Scammers have used our systems against us, like shipping, rental cars, and rental homes. They’ve learned how to stay off the radar and, in order to stop money laundering, we need to address fraud one step at a time. Today’s guest is Pierogi. Pierogi protects the innocent and vulnerable from internet scammers through his channel Scammer Payback. He exposes these criminals and helps victims through his technology and cybersecurity knowledge.

Show Notes:

• [1:07] - Pierogi shares his background and how he got into cybersecurity.

• [4:25] - His drive to help people and get back at scammers is why he started Scammers Payback.

• [6:03] - Scammers can get access to a bank account and ruin everything.

• [8:32] - Pierogi shares one of the projects he worked on that actually resulted in an arrest.

• [9:56] - Scammers know how to stay under the radar.

• [11:31] - Those involved in organized crime consider their victims as customers.

• [14:32] - Pierogi describes how a well-trained scammer can cater their manipulation to each individual situation.

• [17:26] - It’s a numbers game. At some point, a scammer is going to connect with someone.

• [19:04] - Scammers can learn so much about you on the internet that makes their false claims that much more believable.

• [20:56] - A lot of the time, scammers know when to give up and move on.

• [22:18] - Never send a text message of any type of personal identification.

• [26:11] - Focus on the mental aspect of this.

• [27:52] - Employees at different stores that sell gift cards are on high alert and typically do not sell certain numbers of gift cards.

• [30:14] - In some cases, banks are even calling out possible red flags.

• [31:31] - Financial institutions can use technology to determine behaviors that are not normal for you to indicate possible fraud.

• [33:29] - Hackers are using known processes that are good but for bad purposes.

• [34:58] - Major corporations have a budget for cybersecurity but regular people don’t.

• [36:28] - Phone carriers are trying to do more to prevent scam calls.

• [38:03] - While playing different roles, Pierogi shares that he actually “married” a scammer. He shares some of the craziest things scammers have done.

• [39:32] - Pierogi is also learning different languages so he can learn more about where scammers are located.

• [41:39] - A lot of the experiences of the victims and how scammers talk about them makes Pierogi emotional.

• [44:40] - These experiences are sometimes hard to listen to.

• [46:28] - A lot of people say they’ll know immediately if they are talking to a scammer, but it isn’t that simple.

• [48:54] - If we know this information, we need to talk about it to others and educate.

• [51:16] - Scammers are very good at what they do. We portray them as silly, but they are very intelligent and convincing.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. 

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