Easy Prey

Every time you pay a bill, data is sent to a credit reporting agency. Errors can be made. It's important to know where to look to see if your credit information is correct, stolen, or purchased. Today's guest is Steve Baker. Steve is chairman of the Privacy Rights Institute. He is a lawyer and previously served as a leader at the FTC for over 27 years addressing consumer fraud in areas like telemarketing and spamming. Steve now writes The Baker Fraud Report, a free weekly newsletter covering consumer fraud from around the world.

• [1:08] - Steve shares what he currently does with The Baker Fraud Report and his career background.
• [2:46] - In the field of consumer fraud, there is always something to learn.
• [3:27] - The Privacy Rights Institute is meant to educate people on their rights regarding credit reporting.
• [5:02] - With tons of pieces of data, errors can occur.
• [6:05] - Steve shares some of the people who can pull your credit report.
• [7:34] - One error happens when people with the same name get mixed up.
• [9:04] - Steve explains how the system is supposed to work.
• [11:07] - Unfortunately the credit reporting agencies have poor customer service.
• [12:54] - Credit reports can also be pulled by employees and associates at places like car dealerships. There's no stopping them from searching anyone.
• [13:40] - Data breaches are also a concern and can lead to identity theft.
• [15:27] - The Los Angeles school district recently experienced a data breach through ransomware.
• [17:25] - There are some alternatives that are starting to come out for security.
• [18:56] - With the increase in people changing jobs and the economy in its current state, credit reports are being pulled more frequently at the moment.
• [21:09] - You can get a copy of your credit report once a year. Do this at AnnualCreditReport.com.
• [22:26] - If you see an error, reporting it to one agency is good. Keep an eye on your credit card bills.
• [24:24] - Scammers have also been known to alter recordings of your voice on the phone.
• [26:04] - If you see an unusual charge, don't try to locate or contact the person who made the charge.
• [27:48] - Currently, the best way for scammers to get your money is through cryptocurrency.
• [29:07] - Immigrants are particularly hit hard by scammers and credit report confusion.
• [31:01] - Keep an eye on your credit reports and periodically check for errors.
• [32:06] - Steve explains how credit repair works and what to look for.

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Consumer Reports is known for the research and comparisons of products and services, but they also offer a free personalized security and privacy planner. Today's guest is Amira Dhalla. Amira is the Director of Impact Partnerships and Programs at Consumer Reports focusing on digital privacy and security. Amira works on projects that improve the cybersecurity and privacy products and tools on the marketplace while also tackling topics like discriminatory technologies, deceptive design, trust, and safety.

• [0:57] - Amira shares her background and her role at Consumer Reports.
• [3:10] - The internet is incredible, but the quality isn't always what it should be.
• [4:26] - Technology has expanded at an unprecedented rate.
• [6:14] - Amira explains some of the fears that people had in different countries when learning about internet use.
• [7:21] - Security Planner has been around for a long time and Consumer Reports brought it into their toolset a few years ago.
• [9:29] - Constant updates as technology changes and trends emerge is crucial.
• [11:19] - Consumer Reports studies tools people use. MFA is becoming much more commonly used.
• [12:30] - MFA is also required by many organizations for their employees.
• [13:40] - Password managers are not trending as more commonly used.
• [14:14] - Amira shares Consumer Report's picks for password managers and VPNs.
• [16:12] - Online shopping has increased since the pandemic and is prime time for scammers.
• [17:31] - There are ways to be smarter online shoppers.
• [19:45] - What is a Grinchbot?
• [20:59] - Once you go to a third party site, you are no longer secure.
• [23:07] - Amira describes some of the things to look for to determine if you are looking at a fake site.
• [25:20] - Question yourself on why a site needs the information they are asking for.
• [27:54] - Charity scams are a huge problem particularly during the holiday season.
• [29:10] - Always go to the site you know directly.

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Criminals and trained to hone in on people who are vulnerable. Listen on to learn how you can protect the people you care about and what signs to look out for. Today's guest is Louise Baxter. Lou graduated with a law degree and worked for Sussex Trading Standards. She took over as the chair of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's consumer power alliance and is the CTSI's lead officer of education. She got frustrated by the system in relation to support of scam victims and started what is now the National Trading Standard Scams Teams, and she was awarded an MBE for protecting vulnerable consumers from financial abuse.

• [1:10] - Lou shares her background and why she was driven to be more proactive.
• [3:05] - Her team deals with specific types of scams.
• [5:19] - If you respond to one letter scam, your details get passed around to more.
• [6:54] - There are times of mental health challenges that make you vulnerable, such as grief and high stress.
• [8:40] - There are different types of vulnerabilities and you could experience several at once.
• [10:51] - There are mental health impacts when learning that you've been a victim of a scam.
• [12:35] - Scams are only reported between 5 and 15% of the time.
• [14:48] - Even Louise has been affected by situational vulnerability.
• [16:01] - Louise describes the way a lottery scam increases their web of victims.
• [18:49] - What support is available for scam victims?
• [20:35] - Louise shares the types of responses her team receives when they reach out to scam victims.
• [23:00] - Situational vulnerability creates opportunity for scammers to make their message more believable.
• [25:35] - At the start of Covid-19, vulnerabilities were at an all time high.
• [27:13] - Criminals can target constantly.
• [28:38] - One million people have completed the training Louise's company offers.
• [30:19] - As a society, we need to begin supporting victims rather than shaming them.
• [32:50] - Scams and fraud are forms of emotional abuse.
• [34:12] - Lou compares the tactics used by scammers to domestic emotional abuse.
• [35:41] - Louise explains that most criminals are not in the same country as their targets.
• [37:35] - There has been some valuable international work that's been done, but every country operates a bit differently in their standards.

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Once a data breach has taken place, your data can be sold and resold and resold again. It's important to know how to proactively protect your personal information. Today's guest is Kevin Roundy. Dr. Roundy received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin where he developed tools by which malware can be analyzed both with detailed statistical analysis techniques and dynamic instrumentation. He has collaboratively developed threat detection tools and has offered several research publications and patents. He also has a background in machine learning and database systems.

• [0:56] - Kevin shares his current role and why he has become passionate about keeping people safe from scammers.
• [2:45] - Oftentimes, scammers take advantage of current events and news stories.
• [4:02] - Student loan forgiveness is a recent trend in scams as it is a current focus in the US.
• [5:06] - Don't click the ads that pop up at the top of your search as scammers will pay money to have their ad placed there.
• [6:01] - Kevin shares the common things scammers will say to target those looking for student loan forgiveness.
• [7:20] - Scammers can also just take your information and use it to claim unemployment.
• [8:50] - Kevin shares some things to help protect your social security number.
• [11:47] - There are great opportunities to protect yourself and get to these things before someone else does.
• [12:44] - If a company is breached and they lose your information, they are legally required to notify you so keep your contact information updated.
• [13:50] - We do not have the best practices with passwords.
• [15:06] - It's not possible to have unique passwords that you can memorize.
• [16:56] - Dark web monitoring is very effective and fast.
• [17:50] - There are times in the past when your information could have hit the dark web before anyone knew there was a breach.
• [19:24] - The price of things on the dark web may indicate the level of security your account has.
• [22:22] - It's annoying to have to work with two factor authentication, but it is worth it.
• [24:38] - How do we have conversations with family members to educate them without sounding demeaning?
• [26:58] - When it comes to having conversations with children, the earlier the better.
• [31:43] - It's important to keep lines of communication open with your kids about security and privacy.
• [33:23] - When it comes to having a phone, Kevin has guidelines for his kids.
• [35:40] - Once you put something out there, it's out there forever.

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Online predators can pretend to be anyone, any age, anywhere. We need to educate and empower our children to stay safe on their devices and not become victims. Today's guest is Titania Jordan. Titania is the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Parent Officer at Bark Technologies, an online safety company that helps keep kids safe online and in real life. Titania has contributed pieces to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Huffington Post, Fox Business, Daily Mail, USA Today, Vogue, and more. Her first book Parenting in a Tech World was published in 2020 and quickly became a best seller on Amazon. She was also featured in the 2020 documentary Childhood 2.0. She frequently appears as a subject matter expert on nationally broadcast programs such as Today Show, Steve Harvey, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, and many others.

• [1:14] - Titania shares her background and why she was drawn to her field.
• [3:07] - In her history, Titania has many childhood traumas and wants to help protect others.
• [5:18] - Kids have access to everything that's good but also everything that is bad and parents did not have that experience in their own childhood.
• [7:41] - Kids are being exposed to everything more frequently and at a younger age than ever in history.
• [9:50] - Parents can feel helpless because there is a fine line between controlling what their children access online and giving them the freedom to use it.
• [11:37] - The frequency in which negative experiences online happen to children is much higher than you think.
• [13:09] - Be aware of how you model technology use and talk about "tricky" people.
• [15:07] - It can happen anywhere, not just in social media apps.
• [16:21] - Titania shares some of the issues that can arise depending on the age and abilities of a child.
• [17:29] - There are some apps that appear as something other than what they actually are.
• [19:34] - Predators can be seemingly upstanding and moral people and some can also be people you know personally.
• [21:39] - Kid slang changes all the time and could mean something you aren't aware of. They are designed to overcome algorithms.
• [23:21] - Titania created a Facebook group about parenting in a tech world.
• [24:25] - Titania lists some of the things Bark tracks to keep kids safer online.
• [25:50] - It's not about keeping technology away from your child, but to go on the journey with them.
• [27:40] - Titania explains some of the things she talks to her son about regarding privacy
• [30:17] - When it comes to sharing photos of your child on social media, consider the reason you are doing so and who can see it.
• [33:00] - Bark is a tool, but does not replace conversations and education.
• [35:47] - Titania shares some of the feedback from parents who have used Bark.
• [38:49] - Become familiar with parental controls on all the connected devices in your home.

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Taking online quizzes can be fun and entertaining. Clicking on links in emails and DMs is just plain convenient. Unfortunately, both of these can put your identity at risk for theft. Today's guest is Patrick Glennon. Patrick has over 20 years of experience in banking and consumer identity protection with roles at companies including JP Morgan Chase, Core Logic, Arthur Anderson, and eBates. He has built software and infrastructure teams from the ground up, managed not only data center cloud migrations, but also managed transitions from legacy to modern engineering standards.

• [0:55] - Patrick shares his background and his current role at IdentityIQ.
• [2:15] - We are putting more and more of our personal information online.
• [4:06] - Credit card numbers can be used for more than purchasing things with your funds.
• [6:06] - There is a wide variety of ways people can use your identity and every day there seem to be new ones.
• [8:06] - When something happens once, the same information can be used across platforms and accounts.
• [9:26] - Online quizzes can be used in surprising ways.
• [10:52] - There is some organization to the ways scammers take information.
• [14:56] - There's nothing we can do to prevent people from trying. But there are many things we can do to help prevent them from being successful.
• [16:08] - Mix it up and use different security questions on different sites.
• [17:48] - Don't click on links in emails or texts.
• [19:09] - Shred personal mail and credit card offers from the mail.
• [21:44] - Your information is probably out there.
• [23:12] - There are so many ways people can get information and then have full access to tons of things.
• [24:47] - If one thing is compromised, assume that everything is and take the steps to stop access.
• [26:54] - Depending on what happens, it could take weeks or even months to have this resolved.
• [28:57] - Time is a big loss for many victims, but there is also an emotional toll.
• [30:53] - Move to authenticator apps rather than text message two factor authentication.
• [32:12] - Young people will have a harder time recovering from identity theft.
• [33:13] - You don't just want to be educated for your sake.

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It is fascinating to see an investigation using dark web technology showing how criminal syndicates work and the process stolen equipment goes through. Today's guest is Anthony van der Meer. Anthony is a Dutch investigative journalist and filmmaker. As a filmmaker, he has been focusing on the dark side of the digital world since 2015. For his investigations, he dives deep into the world of cyber criminals by infiltrating using OSINT and ethical hacking. He was recently a speaker at the Global Online Spam Summit on the dark web and cyber crime.

• [0:55] - Anthony shares his background and what he does in his current role.
• [2:12] - While working in film, he realized he really liked documentary and investigative work.
• [3:42] - Hacking is doing something different with a product than it's originally designed or intended for.
• [5:21] - Anthony describes an experience of his phone being stolen and it was done in a very professional and organized way.
• [7:24] - Anthony's film on this experience, called Find My Phone, went viral in 2016.
• [8:51] - Currently, Anthony is working on a television series.
• [11:03] - Scams are almost always through organized crime.
• [12:27] - Anthony has even found surprising rituals involved.
• [14:15] - He describes an experience in tricking a scammer.
• [16:10] - The groups of organized crime are divided into groups and are very sophisticated and structured.
• [18:40] - Another surprise was the extremes the scammers went through to establish a believable connection, including cyber sex.
• [21:14] - In another experience, the scammer in contact with Anthony even offered to have someone pick up money from his own home.
• [23:41] - In the end, Anthony was able to get the scammer to confess.
• [25:29] - Because of his work, Anthony has actually received death threats.
• [27:40] - Anthony shares that some scam companies are making $15,000 per month per employee.
• [30:01] - During Covid-19 lockdowns, some people took the new opportunity of being stuck at home for money laundering.
• [33:18] - There is quite a lot of cyber warfare happening in Ukraine.
• [36:21] - When people are eager for information, it is easy for fake news to be injected.
• [40:00] - There are many ways to investigate and verify information.
• [41:11] - OSINT techniques are now being taught to journalists.
• [42:24] - How are groups that are talking about these topics found?
• [45:01] - You can find Anthony's translated films on YouTube.

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We've all heard of dating scams, but realizing that most of them are part of larger criminal organizations working 24/7 to manipulate and defraud you can be a bit shocking. Today's guest is Jane Lee. Jane is a Trust and Safety Architect at Sift who specializes in malicious websites, spam, misinformation, account content abuse, and payment risk. Prior to joining Sift, she was on the fraud teams at Facebook and Square and also spent some time as a private investigator.

• [1:08] - Part of Jane's responsibility at Sift is to understand new and emerging fraud trends.
• [2:36] - Jane gets to do the detective work she likes but in a more physically safe tech environment.
• [3:46] - Pig butchering scams are similar to romance scams but more advanced.
• [4:25] - Scammers start on dating apps and move targets to another form of messaging.
• [6:36] - It's called pig butchering by the scammers.
• [7:34] - As a dating app user, Jane noticed patterns and decided to investigate.
• [9:29] - Jane shares the trends in the profile photos and images on dating accounts.
• [11:58] - Over time, it is easy to see patterns in profiles.
• [13:55] - Using IP emulators is common for scammers.
• [15:47] - Machines are better at detecting patterns than the naked human eye.
• [17:26] - Fraud is largely agnostic.
• [18:58] - It is the same dance but with different "flavors".
• [20:49] - Moving over to another messaging system is one red flag. After that, love-bombing is another common indicator.
• [23:07] - Covid has given scammers another reasonable excuse for them to use about not being able to meet in person.
• [24:22] - These types of scammers also talk about investments and even screenshots of bank accounts.
• [26:46] - To compensate for grammar and language errors, these scammers will mention that they were born overseas.
• [28:50] - These scammers also may have a fake crypto exchange platform.
• [30:22] - Jane describes the experience of interacting with the "tech help" line of a fake crypto platform.
• [35:27] - Jane shares that a lot of these scammers are coming out of Southeast Asia.
• [36:34] - There is a very sophisticated fraud economy.
• [39:35] - Deep fake technology is getting more and more advanced.
• [42:15] - What is synthetic identity fraud?
• [43:55] - It is necessary to have a little less trust in people you talk to online.

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Many believe that cybersecurity is for high tech professionals only. It's important to know that employees at every level can accidentally open the door to your network. Today's guest is Roy Zur. Roy is the founder and CEO of Thrive DX for Enterprise which is a global education company committed to transforming lives through digital skills training and solutions as well as addressing the human factor of cybersecurity training. Roy is a 15 year veteran of the Israeli Defense Force where he served as a major. Roy also serves as the adjunct professor in Risk Management and Cybersecurity. He is the founder and chairman of the non-profit Israeli Institute for Policy and Legislation and a member of the Forbes Business Council.

• [1:05] - Roy shares his background in cybersecurity and the different responsibilities he's had.
• [2:27] - Roy describes the challenges experienced in the Israeli Defense Force.
• [3:55] - It's not just about the training, it's also about the screening.
• [6:30] - The rapid changes in cyber security makes maintaining the curriculum a challenge.
• [9:13] - When finding people that qualify as candidates for this learning, there is a lot to learn. Roy describes parts of the program.
• [11:47] - Many people are afraid of cyber security because it seems so complicated, but it is more of a human factor issue.
• [13:08] - There are different groups within an organization that have access to data.
• [14:34] - Roy defines the groups or levels of an organization.
• [16:11] - Software developers and engineers have a huge responsibility.
• [17:08] - Each group has to have an education about security and the type of skills they need will vary.
• [18:47] - The method of learning is also different per level.
• [20:21] - Giving employees the information they need and nothing more is crucial so they can spend their time working on their responsibilities.
• [22:12] - Training for awareness which usually includes everyone in an organization takes about 2 hours a year but people don't always take it seriously.
• [24:11] - Phishing simulations are very effective. Roy describes the most effective methods of training.
• [26:15] - Full bootcamps can be up to 500 or more hours.
• [27:25] - In Education, Bloom's Taxonomy plays a big role.
• [29:11] - When you create new knowledge, you've completed the full cycle of truly learning something.
• [30:58] - For most people, the motivation to complete cybersecurity training is simply for compliance.
• [33:12] - These trainings have to be tied into the human factor of cybersecurity.
• [36:36] - Small businesses are actually at more risk of being impacted more greatly by a data breach.
• [39:10] - On Thrive DX's website, there are a lot of great resources available.

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Talking to our aging parents about their finances can be a tough conversation. But there are ways to educate and protect our parents from being taken advantage of by scammers, charities, and other organizations without being seen as controlling or overstepping.

Today's guest is Cameron Huddleston. Cameron is an author, speaker, and award-winning financial journalist. She's the Director of Education and Content at Careful, the first service built to protect and monitor aging adults' daily finances. Cameron's work has appeared in a number of publications including Forbes and The Chicago Tribune.

• [1:09] - Cameron described the experience of caring for her mother with alzheimers. She had not had a conversation with her about her finances.
• [2:37] - Talking to your parents about scammers is a way to open the door to more conversation about finances.
• [5:13] - Warn your parents about red flags because there's no way you can keep them updated on every single scam.
• [6:29] - As we age, we all experience some level of cognitive decline.
• [7:38] - Get an idea of how they are doing now so that you will be more aware of changes.
• [8:56] - You're not trying to pry or be nosey. This is a series of conversations that open the door to communication about finances for the future.
• [10:00] - Older adults are more likely to be exploited by someone they know.
• [11:10] - Nothing has to happen right now except the beginnings of conversations. Cameron lists some things to have in order later.
• [13:07] - There are things you can do to help prevent a caretaker from taking advantage of your parents.
• [14:35] - There are some red flags to listen for in conversations with your aging parents and/or their caretaker.
• [15:43] - If you are concerned about your parent's credit or finances, you can have their credit frozen and you can monitor everything for safety.
• [16:58] - Your parents can also sign up for services while they are healthy and add you to the monitoring account for notifications.
• [18:39] - Cameron shares an experience with her own mother. She was a giving person but with her alzheimers, she wound up donating money frequently.
• [19:51] - How can you help them get the spending on charity donations under control?
• [22:21] - One piece of advice for parents is to let all calls go to voicemail and don't call the numbers they called from.
• [24:21] - Chris describes an unusual and suspicious new text scam. How can we warn parents about the things that are out of the norm?
• [27:00] - If you have a parent with dementia, these warnings won't always do much good. Leave notes and reminders for them.
• [28:26] - Cameron describes a situation with her mother and she realized that she was no longer safe to live alone.
• [31:09] - There are a lot of things that parents can have in place in writing while they are relatively young and healthy.
• [32:33] - Cameron has a lot of great resources on her website CameronHuddleston.com.

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