‘Saviors’ on Facebook: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Charles Wangler, a 45-year-old father of three, found himself in dire straits when he lost his job as a parts assembler in 2023. By early 2024, his savings had dwindled, and he could simply not afford life’s essentials, like his gas and electric bills. Charles grew increasingly desperate to find a way to keep his […]
How Noir’s Refunds Scammed Retailers Out Of Millions
Aiman Akram Kaif went by the handle @Dior on Telegram. Damion Wayne Scarlett was known as @Dash. Dhruv Gargi’s alias was @Panda. On the surface, they appeared to be regular users of the popular encrypted messaging app. However, according to a federal indictment, this trio and six others were key members of a fraud ring […]
Pig Butchering Scams Are Breaking Couples Apart
Pig Butchering. It’s a devastating crime. Researchers suggest it has caused victims to suffer $75 billion in financial losses. However, those financial losses may dwarf the other pain – heartache, divorce, and emotionally devastated families. Pig Butchering scams are ripping couples apart. It’s the sad reality of this horrible crime that is often left unreported. […]
eSIM Attacks Bring New SIM Swap Threats To Banking
Sim Swappers techniques are changing. In a troubling development, cybersecurity experts at FAC.C.T., a leading Russian cybercrime prevention firm, have uncovered a new attack vector targeted explicitly at those eSIMS vulnerabilities. Since the fall of 2023, Fraud Protection analysts from FACCT have recorded more than a hundred attempts to enter clients’ personal accounts in online […]
The Digital Drug Darkside – Doctor Identity Theft Soars
Criminals are using digital prescription sites to order mountains of oxycodone and other drugs for sale on the dark web. In a shocking revelation, 404 Media has uncovered a far-reaching scheme where criminals are infiltrating the digital prescription systems used by doctors to order controlled substances like oxycodone, adderall, and fentanyl. By stealing and then […]
Minting Money – Premade CPN’s Are The New Scam
“Premade CPNs” are a big money maker for scammers and synthetic identity thieves operating underground channels. The number of advertisements on social media has risen dramatically over the last 12 months. However, as some people find out after purchasing one, those premade CPNs can land them in hot water. Premade CPNs Are Designed To ByPass […]
As Zelle Grows, Fraud and Scams Exposure Is Up Too
Zelle reports that payment volumes soared in 2023. Consumers and small businesses sent 2.9 billion transactions totaling $806 billion in 2023, Thats up 28% over last year. That’s good news for what I think is probably the safest P2P service available. It’s safer than Venmo and light years better than CashApp in stopping scams. But […]
Lone Wolf Fraud Fighters, You Are Not Alone
Janice is the fraud manager, but she doesn’t manage anyone. She manages fraud. That’s what her job description says. Day in and day out, she fights fraud. She’s all alone. There is no team. She’s a department of one. It’s just her and a growing work queue: calls from victims, referrals and questions from other […]
Scam Interdiction. Banks Battle Scams With Tough Love
It’s happening worldwide, and now it may be coming to the US. It’s not scam reimbursement, its something better and more effective. International Fraud Fighters have found the secret weapon in the war against scams, and they are taking cues from what credit card issuers did back in 1991 when fraud losses soared globally. The […]
AI Video Sora Will Give Scammers Unlimited Power
Another monumental moment in technology just happened – OpenAI released Sora. The powerful AI can create 60-second hyperrealistic videos and imaginative scenes with as little as a text prompt or even a sample image. But fraud experts believe this could give ⚡Scammers Unlimited Power⚡ to fortify their scams and mint them billions in profits. A […]
I Found Old Photos. I Think My Dad Was In The Mafia
I was browsing through some of Dad’s old photo albums from the 1970s, and I found something that had me scratching my head. One of the photo albums was entitled “Knights of Columbus 1978” (allegedly a group my father had belonged to for many years). Purportedly, this group does all sorts of good deeds for […]
He Claimed Fraud Co Was Shady, Then They Vanished
Refend.AI, the Refunding Fraud Solutions company that burst on the scene only weeks ago, has just as quickly disappeared. The website is down. Their LinkedIn page is down. And there is little evidence that they ever existed. And one man – Brett Johnson – the original internet godfather might have been the catalyst for their […]
It Was Internal Fraud. Bank CEO Sinks His Bank
In July last year, the FDIC abruptly shut down Heartland Tri-State Bank. It was unclear what happened then, but it came on the heels of the Silicon Valley Meltdown, so many suspected it was a liquidity issue. It was not. It was intentional fraud by the bank’s CEO, Shan Hanes. It was all laid out […]
No, Jessica Alba Is Not A CyberSecurity Enthusiast
It popped up on my LinkedIn newsfeed last week, giving me a little jolt. I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was not seeing things. ? Could it be true? Did Jessica Alba, the mega-pint superstar, want to add little old me to her network? That was my instant thought as I […]
11 Frauds and Scams That Will Be SuperCharged With AI ⚡
AI will create new and better versions of existing frauds and scams, but it will also result in some shocking new ones that we never thought might happen. I created this handy infographic of 11 frauds and scams that AI will supercharge⚡. Some of these are already happening, while others may begin occurring soon or […]
ByteDance Instant AI Voice Clone Sparks Fraud Concerns
Researchers have finally cracked the code on voice cloning in real-time. It has arrived. Deepfake conversations will now become a reality. ByteDance has created powerful new software that will allow its users to instantly change their voice into another person’s using generative AI technology. ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok. The tool called StreamVoice […]