What the Hack?

Episode 248: Open Source Intelligence and the Death of Obscurity

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Data as duh-duh. It's all is out there—indexed, sold, and weaponized. Open source intelligence turns public records into a hacker's playground, your LinkedIn profile is dangerous, but you can still claw back a little privacy before it's gone for good.

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Episode 247: Ghost Murmur and the Real Assault on Privacy

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

The whisper: A downed U.S. pilot was located by tracking his heartbeat from 40 miles away. Real, or fake news to rattle Iran? Benn Jordan and physicist Chad Orzel help us separate the science fiction from the real threats we all face right now.

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Episode 246: Trafficked: Part Three, Asian Scam Compounds

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:00:00 -0000

You’ve heard how the compounds work. This week we go inside one—through the eyes of Small Q, an Ugandan musician who was trafficked in and got out—also: Erin West of Operation Shamrock on the bigger picture.

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Episode 245: A Professional Noticer of Things

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Christopher Anderson has spent thirty years in high-stakes situations—war zones, sinking boats, the current White House. What he’s learned about the information people don’t know they’re giving away is the privacy lesson you need to hear.

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Episode 244: Inside Tracy Chou's Block Party for Social Media

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:30:00 -0000

One of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year and a vocal advocate for diversity in tech, Tracy Chou built Block Party after discovering firsthand that the platforms have no real incentive to protect you from the people who want to harm you.

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Episode 243: Criminal Mind vs. Criminal Mind

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Jim Clemente built a career reading criminals. FBI special agent, behavioral profiler, Unabomber case, the hit series Criminal Minds. Then someone bought his debit card number on the dark web, linked it to a peer-to-peer finance app, and cleaned him out.

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Episode 242: Surveillance in America, Pt 2: Flock You Very Much

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Flock Safety says their cameras have never been hacked. Benn Jordan and Jason Koebler watched themselves on one from their homes. This week: a deep dive into the vulnerabilities, the no-opt-out tracking, and a simple question: Does any of it makes us safer?

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Al Franken Holds a Mock Senate Hearing on Privacy with Siri and Alexa (Bonus)

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0000

No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate Hearing featuring Siri (played by the actual voice-over talent Susan Bennett) and Al’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman playing the part of Alexa.

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Episode 241: Surveillance in America, Pt 1: Somebody's Watching You

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how surveillance went ambient— and what it means when everyone’s being watched.

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Episode 240: Who’s Watching the Watchers?

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Feeling watched? Join us as Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark breaks down the new reality of digital surveillance. From school apps to AI scams, we dive into how companies collect your data and how to take control of your online privacy. The war for privacy is real—and it's a fight you can't afford to lose.

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Episode 239: Is AARP Doing More than the FBI to Stop Scams?

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Online fraud isn’t just annoying. It’s a national crisis, one that may have drained $158 billion from the U.S. economy last year alone. In this episode, AARP’s Kathy Stokes joins us to explain how fraud has evolved into a sophisticated, global operation and why we’re still blaming the victims instead of stopping the crime.

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Episode 238: The Phone Call that Broke the Bank

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

MGM lost $100 million in 2023. Then Caesars paid $15 million ransom. A few phone calls shut down Vegas, highlighting the destruction that one fast talker can unleash in a zero trust environment. This week we explore what that means in the here and now.

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Episode 237: The Internet is Groundhog Day

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0000

This week, we're going to the movies. Virginia Heffernan joins us to talk about Groundhog Day (the movie), surveillance, and why online systems reward repetition over reflection and connection with a special cameo by marketing maestro Seth Godin.
Magic + Loss: https://virginiaheffernan.substack.com/

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Episode 236: The Con: Part Two, Asian Scam Compounds

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

After exposing the scam compounds and human trafficking behind today’s fraud economy, we follow the money, the power, and the few pressure points—from crypto seizures to sanctions—that might actually help spell the end of Southeast Asian scam compounds.

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Episode 235: The Machine: Part One, Asian Scam Compounds

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

You’ve seen the scam texts. This week we go inside a global scam economy to expose human trafficking networks, lawless economic zones, and fortified compounds where victims are forced to target victims in a world of crime bosses and corrupt politicians.

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Episode 234: The Ralph Naders of Cybercrime?

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) and Lauren Zabierek (Harvard’s Belfer Center, CISA) don't think cybersecuirty (or lack of it) should be the customer’s problem. Drawing parallels to Ralph Nader’s fight against unsafe cars, they explain how to fix the root of the problem.

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Episode 233: How Brett Johnson Made $160,000 a Week

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 08:00:00 -0000

Former cybercrime kingpin Brett Johnson didn’t just break the law; he built the tools still used by criminals today. He's back for another episode to check in and unpack why cybercrime works, how defenses fail, and the way life itself is often the ultimate "in" for an attacker.

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Episode 232: The Very Private Digital New Year Episode

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 231: WTH 2025: Laptop Farms, Campus Cults, and the End of Anonymity

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

From AI regulation fights and North Korean laptop farms to Nigerian campus cults, the human toll of online crime, and the death of online anonymity it's time to review the year in cyber stories—the good, the bad, the unimaginable, and what to do when "they" come for you.

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Episode 230: The Cursor Moved at 2 A.M.

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

A deadbolt clicks. This email, that voice--they sound all right. Then things go sideways. This week, 911 Cyber CEO Marc Raphael joins the pod to explore how AI makes scams faster, smoother, and harder to spot, and what you can do to stay hard to hit in the new threatscape.

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Episode 229: Why Most Cybersecurity Advice Is Wrong

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

How do you stay safe online? (Wrong answers only.) Avoid public Wi-Fi, QR codes, charging stations. Cyber OG Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) wrote an open letter tackling the real harm caused by bad advice, and offering a better path with proven practices to stay safe online.
Check out https://www.hacklore.org/letter

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Episode 228: Paul Raffile on the Sextortion Economy

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Sextortion scams targeting teenage boys doubled this year—and Paul Raffile says the platforms knew it was happening. Learn how Instagram's default settings let criminals to weaponize friends lists for blackmail, and how social media continues to fail the children it claims to protect.

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Episode 227: Twas the Week Before Cyber Monday

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

The giant glittering scam and fraud trap of the holidays is here. Beau reunites with former co-hosts Adam Levin and Travis Taylor to talk about about fake websites, why gift cards are still a huge vector for fraud, and how to avoid the many pitfalls of the season.

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Episode 226: On Digital Fingerprints and Dirty Money

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Jeff Williams on the business of moving money: who gets blocked, what slips through, and why checking the right boxes doesn’t always mean a win in the nascent AI-powered sanctions compliance space. From fentanyl money to shell companies, we follow the (often filthy dirty) money.

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Episode 225: Big Breaches and Click Bots to AI and Beyond

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

When a young engineer uncovered a sizeable click fraud situation at Google, he discovered a bigger problem; namely, the perverse ingenuity that drives online fraud and scams. "Big Breaches" author Neil Daswani joined us to talk click farms, data breaches, AI exploits, and the big picture of cybercrime today.

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Episode 224: Jackals of Trust: A Short History of Cybercrime

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Cybercrime expert Gary Warner joins to discuss Nigerian confraternities, the "campus cults" rooted in idealism that morphed into a multi-billion dollar transnational organized crime network. Learn about the "money blessing," the coded language and insider access, and the elite thug playbook for exploiting trust.

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Episode 223: How to Make Your House Invisible

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

When scammers tried to steal Graceland, it seemed like a fluke, but deed fraud is very much on the rise. Del Denney of the Land Trust Company explains how criminals steal homes and how to stop it from happening to you. Plus, we revisit Adam Levin's wallet ripper about a twice-targeted beachfront property.

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Episode 222: Heather Barnhart Hunts Digital Ghosts

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Forensic expert Heather Barnhart (SANS Institute) decoded Osama Bin Laden's phones and helped convict quadruple murderer Brian Kohberger. Learn how surviving her own harassment fueled her mission, plus the digital "pattern of life" hack and simple steps to combat AI deepfakes and stay safe online.

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Episode 221: Seth Godin's Anti-Spam Playbook: Be Awesome

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Marketing visionary Seth Godin explains how the Internet got hijacked by an attention-stealing spam economy that keeps us in an endless loop of badly targeted marketing. Godin's anti-spam playbook: demand companies earn your attention with awesomeness, and break the digital slop loop that broke the Internet.

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Episode 220: The $5,000 Mistake: Inside a Facebook Scam

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0000

A locked account. A call for help. What happened next left Tony questioning everything he thought he knew about the Internet. This week is about trust, technology, and how quickly things can unravel when those we count on aren’t who they seem.

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Episode 219: 3 Ways Not to Lose Everything

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Former federal prosecutor Tom O’Malley takes us inside the strange, high-stakes world of modern fraud—where victims are presumed guilty, families lose fortunes, and the fight against global crime rings starts at home. Three lessons that could make a difference.

Voting: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting?utm_campaign=signal4_finalists_finalistnotification_092325&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cio#/2025/individual-episodes/genre/thought-leadership

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Episode 218: The Data Grift Everyone Missed

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Every click, swipe, and post fuels the data economy. Credit cards, apps, even maps—our lives are scraped, stitched, and sold. It feels like a heist, and sometimes it is. Identity Theft Resource Center CEO Eva Casey-Velasquez insists the picture isn’t entirely bleak. This week we talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of data brokers.

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Episode 217: The Wrong Dan Sturman

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

It started with a slow roll of weird emails and phone calls. And then award-winning filmmaker Dan Sturman found himself in the crosshairs of serious hackers. With parallels to another case of mistaken identity and an assist from security expert Reuben Moretz, this week we explore bad social engineering.

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Episode 216: Who’s Watching the Watchers?

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 215: They Targeted His Mom, He Went Full CIA

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0000

A fake Microsoft pop-up cost Ken Westbrook’s mom her life savings. But they scammed the wrong family. Westbrook is former CIA. These days he’s sounding the alarm on how foreign crime rings steal billions from Americans with smishing campaigns, scareware, and gift cards. We talked about solutions.

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Episode 214: DEF CON Redux with Rachel Tobac!

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

In this second installment of our DEF CON two-parter, we talked to SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac about how and why people are often the weakest link in so many cybersecurity protocols and how making yourself a harder target will cause most threat actors to move on to an easier mark.

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Episode 213: Inside DEF CON’s Social Engineering Village

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

At DEF CON’s Social Engineering Village, contestants have 22 minutes to charm real employees at real companies into revealing real details that could lead to a breach. We step inside the booth to see how persuasion, improv, and psychology fuel both ethical hacking and the rise of cybercrime worldwide.

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Episode 212: How to Talk to a Cybercriminal

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Kurtis Minder knows the dark web better than most—and he’s not just watching from the sidelines. As a ransomware negotiator, he’s helped victims talk their way out of seemingly impossible situations. This week, we explore how cybercriminals operate, what makes them tick, and what you need to know to avoid becoming their next target.

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Episode 211: The Coldplay Couple and the End of Anonymity

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:00:00 -0000

A not-entirely innocent moment at a concert set the internet on fire. But what if that was just a symptom of a bigger problem? New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill, author of Your Face Belongs to Us, helps us explore the chilling reality of ambient surveillance, and how facial recognition could be the end privacy as we know it.

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Episode 210: Cracking the Code of Fraud with AARP's Kathy Stokes

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Online fraud isn't just annoying; it's a national crisis. Last year alone, it may have siphoned $158 billion from the U.S. economy. This episode features AARP's Kathy Stokes, who reveals how fraud has morphed into a sophisticated, global operation and what's being done to fight back against this evolving threat.

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Episode 209: Unmasking the North Korean IT Scam

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Fortune Magazine's Amanda Gerut offers a deep dive into the secret army of remote IT workers funding North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Explore the hidden world of laptop farms, the criminal identity theft targeting freelancers, and the shocking human cost. It's a chilling scheme with law enforcement and freelancers trapped in the crossfire.

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Episode 208: Will AI Write Its Own Laws?

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Join Ben Winters, director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, for a front-row seat to the chaotic world of AI regulation where dirty data, aggressive lobbying, and public confusion drive a "winner takes all" vibe. From shady therapy bots to data-fueled discrimination, Ben reveals the urgent need to create guardrails for AI before it jumps the tracks.

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Episode 207: Kristen and the Phantom Puppy

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Kristin got scammed because she didn't want to give a puppy mill her business. This classic digital scam has it all: fake breeders, phony shipping agents, and a non-existent air-conditioned crate. Kristen reveals how her scammers used trust, urgency and emotion, to close the deal. Listen to her story and what you can do to avoid getting duped yourself.

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Episode 206: Chris Hutchins’s Travel Hacking Gets Hacked

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 07:00:00 -0000

If you have never listened to Chris Hutchins explain how to get free travel, you’ve probably been paying too much for your vacations. Turns out, a threat actor was listening to him and stole his miles. Download this week’s episode to hear how he hacked the situation to score even more points.

(This episode originally airdropped September 26, 2022.)

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Episode 205: Cybersecurity Girl Caitlin Sarian Tries to Delete Herself Online

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Every part of life that comes in contact with the Internet is tracked, packed and sold to a a seemingly infinite network of data brokers. Caitlin Sarian AKA Cybersecurity Girl joined us this week to discuss why scrubbing your information is trickier than it sounds and what you can do about it.

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Episode 204: Nicole Perlroth Says All the Things that Keep Adam Up at Night

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Nicole Perlroth’s book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is a masterpiece on the topic of cyberwar and the zero-day hacks that make it deadly. Join us as we explore with Perlroth a cyberscape where mistakes are weaponized, backdoors abound and we all have zero degrees of separation from spies and the people they spy on.

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Episode 203: Jack Rhysider Exposes Our Digital Secrets

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

What if your digital footprint made you a target? Jack Rhysider, host of "Darknet Diaries," shares how a fan turned his online presence into a personal puzzle—revealing just how easily your privacy can be pieced together and exploited.

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Episode 202: Shannon Edwards Reveals the Student Data Free-for-All

Tue, 27 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate Shannon Edwards reveals how educational apps harvest sensitive information from children, commodify their data, and what parents can do to fight it.

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Episode 201: Keren Elazari Decrypts the Ransomeware Nightmare

Tue, 20 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Ransomware is a type of malware that allows hackers to commandeer data on a device or an entire network. Increasingly, the threat actors behind these crimes set their sites on mission critical targets. We talked about it with renowned cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari this week.

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Episode 200: The Wild West of the Loophole Economy

Tue, 13 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

We’ve all been there. You see something perfect online, you do all the clicks and then think, “Wait, was that legit?” Scam-lite transactions are the way of the web these days, whether it’s direct-from-manufacturer or super-sticky subscriptions, we have your back.

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Episode 199: CISA Director Jen Easterly Stands Watch in the Cyberwars

Tue, 06 May 2025 07:00:00 -0000

From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way her journey from the real-life battlefield to the frontlines of cybersecurity. This is a rare glimpse into the most pressing threats America faces—and a compelling story about Director Easterly’s own experience being targeted..

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Episode 198: Cory Doctorow Makes Us Wonder if Everything’s a Scam

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Think you’re too savvy to get scammed? Author and activist Cory Doctorow explains how we’re all one muffaletta and a malfunctioning jet door away from falling prey to the most basic of cons. He joins us this week to talk about that and to fill us in about his new book, “The Bezzle.”

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Episode 197: FBI Operative Eric O’Neill: Cybercriminals Are Spies—Not Hackers

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy Robert Hanssen, explains how digital spies target us, offering along the way real-world tips to protect ourselves in a world where everyone’s a potential target.

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Episode 196: Max Lebow Battles a Cyber PsyOps Nightmare

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 195: Can AI Commit the Perfect Crime?

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

AI is everywhere – in the news, on our devices, assisting us, making life easier for us, and for criminals, too, harnessing AI to swindle people more efficiently. What’s next? We dive into the dark side of AI and ask two experts: Could AI commit the perfect crime?

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Episode 194: Karen Johnson’s Scam Project Is a Teachable Moment for AI

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Karen Johnson is a catfisher-turned-scam avoidance coach turned–you guessed it–catfishing victim. The scam that got her is a classic, opening the door to a Pandora’s Box of the usual advice about avoiding the most common scams out there. But the thing that really got us thinking is the role AI played in almost every aspect of this week’s show.

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Episode 193: Roy Wood, Jr. Exposes the Loch Ness Monster Gun Lobby Conspiracy

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 07:07:00 -0000

As a Daily Show correspondent, comedian Roy Wood, Jr. knows a thing or two about fake news and truthiness as well as the truth-and-a-half that is comedy. By skewering the media and the people in the news, he has special insight into how misinformation affects the way we think about the world and what we know.

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Episode 192: Max McCoy Investigates $47 Million That Isn’t in Kansas Anymore

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Max McCoy stumbled on a $47 million swindle that starts just north of the Oklahoma panhandle and bounces to Australia before things get really confusing in a haze of small town corruption, secretive law enforcement and competing theories.

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Episode 191: Erin West Puts the Bad Guys to Shame

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Erin West is the Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, and the founder of Project Shamrock. Whether she’s prosecuting eye-popping SIM-swap money grabs or putting large-scale pig butchering operations out of business, her stories and experience can help you stay safer.

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Episode 190: Dick Gephardt Wants a Safer Internet

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven algorithms are fueling harmful content for the sake of profit, is it time for the U.S. to take bold action to rein in the Internet? (You know the answer, but this is a must listen!)

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Episode 189: Kara Swisher Calls Out the Man Babies of Big Tech

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley since the early days, and she’s made a ton of enemies the old fashioned way (by telling the truth about the new robber barons of our digital lives). In a new memoir called Burn Book, she pulls the curtain back on a world run by powerful babies.

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Episode 188: Jen Caltrider Unwraps Hidden Privacy Nightmares

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy nightmare. Is going analog the only safe option? Learn how to protect your data from the prying eyes of Big Tech.

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Episode 187: Al Franken Holds a Mock Senate Hearing on Privacy with Siri and Alexa

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 186: Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark Hates Scammers More than We Do

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Ever wonder why facial recognition is so accurate? Well, one reason is the shocking amount of personal data it needs (think: all the world’s snapshots), and that’s why Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is taking aim at the industry behind that technology.

We also review Charity’s top scams to watch for this year, and other topics near and dear to our own scam-hating hearts.

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Episode 185: Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal Join Us to Discuss the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

From cyberbullying to harmful algorithms, the risks are real. This week, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal join us to discuss their bipartisan bill—the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Together, they’re taking on Big Tech to ensure the safety of children online. Tune in to hear how KOSA could change the digital world for the better.

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Episode 184: Kristin Bride Lost Her Son and Now She’s on a Mission

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Kristen Bride’s 16-year-old son died by suicide after being cyberbullied on Snapchat. Setting her sites on anonymous messaging apps that intentionally traumatize children, Bride heads to Washington DC to fight for change.

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Episode 183: Ava Smithing Battles Big Tech and the Algorithm Trap

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0000

Ava Smithing was eleven when she saw a swimsuit on Pinterest that she liked. That innocent click turned into an eating disorder. How? This episode explores the most dangerous thing children face today: Algorithms. On a mission to hold Big Tech accountable, Ava shares her journey as an activist with us, including her recent role providing Congressional testimony in support of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

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Episode 182: The Most Scary, Interesting, and Important Stories of 2024

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

We look back at the internet’s scariest moments, the boldest defenders, and the most surprising tech twists of 2024—groundbreaking legislation, international scam-rings, and the growing fight to make the internet a safer place for everyone.

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Episode 181: Bob Sullivan Discovers a Scam That Strikes Twice

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Chester Frilich lost everything to scammers, and he didn’t just lose his money—he lost hope, too. Bob Sullivan joins us to recount this devastating case, revealing the IRS’s unintentional role in punishing victims, and how advocacy and legislation could turn things around.

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Episode 180: Amy Neville Fights Snapchat’s Drug Dealer Problem

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

What happens when social media platforms prioritize engagement over safety? How do drug dealers exploit apps like Snapchat to target teens? Amy Neville lost her son Alex to counterfeit Oxycodone pills that were laced with Fentanyl. He bought them from a Snapchat user. She talked with us about this hidden crisis and her mission to reform social media and protect future generations.

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Episode 179: Tarah Wheeler and Deviant Ollam Reveal Security’s Weakest Link

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Tarah Wheeler lost her security badge. Deviant Ollam picked his way into "secure" spaces. Together, they show how humans make or break security and why layering defenses is key to surviving inevitable mistakes. What happens when security fails because of us? Two experts dive into the blind spots in physical, digital, and human security—and why fixing them starts with being honest about our mistakes.

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Episode 178: Jack Rhysider Exposes Our Digital Secrets

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 176: Jen Caltrider Unwraps this Season's Hidden Privacy Nightmares

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

This holiday season, privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets under your tree with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy nightmare. Is going analog the only safe option? Learn how to protect your data, and your holidays, from the prying eyes of Big Tech.

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Episode 175: FBI Operative Eric O’Neill: Cybercriminals Are Spies—Not Hackers

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 174: Dick Gephardt Wants a Safer Internet

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 173: CISA Director Jen Easterly Stands Watch in the Cyberwars

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 172: Our Spookiest Episode Ever: Smart Devices and You

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Adam, Beau, and Travis are joined by Mozilla’s Jen Caltrider to uncover the hidden dangers of the Internet of Things (IoT), showing how everyday devices—like smart glasses, baby monitors, and even toasters—have become a gateway for hackers, companies, and even stalkers to exploit your personal data.

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Episode 171: Gretchen Peters Fights the Digital Underworld in Congress

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Gretchen Peters, co-founder and executive director of the Alliance to Counter Crime Online, knows better than most how criminal networks flourish on social media platforms. From drug trafficking to child exploitation, we focus on something from 1996 called Section 230 that makes many crimes possible.

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Episode 170: Max Lebow Battles a Cyber PsyOps Nightmare

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

When Max Lebow received a chilling Instagram message detailing intimate information about him, he found himself pulled into a cyber nightmare. In this episode, Max shares his battle with a mysterious hacker who knew enough about him to coerce him into a terrifying journey of digital manipulation, paranoia, and, finally, survival.

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Episode 169: Ava Smithing Battles Big Tech and the Algorithm Trap

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 168: Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal Join Us to Discuss the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 167: CISA Director Jen Easterly Stands Watch in the Cyberwars

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 166: Ken’s Duplicate Driver’s License Cost Him $8,000

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

By the time Ken understood what happened, his similar-looking identity thief had walked off with $8,000. In this episode, we learn about a vulnerability courtesy the DMV and what an enterprising identity thief was able to do with it. Eva Velasquez from the Identity Theft Resource Center offers tips on safeguarding yourself. Plus: the pros and cons of password managers.

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Episode 165: Shannon Edwards Reveals the Student Data Free-for-All in New York City Schools

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 164: Whim Grace Plays a Shell Game with Scammers

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Whim wanted to teach overseas. While based on the coast of Portugal, she was offered a teaching position from two employers. She didn’t know that she was about to end up with no job at all, narrowly avoiding getting taken for a bundle of dough. Also in this episode: Adam continues to hack Beau in every way imaginable.

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Episode 163: Carl's Nasty Puppy Scammer Leads Him to the Cutest Surprise

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

The isolation caused by the Covid pandemic led to record pet adoptions, and more than usual activity online. It was like chum to sharks for scammers who flooded social media accounts with adoption opportunities for popular breeds. This week’s guest, Holly got in touch with us about her friend Carl who joins us too to talk about his St. Bernard-sized scam. To find out about his parting gift, you have to listen!

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Episode 162: Elizabeth Warren Tackles Big Tech

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Elizabeth Warren put the kibosh on bad banking practices with her vision for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and now, with the Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act, she’s taking on Big Data. She joined us to talk about reigning in the Wild West of online life.

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Episode 161: Andy Pham Claws Back a Multi-Million Dollar Heist

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

There are tens of millions of small and medium-size businesses in the United States alone, and depending on their state incorporation, many are in danger of business identity theft.

Andy Pham is an American hero by many standards, for sure with regard to the right to become wildly successful. He’s truly living the American Dream. Having grown up in Communist Vietnam for the first ten years of his life, his mom sent him to the United States where she believed he would have a better life and avoid being drafted into the war in Cambodia. She was right.

His story of success is eye-popping, but what happened to him on the scam front is almost beyond belief. Download the latest episode to hear how a nasty dentist managed to steal a five million dollar project from Pham, and how he got it back.

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Episode 160: Joyce and a Bank Robber Play MahJong

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Like many of us, Joyce spent hours during the Covid lockdown connecting with friends by playing games online--in her case a MahJong app. Imagine her surprise when using a legitimate app to find a scammer trying to empty her entire bank account. The most likely culprit? You will rethink your game time when you hear what it was.

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Episode 159: The Wild West of the Loophole Economy

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 158: Kristin Bride Lost Her Son and Now She’s on a Mission

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 157: Keren Elazari Decrypts the Ransomeware Nightmare

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 156: Beau’s Cousin Makes the Right Call

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

There was a video chat, phone messages and a lot of back and forth before Beau’s cousin began to wonder if he was thinking straight, and called to see if we thought he was being scammed. This week we get a rare look at a pig butcher in action.

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Episode 155: Andrew Steven Finds a Red Flag in His Dream Backyard

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

From handshake deals to digital pat-downs, the rental market is filled with great opportunities (that is, for scammers). Our very own producer, Andrew Steven recently got some first-hand experience when he and his partner tried to find a new place.

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Episode 154: Can AI Commit the Perfect Crime?

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 153: Roy Gets Hacked by an Evil Clown

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Did you know that you can activate malware on your computer just by looking at an image posted in the comments of an online discussion? We're big on good cyber hygiene. Our first episode provides an important life lesson: Always use a burner computer to troll your enemies. And of course beware of evil clowns. Check out Roy’s story about the time he got hacked while trolling QAnon followers.

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Episode 152: Max McCoy Investigates $47 Million That Isn’t in Kansas Anymore

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 151: Axton Betz-Hamilton Gets the Shock of a Lifetime (Part 2)

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Growing up in the shadow of child identity theft can be a struggle. For Axton Betz-Hamilton, her discovery of the culprit led to the shock of a lifetime. In the second installment of this two-part episode, we examine the massive financial and emotional toll of finding out a loved one wasn’t all that they seemed, and how to recover. Also discussed: stalkerware apps.

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Episode 150: Axton Betz-Hamilton Goes Looking For Her Identity Thief (Part 1)

Tue, 28 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

By the time most people find out that they’ve been the victim of child identity theft, their credit is trashed. That’s what happened to Axton Betz-Hamilton. And like most victims of child identity theft, she was targeted by someone she knew. In the first installment of this two-part episode, the mystery of who stole Axton’s identity unravels in a very unexpected direction.

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Episode 149: Paul Raffile Fights Sextortion No Matter What

Tue, 21 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Paul Raffile was in national security and corporate threat assessment before (almost) running human exploitation investigations for a major social media company (therein lies this week’s tale). He talked with us about this "silent epidemic” and vanishing job offers.

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Episode 148: Beth Should Have Dated the IT Guy

Tue, 14 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Beth sent more than $26,000 to a man she met on Tinder. It was a romance scam, but one that brought complex storytelling, nuanced psychology and even acting skills to bear in a way that shocked even us. Check out this week’s episode to hear just how “good” romance scammers can be.

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Episode 147: Kara Swisher Calls Out the Man Babies of Big Tech

Tue, 07 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 146: Elizabeth Warren Tackles Big Tech

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 145: Becky Holmes Knows Who Isn’t Dating Keanu Reeves

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Becky Holmes loves DMing with scammers. When it comes to romance scammers, she will do whatever it takes, pursuing them to the great delight of her fans on social media. From flings with A-listers to the lantern-jawed soldier with a heart of gold, Becky's on a mission to unravel the weird world of online swindler love.

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Episode 144: Erin West Puts the Bad Guys to Shame

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 143: Carina Follows Her Heart Into a Crypto Scam

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 07:12:00 -0000

No one’s too smart for a well designed scam. Case in point, neuroscientist, triathlete Carina who thought the finance bro she met on Bumble was the one for her, but the only real thing was the money she lost.

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Episode 142: Tarah Wheeler Narrowly Avoids Getting Got

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 09:09:00 -0000

No one is immune from being scammed. Just ask Tarah Wheeler, founder and CEO of Red Queen Dynamics, a company that specializes in keeping people scam-free. While onboarding a new hire, a process she put in place stopped a scammer despite a serious cyber misstep.

“What the Hack with Adam Levin” is available wherever you get your podcasts. If you like it, consider rating us on your favorite podcast service or writing a review. It really helps people find the show.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 141: Secret Service Agent “Mark” Works the Pan-Africa Beat

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Who better to talk to about pan-African crime syndicates than someone tasked with shutting them down? From drug mules and sextortion to romance scams and spearphishing, this week’s talk with Secret Service Agent “Mark” pulls back the curtain on Black Axe and other crime rings operating worldwide.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 140: Cybersecurity Girl Caitlin Sarian Tries to Delete Herself Online

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 139: Cory Doctorow Makes Us Wonder if Everything’s a Scam

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 138: Presley Rhodes Fights an Army of Thirst Trap Thieves

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Presley Rhodes makes a living posting what she calls “the subtle art of the thirst trap.” Popular on Instagram, she uses that platform to draw her most parched followers to OnlyFans where she can get paid. But what happens when a scammer buys access to those images? Nothing good.

To hear what happened (and try to figure it out) we talked to someone who was scammed, someone who came to the rescue (former White House CIO and What the Hack guest Theresa Payton) and a United States Secret Service agent working in South Africa to catch the bad guys.

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Episode 137: Joy and Michelle Talk Skimmers, Scammers and SNAP EBT Fraud

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

SNAP food assistance is a lifeline for more than 40 million Americans experiencing food insecurity. In a growing trend, criminals are targeting major security lapses in SNAP fund distribution, stealing millions in aid, so we asked this week’s guests how we can put a stop to it.

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Episode 136: Brett Johnson Explains the Abject Terror that Awaits Us All

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Brett Johnson has been called the Godfather of cyber crime. He was on the FBI’s most-wanted list. And he was on What the Hack before! He returns for a freewheeling conversation about what’s new in cybercrime, how it’s changed and wants you to know how to better protect your digital life.

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Episode 135: Christina’s Alleged Romance Scammer Plays A Long Con

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Romance scammers spend a lot of time on dating apps, but they almost never meet their targets in person. Christina’s Mr. Right moved quickly. Charming in-person, he lived in the same area and worked in the same industry. It was only after she committed to building a new life with him in Florida that everything began to fall apart.

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Episode 134: EFF's Eva Galperin Is Not the Pope of Fighting Stalkerware (But She Is)

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Privacy matters for most of us, but it can be a matter of life and death for some especially when it comes to stalkerware. Electronic Frontier Foundation director of cybersecurity Eva Galperin joined us this week to teach us about the way too common software that can be used to track your every move.

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Episode 133: Tim Byrne’s Vintage Industrial is Scammer-Proof

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Tim Byrne’s vintage industrial furniture designs are a staple for A-Listers and designers around the world, which puts him in the sites of scammers–whether the target is time, money or goods. Listen as we learn how Byrne’s keen eye for the masterpiece lurking in a hunk of old factory equipment helps him spot thieves before they can strike.

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Episode 132: Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark Hates Scammers More than We Do

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

We also review Charity’s top scams to watch for this year, and other topics near and dear to our own scam-hating hearts.

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Episode 131: Marjorie Bloom Reveals a $661,000 Tech Support Scam

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Retired attorney Marjorie Bloom was minding her own business online when a tech support scam redirected her straight to cybercrime hell. Hear how she lost more than $600,000 in this harrowing tale of a scam turducken.

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Episode 130: David Maimon Introduces Us to a Fresh New Hell

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Criminologist David Maimon is in the business of finding out what we should be scared of.

Just when you thought analog bill paying was safe, we learned that check scams are on the rise. And you guessed it: Because artificial intelligence and digital tools are making them way too easy.

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Episode 129: Adam Rings in the New Year by Sharing Some “Scaring is Caring”

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

From a pig butchering scam that cost $450,000 to a real estate scam that almost cost a whole lot more, 2023 kept us guessing. With stories sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, and always informative, we’re celebrating the New Year with a look back at some of our favorite moments from the past twelve months.

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Episode 128: Daniel Simons Reveals Why We’ll All Be Fooled Again

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

When it comes to scams, we usually focus on the How rather than the Why. This week, we spoke to psychologist Dan Simons, co-author of Nobody’s Fool to find out why we’re all much easier marks than we like to think.

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Episode 127: Donna Hayes Sheds Her Shame

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Many romance scams are smash-and-grab operations, but some scammers play the long game. Author, actress, life coach and cabaret singer Donna Hayes met her dream man online, but after a seemingly perfect courtship and almost $200K in cash changing hands, she discovered the truth.

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Episode 126: Adam Almost Loses 4 Million Dollars

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Ten years after Hurricane Sandy destroyed his beach house on the Jersey Shore, Adam was finally ready to sell the vacant lot. The only problem: It was already on the market. In this whodunnit, we go hunting for the bad guys.

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Episode 125: Liza and Harry Take Hits for You in This Holiday Twofer

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Shark Week doesn’t have anything on the Christmas scam season. Whether you’re buying something or selling something, there’s a scammer waiting to rob you blind. But there are ways to stay safe. File this week’s episode under: “You can’t say we didn’t warn you.”

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Episode 124: Marija Manojlovic Isn’t Kidding Around About Child Safety Online

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

How dangerous is the internet for children? According to Marija Manojlovic, it’s even worse than we imagined. This week we chart the dangerous freeways and dark alleys of the internet, the hazards they pose specifically to children and what you can do to protect them.

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Episode 123: Kitten Lady Hannah Shaw’s Meta Scam Gets Travis a New Cat

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

With a million followers and several books on kitten care, Hannah Shaw is no stranger to interview requests and the technical issues to which they often give rise. But when a podcaster helped her navigate a “problem” in her Meta settings, Kitten Lady was hacked. Hear how her eye for deceit and nimble action saved the day.

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Episode 122: Major Garrett Reveals the Ties that Bond Spies and Hackers

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

On this week’s episode a veteran journalist helps us explore our usual beat from a new point of view. CBS Washington Correspondent Major Garrett is the host of “Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen” and an absolutely stellar guide as we parse the similarities and differences between spies and hackers.

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Episode 121: Jen Caltrider Makes Us Want to Walk to the Book Store

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Want to keep your car out of your sex life? Jen Caltrider created Mozilla’s “*Privacy Not Included” to help consumers make informed choices about popular products and services we all use—like pervert car companies and data-grabbing toys.

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Episode 120: Emily Flitter Introduces Us to the High-Net-Worth Piñata

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We talked to New York Times reporter Emily Flitter about criminals who use deepfakes to rob high-net-worth individuals. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot easier than you might think!

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Episode 119: Angelo Carusone Isn’t Sure the Media is Ready to Rumble

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

More interested in news than partisan views? Sadly, there’s no app for that. The post-Musk media apocalypse has arrived, and it’s super misinformation-friendly. Media Matters CEO Angelo Carusone joins us to discuss how legit media can add some friction to the fictions that go viral when the world is on fire.

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Episode 118: Kashmir Hill’s Book on Facial Recognition Will Terrify You

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Facial recognition is powered by a special sauce that few people really understand, but one thing is clear: It renders privacy a thing of the past. In her new book Your Face Belongs to Us, New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill explores the ramifications of the human face in cyberspace, and what it means for the future findability of humanity.

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Episode 117: Theresa Payton Kept the White House Safe (So Listen)

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Ever wonder why Too-Big-To-Fail banks get hacked along with a host of other high-visibility targets get compromised, but the White House has never been breached? We did too, which is why we invited Former White House CIO and current founder and CEO of Fortalice Theresa Payton to tell us how to be safer online.

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Episode 116: Kathy Waters Is Every Catphisher’s Worst Nightmare

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Kathy Waters is the person you always wondered about: She created one of those days; specifically, World Romance Scam Prevention Day. (Try saying that three times fast.) But seriously, we have covered a lot of love-based bogosity and yet can’t wrap our heads around how it works. Now we know, and you can too if you listen to this week’s episode.

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Episode 115: Al Franken Holds a Mock Senate Hearing on Privacy with Siri and Alexa

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 08:49:00 -0000

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Episode 114: John DeMay Lost His Son to a Sextortion Scam

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 04:00:00 -0000

John DeMay’s son was a normal teenager, which is exactly what a sextortion ring based in Nigeria was counting on when they targeted him. This week’s episode features a conversation about the fatal outcome of a sextortion scam and an important takeaway.

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Episode 113: Ian Cohen Drops a Dime on the Myriad Trackers Stalking You

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We all know that the Internets watch you and use what they see to haunt you with doo-dads and tee shirts, but what you may not know is that what you see is just the tip of an evil cyber iceberg (nothing against those endangered geological entities). Lokker CEO Ian Cohen fills us in on just how bad it is “out there.”

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Episode 112: Ray Accidentally Counter Scams His Scammer Out of 365 Bucks

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Mom-and-pop stores look like easy prey, but sometimes they bite back. Many successful scams are perpetrated by threat actors who have gained insider knowledge, but this week’s episode takes specialization to the nth degree with a point-of-sale attack. And with disastrous results for the scammer!

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Episode 111: Mark’s UberEats Gig Gets Him Got

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Being a gig worker is great if you’re looking for flexibility or you need extra cash. But it can be somewhat less than awesome when something goes wrong, as this week’s guest found out.

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Episode 110: Daniel Simons Reveals Why We’ll All Be Fooled Again

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 109: Four Cyber Capers We’re Not Allowed to Talk About (But We Do)

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We get to hear a lot of crazy stories in our line of work, and the best ones are sometimes a little too newsworthy to make it on our show (because–hush, hush–they never made the news). But then we realized, we could tell those stories so long as you can’t guess who they’re about. So, here you go. Our not-so-secret episode of secret crimes.

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Episode 108: Massimo Uncovers a New Marketplace Scam

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

When Massimo moved to a new house in Toronto, he faced the age-old problem of what to keep and what to jettison. When he tried selling stuff from the rejection pile he got an offer that was too good to be true. Check out this week’s episode to hear how to spot an online marketplace scam and how to protect yourself both as a buyer and as a seller.

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Episode 107: Sara Ganim and Karen Given Have No Affinity for Coco Berthmann

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Was she a survivor of sex trafficking at the hands of her mom, a serial victim, Mormon convert, cancer patient, or was she just a liar and a fraud? Coco Berthmann’s story is anything but cogent. Whether it was summoned from the depths of mental illness or deviously designed to swindle friends and well-wishers online is this week’s burning question.

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Episode 106: Alexander’s Client Sends a Thief Oodles of Boodles via Check

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Can you imagine being so rich that the check to pay your vacation property tax is four years' worth of full tuition at a public university? Neither can we, but that’s how it found its way into a thief’s life, but not by dint of a super high-tech hack (unless stealing an envelope qualifies as whizbang). This week’s episode will seriously make you want to shred your checkbook.

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Episode 105: AARP Anti-Fraud Tzar Kathy Stokes Gets Real about Online Crime

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

True or False: Scams have reached a crisis point, especially among older adults. The AARP’s Director of Fraud Prevention Kathy Stokes surprised us with the answer: Scammers aren’t ageist at all. In fact, digital natives may be far more susceptible to online crime.

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Episode 104: Nadine’s Trademark Filing Triggers a Spoof Call that Leaves a Mark

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

A gemologist decided to trademark her company, and, of course, there’s a scam for that. Spoof calls are everywhere, homing in on any money due that can be small-time scammed. This episode applies equally for any government application that involves a public notice: Once your information goes live, it could pop up on the radar of a scammer.

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Episode 103: Carl's Nasty Puppy Scammer Leads Him to the Cutest Surprise

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 102: David Maimon on the Spike in Driver’s License Fraud

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We all got the memo that Social Security numbers are a big part of identity theft, and as more of us take measures to protect against SSN-based crime, scammers found a new favorite tool: your driver’s license. Criminology professor David Maimon discusses all of the above and how Covid made our identities less secure.

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Episode 101: Shreya Datta’s Crush Creeps Off with $450,000

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0000

We’ve been hearing a lot about pig butchering, but hadn’t found a great example until we lucked onto Shreya Datta’s story. In this episode we learn about pig butchering from Shreya who was swindled out of more than $450,000 through an elaborate investment scheme where she won like crazy until she lost everything.

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Episode 100: 100 Episodes Later We Hack Ourselves

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0000

This week, we’re celebrating our hundredth episode! Featuring listener questions, Adam, Beau and Travis look back on one hundred episodes of scams, hacks, Tin Foil Swans, experts, novices and dad jokes. A special thanks to you listeners. Come back for another 100!

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Episode 99: Charlie Webster Talks About Her Best Fiend

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Charlie Webster hosts the hit podcast “Scamanda,” which takes us on a dark journey of discovery with a young woman who pretended to have cancer to bilk Good Samaritans on GoFundMe. Listen to hear the kinds of scams you can find on all crowd-sourced micro donation sites and how to avoid them.

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Episode 98: Karen Johnson’s Scam Project Is a Teachable Moment for AI

Tue, 30 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 97: Eva Velasquez Has Some Terrifying News About Identity Crime Trends

Tue, 23 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Identity theft is the third certainty in life behind death and taxes, but the way scammers come at you changes all the time. That’s why we invited ITRC head Eva Velasquez to fill us in on the three biggest trends in identity-related crime this year.

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Episode 96: Jen Destefano Gets a Phone Call that Would Panic Any Parent

Tue, 16 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Jen Destefano’s story made national news. Her daughter Brie was abducted and the kidnappers let them speak to each other to prove it. But while they had demands for big money, they didn’t actually have her daughter. Was it a deepfake, a really good actor or a prank taken way too far?

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Episode 95: Scott Munn Fights an Outlaw and Wins!

Tue, 09 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

When we first heard about this, Adam was like, “come on, guys, jury duty scams?.” That said, Travis and Beau didn’t know so much about them. The upshot, an intro to jury scams with a State Department employee who saw it coming, not because he’s a G-man, but because he’s addicted to Halloween decorations.

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Episode 94.5: Roy Wood, Jr. Exposes the Loch Ness Monster Gun Lobby Conspiracy

Tue, 02 May 2023 07:00:00 -0000

This episode originally aired December 12, 2022.

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Episode 94: Trust Me Hosts Lola and Meagan Explore the Hinterlands of Cults and Scams

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Lola Blanc and Meagan Grainger are the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults and scams, and are this week’s guests. They're here to help us figure out the gooey center of the Venn diagram formed by cults, cult leaders and scam artists.

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Episode 93: Robert Kerbeck Goes Corporate Catfishing

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Robert Kerbeck rubbed elbows with some of the top actors of his time including Calista Flockhart, Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman and George Clooney. But like all working actors, he needed a side gig to survive. This week we talked to starving actor turned millionaire corporate threat actor about the sensitive information he was able to snooker out of his targets.

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Episode 92: Dan Ahdoot Returns Because He Needs to Be Told Again

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Author, Actor, Comedian Dan Ahdoot is no stranger to What the Hack or actually being hacked. Which is why it’s kind of weird he’s back on the show to talk about how he’s done nothing to keep himself from getting hacked again. (It’s funnier than it sounds.)

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Episode 91: Nicole Perlroth Says All the Things that Keep Adam Up at Night

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 90: Jason Has a Dire Warning for All New Graduates

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

When he graduated from college, Jason was heading into a big career in television. He had the apartment in the big city, and a wide-open vista of opportunity–and then he got hacked. Check out this week’s episode to hear how a few pieces of purloined mail was a major detour on the way to success and fortune.

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Episode 89: Bryan Denny is Your All-Purpose Dating Chum

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

You may be surprised to hear that celebrity culture extends to catfishing profiles. We talked to the man behind the most-used face in dating scams. You’re going to want to hear what he had to say.

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Episode 88: Rob Shavell (Good Sport) is No Match for Adam’s Paranoia

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 07:00:00 -0000

If you only learn one thing about cybersecurity, it should be that all new technology, in the wrong hands, is a crime waiting to happen. Rob Shavell of Delete.Me started a company based on this truth. So we decided to have a nice long conversation about it.

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Episode 87: April’s Mom Was Addicted to Her Scammer

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:54:01 -0000

April’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and decided she needed to have some fun. On a dating site, she met a much younger man who owned a diamond mine. What followed was either Stockholm Syndrome or a pastiche of the sunk cost fallacy. Was she addicted to her scammer?

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Episode 86: Austin Federa Confirms Our Suspicions About Crypto Scams

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Solana Foundation hype man Austin Federa was kind enough to join us this week to discuss one of the bedrock truths when it comes to money: People like to steal it. Seriously, listen to this one if you think cryptocurrency has its own special category of crime, because you might be missing the forest for the trees.

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Episode 85: Michelle Dennedy Is the Most Interesting Person in the World

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Michelle Dennedy is to privacy what Einstein is to relativity but with the addition of rules that involve proper panty protocols. If there’s a new trend in identity-related crime, she knows about it, has an opinion and can help guide you to a better place without getting got by it. A must-listen episode especially if you’ve ever researched mental health care online.

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Episode 84: Adam & Co Explore the Long Tail of Chinese Spy Balloons

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

China’s spying via dirigible is incorrigible but in sync with its many digital deviancies. We tried to get Xi Jinping as a guest this week, but didn’t hear back so we decided to explore the news about Chinese spy balloons in context with other attacks, why it matters (or doesn’t) and why (at least one of us thinks) Mark Zuckerberg is just as bad.

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Episode 83: Jordan Got Scammed Selling AirPod Knockoffs Online

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Jordan is a classic go-getter. At age 17, he was running a successful e-commerce site reselling knock-off consumer electronics through a website connected to a drop shipping company. Unfortunately, the tidy profit he made on a product that was perfectly legal but a wee bit questionable, put him on the radar of scammers who knew a LOT about him.

