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. 

Show Notes:

• [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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• Anthony van der Meer on YouTube