Hacking Humans

Thinking past the US 2024 Presidential Election, In part three of the series, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses reducing the impact of propaganda in the future elections with Perry Carpenter, Chief Human Risk Management Strategist at KnowBe4 and host of the 8th Layer Insights Podcast, Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the The American Sunlight Project, and Scott Small, Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Tidal Cyber. Check out Part 1 & 2! Part 1: Election Propaganda Part 1: How Does Election Propaganda Work? In this episode, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses personal defensive measures that every citizen can take—regardless of political philosophy—to resist the influence of propaganda. This foundational episode is essential for understanding how to navigate the complex landscape of election messaging. Part 2: Election Propaganda: Part 2: Modern propaganda efforts. In preparation for the US 2024 Presidential Election, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses recent international propaganda efforts in the form of nation state interference and influence operations as well as domestic campaigns designed to split the target country into opposing camps. Guests include Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the The American Sunlight Project and Scott Small, Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Tidal Cyber. References: Rick Howard, 2024. Election Propaganda Part 1: How does election propaganda work? [3 Part Podcast Series]. The CyberWire. Rick Howard, 2024. Election Propaganda: Part 2: Modern propaganda efforts. [3 Part Podcast Series]. The CyberWire. Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons, 2010. The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us [Book]. Goodreads. Chris Palmer, 2010. TFL Viral - Awareness Test (Moonwalking Bear) [Explainer]. YouTube. David Ehl, 2024. Why Meta is now banning Russian propaganda [News]. Deutsche Welle. Eli Pariser, 2011. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You [Book]. Goodreads. Kara Swisher, Julia Davis, Alex Stamos, Brandy Zadrozny, 2024. Useful Idiots? How Right-Wing Influencers Got $ to Spread Russian Propaganda [Podcast]. On with Kara Swisher. Nate Silver, 2024. What’s behind Trump’s surge in prediction markets? [Analysis]. Silver Bulletin. Niha Masih, 2024. Meta bans Russian state media outlet RT for acts of ‘foreign interference’ [News]. The Washington Post. Nilay Patel, 2024. The AI election deepfakes have arrived [Podcast]. Decoder. Nina Jankowicz, 2020. How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict [Book]. Goodreads. Perry Carpenter, 2024. FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions [Book]. Goodreads. Perry Carpenter, 2021. Meatloaf Recipes Cookbook: Easy Recipes For Preparing Tasty Meals For Weight Loss And Healthy Lifestyle All Year Round [Book]. Goodreads. Perry Carpenter, n.d. 8th Layer Insights [Podcast]. N2K CyberWire. Renee DiResta, 2024. Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality [Book]. Goodreads. Robin Stern, Marc Brackett, 2024. 5 Ways to Recognize and Avoid Political Gaslighting [Explainer]. The Washington Post. Sarah Ellison, Amy Gardner, Clara Ence Morse, 2024. Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials [News]. The Washington Post. Scott Small, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal Cyber. Staff, n.d. Overview: Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity [Website]. C2PA. Staff, 2021. Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections [Intelligence Community Assessment]. DNI. Staff, n.d. Project Origin [Website]. OriginProject. URL https://www.originproject.info/ Stuart A. Thompson, Tiffany Hsu, 2024. Left-Wing Misinformation Is Having a Moment [Analysis] The New York Times.

In preparation for the US 2024 Presidential Election, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses recent international propaganda efforts in the form of nation state interference and influence operations as well as domestic campaigns designed to split the target country into opposing camps. Guests include Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the The American Sunlight Project and Scott Small, Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Tidal Cyber. References: Scott Small, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal Cyber. Renee DiResta, 2024. Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality [Book]. Goodreads. Nina Jankowicz, 2020. How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict [Book]. Goodreads.

Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses personal defensive measures that an average citizen, regardless of political philosophy, can take in order to not succumb to propaganda. References: David Ehl, 2024. Why Meta is now banning Russian propaganda [News]. Deutsche Welle. Jeff Berman, Renée DiResta, 2023. Disinformation & How To Combat It [Interview]. Youtube. Niha Masih, 2024. Meta bans Russian state media outlet RT for acts of ‘foreign interference’ [News]. The Washington Post. Quentin Hardy, Renée DiResta, 2024. The Invisible Rulers Turning Lies Into Reality [Interview]. YouTube. Rob Tracinski, Renée DiResta, 2024. The Internet Rumor Mill [Interview]. YouTube. Robin Stern, Marc Brackett, 2024. 5 Ways to Recognize and Avoid Political Gaslighting [Explainer]. The Washington Post. Sarah Ellison, Amy Gardner, Clara Ence Morse, 2024. Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials [News]. The Washington Post. Scott Small, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal Cyber. Staff, 2021. Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections [Intelligence Community Assessment]. DNI. Staff, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal. Stuart A. Thompson, Tiffany Hsu, 2024. Left-Wing Misinformation Is Having a Moment [Analysis. The New York Times. Stuart A. Thompson, 2024. Elon Musk’s Week on X: Deepfakes, Falsehoods and Lots of Memes [News]. The New York Times. Will Oremus, 2024. Zuckerberg expresses regrets over covid misinformation crackdown [News]. The Washington Post. Yascha Mounk, Renée DiResta, 2022. How (Not) to Fix Social Media [Interview]. YouTube. Renee DiResta, 2024. Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality [Book]. Goodreads. Nina Jankowicz, 2020. How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict [Book]. Goodreads.

And....we're back! This week, our three hosts Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of the T-Minus Space Daily show) are all back to share the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. The team shares three bits of follow-up and then breaks into their stories. Joe starts off sharing some stories about influencer fakery on fake private jet sets and a scam taking advantage of the RealID requirements coming into effect. Maria talks about "Scam Survivor Day" (it's a real thing). She also talks about a former Facebooker's tell-all "Careless People." Dave shares a story about fake Social Security statements. Our Catch of Day comes from Richard about a truck win. Resources and links to stories: Private Executive Jet Private Jet Set for exhibitions, events and photo opportunities REAL ID scams surge with arrival of deadline Wednesday Don't Blame the Victim: 'Fraud Shame' and Cybersecurity  Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads Beware of Fake Social Security Statement That Tricks Users to Install Malware Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at ⁠⁠⁠hackinghumans@n2k.com⁠⁠⁠.

As Dave Bittner is at the RSA Conference this week, our hosts ⁠⁠Maria Varmazis and ⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠, are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow-up from José on episode 335, sharing how UK banking features like Faster Payments and the “Check Payee” function might have helped prevent a scam involving fake banking apps—and he even tells a wild tale of someone using a fake app to reverse-scam a bike thief. Joe covers the House’s overwhelming passage of the SHIELD Act to ban revenge porn—including deepfakes—and why critics say it could threaten encryption. He also shares a strong warning about trust and the real risks of sharing intimate images. Maria has the story of a surge in sophisticated subscription scams, where cybercriminals use fake “mystery box” websites, social media ads, and influencer impersonations to trick users into handing over credit card data and signing up for hidden recurring payments. Bitdefender researchers warn these polished scams are part of a broader evolution in social engineering, designed to bypass skepticism and evade detection. Our Catch of the Day comes from listener Rick, who received a suspicious email that appears to be from Harbor Freight—a popular U.S. retailer known for affordable tools and equipment—offering a “free gift” to the recipient… classic bait for a likely scam. Resources and links to stories: ⁠House Passes Bill to Ban Sharing of Revenge Porn, Sending It to Trump TAKE IT DOWN Act Trump’s hasty Take It Down Act has “gaping flaws” that threaten encryption Congress Passes TAKE IT DOWN Act Despite Major Flaws Mystery Box Scams Deployed to Steal Credit Card Data Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at ⁠⁠hackinghumans@n2k.com⁠⁠.

Cybersecurity interview with ChatGPT. In part one of CyberWire’s Interview with the AI, Brandon Karpf interviews ChatGPT about topics related to cybersecurity. Rick Howard joins Brandon to analyze the conversation and discuss potential use cases for the cybersecurity community. ChatGPT is a chatbot launched by OpenAI and built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models. Cyber questions answered by ChatGPT in part one of the interview. What were the most significant cybersecurity incidents up through 2021? What leads you to characterize these specific events as significant? What were the specific technical vulnerabilities associated with these incidents? Who were the cyber actors involved in each of these attacks? Do you think it's valuable to attribute cyber attacks to specific actors?

As Maria is on vacation this week, our hosts ⁠Dave Bittner⁠ and ⁠Joe Carrigan⁠, are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Joe and Dave are joined by guest Rob Allen from ThreatLocker who shares a story on how a spoofed call to the help desk unraveled into a full-blown cyber siege on MGM Resorts. Joe’s story is on a new FBI warning: scammers are impersonating the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the very site where people go to report online fraud. Dave's got the story of a so-called “Nigerian prince” scammer who turned out to be a 67-year-old man from Louisiana, now facing 269 counts of wire fraud for helping funnel money to co-conspirators in Nigeria. Our catch of the day comes from a scams subreddit, and is on a message received from the Department of Homeland Security reaching out to a user to share that they are a victim of fraud. Resources and links to stories: Investigating the MGM Cyberattack – How social engineering and a help desk put the whole strip at risk. Brian Krebs LinkedIn FBI Warns of Scammers Impersonating the IC3 IC3 2024 Report 'Nigerian prince' scammer was 67-year-old from Louisiana, police say Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at ⁠hackinghumans@n2k.com⁠.

This week, our hosts Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of the T-Minus Space Daily show) are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. This week Joe's got some follow up about his chickens. Joe's story is on LLM-powered coding tools, and how they are increasingly hallucinating fake software package names, opening the door for attackers to upload malicious lookalike packages—a practice dubbed "slopsquatting"—that can compromise software supply chains when developers unwittingly install them. Dave’s story is on Cisco Talos uncovering a widespread toll road smishing campaign across multiple U.S. states, where financially motivated threat actors—using a smishing kit developed by “Wang Duo Yu”—impersonate toll services to steal victims' personal and payment information through spoofed domains and phishing sites. Maria's got the story of how scammers are using fake banking apps to fool sellers with phony payment screens—and walking away with thousands in goods. Our catch of the day comes from listener John who writes in to share a suspicious text message he received. Resources and links to stories: LLMs can't stop making up software dependencies and sabotaging everything Unraveling the U.S. toll road smishing scams 'Scammers used fake app to steal from me in person' Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

This week, our hosts Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan, are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines, while our other host, Maria Varmazis is at a conference. We begin with some follow-up, as Joe reflects on the density of gold. Then, Dave shares some heartfelt and moving words about the recent passing of his father. Dave's story follows how confusion sparked by Trump's erratic tariff policies is fueling a global surge in cyber scams, phishing sites, and crypto cons, as threat actors exploit the chaos to mislead, defraud, and manipulate online users. Joe has two stories this week, the first is about the "blessing scam," a con that targets older Chinese women with promises of spiritual cleansing that ends in financial ruin. The second covers a new FTC rule requiring companies to make subscription cancellations as easy as sign-ups, cracking down on deceptive practices. Our catch of the day this week comes from MontClair University, as they are warning of a phishing scam offering a “free 2014 Airstream Sport 16′ Travel Trailer.” Resources and links to stories: Trump Tariff Confusion Fuels Online Scams Oklahoma woman charged with laundering $1.5M from elderly women in online romance scam A new ‘jackpotting’ scam has drained more than $236,000 from Texas ATMs — but who foots the loss? Opportunity To Own A Free 2014 Airstream Sport 16′ Travel Trailer Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

This week, while Dave Bittner is out, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start off with a lot of follow up on listener feedback this week! Justin shares a thought about how to track gold deliveries with a simple sting operation involving an AirTag. Xray Specs offers a fun response to a theory about scanning plates and running Python scripts, stating they receive similar emails despite not owning a car. Jim Gilchrist recounts his experience with E-ZPass and unpaid tolls, explaining how a failed transponder led to a replacement and noting the prevalence of scam toll messages. Joe shares two gripping stories this week, one being on how the FBI is seizing $8.2 million from a massive romance scam involving cryptocurrency, and second is on a Maryland woman losing millions in a growing "pig butchering" scheme, with the FBI warning that many more victims are at risk. Maria's story is on an East Hartford woman caught up in a federal sweepstakes scam targeting the elderly. The suspects, including one local resident, allegedly stole millions. What did they do, and how did they get caught? Our catch of the day comes from a user on Reddit who shares a message they got from billionaire, and owner of Tesla, Elon Musk. Resources and links to stories: FBI Cracks 'Pig Butchering' Scam on Dating Sites Maryland woman loses millions in crypto "pig butchering" scam as FBI warns of more targets East Hartford Woman Bilked Elderly In Fake Sweepstakes Scam: Feds Elon Musk Vows To Hand Out $1 Million Checks This Weekend: What To Know Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

This week our hosts, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. First, we start off with some more follow-up on EZ passes, along with the newest iteration, as Kailey Cornick shares that scammers target phone numbers rather than actual toll users, sending her SUN pass scam texts tied to her old Florida number. Dave shares the story of Palo Alto's Unit 42 researchers uncovering a massive campaign distributing thousands of fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms via websites and mobile apps, using brand impersonation, Ponzi-like schemes, and domain fronting to deceive victims, primarily in East Africa and Asia. Maria follows the story of a Queens man arraigned for allegedly scamming a 72-year-old Newton woman out of over $480,000 by posing as a DEA agent and coercing her into transferring her assets under the threat of arrest. Joe came across a Facebook video featuring an AI-generated ad falsely claiming Kelly Clarkson endorsed a weight loss product. These deceptive ads use AI to create convincing deepfakes, making it appear as if celebrities are promoting products they’ve never actually supported. Our catch of the day comes from listener Connor, who flagged a phishing email pretending to be from the Social Security Administration. The email urges the recipient to click a link to view an "important update," but the repetition of the message and a suspicious logo placeholder suggest it's a phishing attempt designed to steal personal info. Resources and links to stories: Investigating Scam Crypto Investment Platforms Using Pyramid Schemes to Defraud Victims Man Arraigned After Posing as Government Agent to Scam Senior out of Over $480,000 'I have terminal cancer and lost my life savings to whisky barrel scammers' Casks and Kegs Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

