Listeners, Scotty here, your witty cyber-sleuth with today’s freshest intel from Scamland—and trust me, you’ll want to pay attention. Just yesterday, news broke of a jaw-dropping Google data breach that’s put 2.5 billion Gmail users like you and me at risk. Blame goes to ShinyHunters, one of those hacker crews that seem like they're always auditioning for a Bond film. They pulled off this caper using old-school trickery: social engineering. They convinced a Google employee, over a legit-sounding call, to install a malicious Salesforce app, and bam—emails, business contacts, and notes were scooped right out of Google’s cloud.

Now, passwords weren’t leaked—breathe easy on that front. But scammers are already blitzing inboxes and phones, impersonating Google staffers and urging you to “verify” your account or “reset” your password. One favorite tactic: calling from a 650 area code (yes, that’s Mountain View) and claiming there’s suspicious activity on your account. If you fall for it and hand over a reset code, you're handing over the keys to your digital kingdom. Once they've got that, they can lock you out and help themselves to your email, cloud data, and anything you’ve connected to Google.

But wait, there’s more! Over in Illinois, police just nabbed Xu Li of Alhambra, California after he tried to scam a Huntley man out of $25,000. Classic refund hustle here: phishing email about a fake PayPal subscription, phony “customer support” who persuades the victim to let him take remote control of the victim’s computer, then claims to have sent a $25,000 refund by mistake. Suddenly, Xu Li’s pressuring you to send money in cash or crypto to “fix” the error. Don’t do it! Our would-be victim smelt a rat and invited the cops to handle the cash handoff—spoiler, Xu Li didn’t get the money, but he did get arrested.

And just when you thought scams only happen online, California authorities have arrested fourteen suspects in the nation’s biggest Home Depot theft ring—Operation Kill Switch. Led by the not-so-cunning David All, this crew hit 71 stores, swiping about $10 million in switches, outlets, and other goods and reselling them online. David, his family, and some loyal “boosters” are now facing justice thanks to a new law letting California counties team up for major cases.

Bottom line, listeners: never share personal info with anyone who contacts you unexpectedly, whether it’s email, phone, or text. Always check email addresses carefully—scammers love lookalike domains and spoofed numbers. Use strong and unique passwords, add multi-factor authentication, ignore high-pressure tactics, and never pay with gift cards or crypto to strangers. And when in doubt? Ask someone you trust or call the company directly using a number you find, not one they give you.

That’s your Scam Survival 101 from Scotty—if you found this helpful, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for tuning in! This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI