Facial recognition systems are the next target for hackers trying to commit identity fraud and also claim unemployment benefits. From June 2020 to January 2021, there were more than 80,000 attempts to fool the selfie step when trying to claim unemployment benefits. Analysts also say that the fastest growing type of financial crime is known as synthetic identity fraud, where fraudsters use AI to combine features from different faces to create a new identity. Parmy Olson, technology reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how hackers are trying to fool facial recognition with masks and artificial intelligence.

Next, local residents near Seneca Lake in upstate New York are protesting a Bitcoin mining operation they say is polluting the air and heating the lake. A gas-fired power plant is currently operating there and using the energy it produces to run at least 8,000 computers for the energy-intensive mining of the digital currency. Not everyone is angry at the power plant however as it has created jobs and provided some economic benefit. Still residents are worried that the lake is overheating and that other similar operations could pop up. Gretchen Morgenson, senior financial reporter for the NBC News investigative unit, joins us for how mining for Bitcoin can impact the environment.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.