This week our hosts, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow-up on E-ZPass scams—a listener suggests that scammers may be exploiting exposed license plate reader data, as demonstrated by YouTuber Mike Brown, to link plate numbers with breached phone records and send scam texts in real time. Dave's story is on how scammers may use conditioning techniques in romance scams—Ben Tasker observed that refusing to provide a phone number led to fewer photos being sent early on, suggesting scammers use rewards like photos to encourage compliance. Joe's got the story of Google's lawsuit against scammers who created and sold thousands of fake business listings on Google Maps, exploiting urgent services like locksmiths and towing to deceive customers and charge inflated fees. Maria's got the story of the FTC suing Click Profit for allegedly scamming consumers out of millions with a fake “passive income” scheme, falsely promising high returns through AI-driven e-commerce stores on Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok while most investors ended up losing money. Our catch of the day comes from Reddit after a user posted a conversation with a scammer after messing with them about a potential job opportunity. Resources and links to stories: Who is sending those scammy text messages about unpaid tolls? My Scammer Girlfriend: Baiting A Romance Fraudster Google finds 10,000 fake listings on Google Maps, sues alleged network of scammers AI scammers on Amazon duped investors out of millions with ‘passive income’ scheme, FTC alleges Can I work from jail? Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is back with Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), and they are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Joe shares a bit of follow up on scam victims sharing their experiences of losing money to various frauds, including investment schemes, romance scams, business email compromises, online shopping fraud, unusual payment requests, tax impersonations, remote access scams, and identity theft. Maria shares a story on scammers using fake E-ZPass toll alerts to steal personal information, and another on victims losing thousands to investment, romance, and online shopping scams. Dave's got the story of how digital scammers prey on the financially vulnerable, using AI-generated content and deceptive ads on platforms like Instagram to sell worthless "get-rich-quick" schemes that ultimately leave victims deeper in debt. Joe's got two stories this week, the first being on Wenhui Sun, a California man, and how he was sentenced to six and a half years for stealing nearly $800,000 through a gold bar scam targeting victims nationwide. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported a sharp rise in fraud, with 2.6 million people losing $12.5 billion in 2024, up from $2.5 billion in 2023, primarily due to impostor scams. Younger adults reported losing money more often than older ones. Our catch of the day follows how First Lady Melania Trump messaged an unsuspecting citizen claiming to give them a free gift. Resources and links to stories: Scam victims tell us their stories Digital Snake Oil Merchants Are Stealing From The Already Broken California man sentenced after Montgomery Co. woman loses over $700K in gold bar scam FTC says Americans lost $12.5B to scams last year — social media, AI, and crypto didn’t help You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is on vacation so our two hosts Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Our hosts start out with some follow up on chicken talk from last week. Maria shares the story of scammers impersonating police officers in England to steal cryptocurrency by exploiting leaked personal data, creating fake fraud reports, and tricking victims into revealing their seed phrases, leading to losses totaling £1 million. Joe has two stories this week, his first one is on a $21 million "Grandparent Scam" in which 25 Canadians were charged for running a scheme from Montreal call centers, posing as grandchildren in distress to deceive elderly Americans into handing over money, with 23 suspects already arrested. Joe's second story is on two people charged in a ticket scam that exploited a loophole in StubHub’s system to steal and resell over 900 tickets—mostly for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour—netting more than $600,000 in profit before being caught by the Queens D.A.'s Cybercrime Unit. We have a special catch of the day this week, where we are joined by N2K's own Ma'ayan Plaut, who joins to discuss going out of business scams. Resources and links to stories: ‘Fake police call cryptocurrency investors to steal their funds Dozens of Canadians Are Charged in $21 Million ‘Grandparent Scam’ 2 People Charged with Taylor Swift Eras Tour Ticket Scam That Allegedly Netted More Than $600K BBB Scam Alert: How to spot a fake "going out of business" sale Joann Fabric’s going out of business scam You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is on vacation so our two hosts Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start off the show with some follow-up from a long-time listener who shared how switching to Publii and Cloudflare Pages saved his wife's psychiatric nurse practice over $120/year in hosting costs after discovering static site generators on Hacking Humans. Joe's story is on a warning from an Oregon woman who fell victim to an online scam while trying to buy hens for her backyard chicken coop amid egg shortages caused by the bird flu, urging others to be cautious and avoid transactions on social media. Maria has the story on the increasing threats targeting sellers on online marketplaces, including phishing campaigns, scams designed to bypass platform protections, and the risks associated with off-platform transactions, all of which emphasize the need for heightened vigilance and security measures. The catch of the day, from Scott, highlights an email invitation that appeared legitimate but redirected to a phishing site designed to steal email credentials, with Scott’s wife recognizing the suspicious nature and forwarding it for further investigation. Resources and links to stories: ‘Be suspicious’: Sweet Home woman warns of chicken scam amid egg shortage Your item has sold! Avoiding scams targeting online sellers You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

In this special live episode of Hacking Humans, recorded at ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World 2025 conference in Orlando, Florida, Dave Bittner is joined by T-Minus host Maria Varmazis. Together, they explore the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and cybercriminal exploits making headlines. Their guest, Seamus Lennon, ThreatLocker’s VP of Operations for EMEA, shares insights on Zero Trust security and the evolving threat landscape. Maria's story this week follows the IRS warning about a fake “Self Employment Tax Credit” scam on social media, urging taxpayers to ignore misinformation and consult professionals. Dave's got the story of the Better Business Bureau’s annual Scam Tracker report, revealing that online shopping scams continue to top the list for the fifth year, with phishing and employment scams remaining major threats, while fraudsters increasingly use AI and deepfake technology to deceive victims. Our catch of the day comes from Diesel in West Virginia, and features a scammer who tried to panic their target with a classic “We’ve frozen your account” scam—only to get hilariously mixed up with actual embryo freezing. Resources and links to stories: Better Business Bureau reveals top local scams of 2024 IRS warns taxpayers about misleading claims about non-existent “Self Employment Tax Credit;” promoters, social media peddling inaccurate eligibility suggestions BBB Scam Tracker Got a $1,400 rebate text from the IRS? It's a scam, Better Business Bureau warns. You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. We start off with some follow up from listener Dave who writes in with a call for help after a good friend of his, who fell victim to a dream job scam. They also have a discussion after the Washington Post shared an article on scammers are remorseful and how they have a support group. Maria has a quick follow up from last week, talking about deepfakes, this week, she talks about Kim Jong Un. Dave has a romance scam story this week, talking about how the loneliness epidemic is causing issues. Joe has two stories this week, the first is on a thief using a homemade barcode ring to scam Walmart self-checkouts. Joe's second story is on new protection methods that are out, giving us game changing anti-scam laws. Our catch of the day comes from Reddit after a user posted a conversation they had with a scammer that got a bit out of hand. Resources and links to stories: Arizona laptop farmer pleads guilty for funneling $17M to Kim Jong Un The Loneliness Epidemic Is a Security Crisis Thief using homemade barcode ring to scam Walmart self-checkout busted after trying to ring up $300 grill for price of tomato soup: cops 'Game-changing' anti-scam laws to protect consumers Hello, Jane. You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. Our hosts start off with some follow up from listener Robert who writes in from the Great White North, who shares how he thinks the U.S. might be stuck in the past with payment tech. Joe's got two stories this week, both on financial crime—Thailand cutting power to Myanmar's billion-dollar scam hubs and the struggle to shut them down for good. Maria has the story of a job candidate who not only used AI-generated answers during a technical interview but also altered his appearance with software—marking the second time this has happened to the interviewer in just two months. Dave sits down with our guest Nati Tal, Head of Guardio Labs, as he is discussing the growing danger of homograph attacks. Our catch of the day comes from listener Kenneth, who got an alarming email from the PayPal Security Team—apparently, he just bought nearly $700 in Bitcoin. Resources and links to stories: China's Xi hails Thailand's 'strong' action against scam centres Power cut to site of global, billion-dollar scam industry. But will it halt the swindling? AI altering You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On this episode of Hacking Humans, we are going old school with Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan sans T-Minus host Maria Varmazis (as she was hanging out with astronauts at the SpaceCom event). Not to worry, Dave and Joe have it covered sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, we have some follow up including a conversation Joe had with ChatGPT, some discussion on AI generated images of people, and scam letters that are sent out in the mail. Joe shares a text his office mate received from the "IRS." He also has a story about food workers taking photos of credit and debit cards at restaurant drive throughs. Dave's story is about a near-perfect scam attempt that almost fooled a very smart guy—Zach Latta, the founder of Hack Club. Our Catch of the Day comes from Reddit about a Facebook Marketplace scam using Zelle. Resources and links to stories: Scam Warning: Food workers taking photos of debit cards in North Carolina, police say Google takes action after coder reports 'most sophisticated attack I've ever seen' FB Marketplace scam using Zelle You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, Dave has the story from Ampyx Cyber that has a scam reporter on staff to do awareness videos and this latest one is about an amazing sale on fake leather bags. Joe has two stories this week. The first one sent Joe down a rabbit hole and is about romance scams where 3 people were recently sentenced. The second one is about one of the victims of that previous romance scam. And finally, Maria's story is about Restaurant Week in NYC and third-party brokers who do restaurant reservation auctions. Our Catch of the Day involves a GoGetFunding gift card scam related to a campaign looking for donations to help pay for a child's medical costs. Resources and links to stories: Fake leather, fake people: AI sellers generate numerous complaints Romance scam "money mules" sentenced in case that ended with Illinois woman's death When her mother went missing, an Illinois woman ventured into the dark corners of America's romance scam epidemic Security Alert: Bots Target NYC Restaurant Week GoGetFunding Scamming Donations Alert You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here. Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.