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Episode 82: Jill Schlesinger Hits the Reset Button

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

In the wake of the Great Reset and Covid, millions of people have pursued their dreams of a better, financially stable and less stressful life. Business analyst and author Jill Schlesinger gives us a rundown on how to distinguish these dreams from reality and how to avoid getting scammed in the process.

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Episode 81: Adam Bares it All in the No-Shame Zone

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 10:03:20 -0000

If you’ve listened to the show more than once, you know Adam talks A LOT about credit freezes.This week he makes a jaw-dropping (and somewhat shameless) confession: The Great Cred-u-cator only got around to freezing his own credit last week! Hear what his no-shame zone admission can teach us all about the things we don’t do to stay safe online.

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Episode 80: Media Matters CEO Angelo Carusone Gives Us a Masterclass in Misinformation

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Misinformation is almost always born in the primordial slime of the internet, that swamp of blogs, newsletters, and other private discussion groups that most of us never read. Unless most of you happen to be Media Matters.

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Episode 79: Britt Ignored Her Bank Account and It Went Away

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Britt was starting a new career and between jobs, so there was no money coming in and she stopped checking her bank balances for a while. When she finally did take a look, a substantial piece of her nest egg had vanished. We find out where it went and how the theft may have gone down.

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Episode 78: Adam, Beau and Travis Ring in the New Year

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Online scams, hacks and the cybersecurity fails that feed them don’t stop for the holidays, and neither do we! That said, a lot of people do take a break this time a year, which is why we’re guest-less this week. But hey, you’ve still got us and there’s plenty of news.

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Episode 77: Our Annual Look Back at the Year that Was: 2022 Edition

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 06:00:00 -0000

As 2022 draws to a close, it’s time for our annual look back at all the guests who made 2022 a special year. Adam, Beau, Travis and Andrew Steven, the man with two first names who’s usually busy producing the show, talked about our favorite moments with Al Franken, Malcolm Nance, Roy Wood, Jr., Deviant Ollam, Dan Ahdoot and others.

Thanks to all of our listeners for a great 2022. We hope you’ve had as much fun listening to the show as we’ve had making it. And if you really like us, please take a moment to tell us about it in a review wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps people find the show!

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Episode 76: Kate Meets a Stress Scammer on Reddit

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Kate is a reservation school teacher in South Dakota. She’s financially responsible, and understands a thing or two about cybersecurity. Unfortunately, everything she knew flew out the window when her car got repossessed.

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Episode 75: Roy Wood, Jr. Exposes the Loch Ness Monster Gun Lobby Conspiracy

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 74: Bob Sullivan’s Dog Needs Tech Support

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Bob Sullivan does a lot for his trusty golden retriever Rusty, including the maintenance of a busy social media presence. So, you can imagine his horror after losing his phone and with that his access to Rusty’s account. How’d it happen? Cyber!

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Episode 73: Jessica Roy Was That Close to Stopping Her Identity Thief

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Jessica Roy’s wallet was stolen in a bar and soon her identity was stolen, too. Listen to this cyber-savvy reporter’s saga about doing everything right to protect herself while crime after crime was being committed in her name. And that was before things took a turn for the worse.

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Episode 72: Malcolm Nance Saw the Signals of his Typosquatters

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Question: What happens when you try to make money off an international crisis by posing as a former Navy signals intelligence guy? Answer: Not much. Just back from Ukraine, Malcolm Nance is a high profile legionnaire, which made him a target for scammers.

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Episode 71: Al Franken Holds a Mock Senate Hearing on Privacy with Siri and Alexa

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 70: Jennifer Kraus Gets a Call from her Mom

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Jennifer Kraus knows her way around the world, and is not an easy target for scammers, which is why they targeted her mother. Scams these days slip and slide from analog to digital. The one that we’re talking about today cost about $1000. It arrived via snail mail and email to the same home.

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Episode 69: Adam Burley Discovers a Serious Hack Disguised as Something Avoidable

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0000

You have heard us talk about two-factor authentication, and if you’re not using it wherever possible you should be. Having said that, hackers know how to get around it these days. In this episode, cybersecurity professional Adam Burley is back to tell us the story of a hacked C-suite client whose situation was more sophisticated than it seemed at first.

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Episode 68: Philippa Ward’s Support Call Ransacks Her Computer

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Philippa’s business software wasn’t working right, so she Googled for tech support and called the first number listed. Almost immediately, hackers were in her computer looking for sensitive data. This week we explore a new attack vector: online ads and business listings used as lures for unsuspecting victims, and how to avoid getting “got” by them.

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Episode 67: Fumiko Talks Poison Cheesecake and Toxic Boyfriends

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0000

WTH superfan Fumiko dated a sniper she met on the triathlon circuit who was not awesome and left her with questions that Oprah could have answered with great aplomb, but she asked us because, well… We don’t know. But we’re super grateful to have a superfan.

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Episode 66: Deviant Ollam Picks the Lock to Adam’s Heart

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Penetration testing may sound a little skeevy, but it is a term of art in the security business. Physical penetration testing….well. Deviant Ollam is a big name in that world with well-documented adventures in getting into places that are supposed to be, well, impenetrable.

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Episode 65: Beau Gets Hacked on the Way to the Big House

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 07:00:00 -0000

This week Beau goes on a road trip to the Big House in Michigan where he ran afoul of a parking scam outside the third-largest sports arena in the world. We’re going to have to call this one a limited bandwidth / zero available parking scam. Check it out.

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Episode 64: Chris Hutchins’s Travel Hacking Gets Hacked

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0000

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Episode 63: Freewheeling with Cyber Red Queen Tarah Wheeler

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Red Queen Dynamics founder Tarah Wheeler knows a thing or two about smashing norms in the cybersecurity industry. But as a human being, she also has some experience being compromised. You’ll definitely want to tune in as she tells us about her own goal as a cybersecurity executive, and how she practices cybersecurity in her own life.

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Episode 62: Joelle’s Identity Thief Almost Stumps the Chumps

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0000

Joelle was on the launch team for the What the Hack podcast, so she knows a thing or two about scams. But when her credit card was hit for thousands of dollars, even we didn’t know what happened–that is, until Travis figured it out (sort of).

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Episode 61: Andrew Gold Investigates A Dark Corner of the Internet

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0000

Investigative journalist and podcaster Andrew Gold talked to us before about the way magicians work. His second appearance on the show explores a more serious topic. This is not an easy listen, but Germany’s controversial approach to potential sex offenders raises some privacy and ethics issues that are central to the topics we discuss on WTH.

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Episode 60: Caitlin Brodnick Sees Pro Wrestlers on Her Reality TV

Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Caitlin Brodnick hosts the ScamWow podcast where she talks about what we talk about, and she has a must-listen podcast. When she’s not in front of a microphone, she spends a lot of time trying to figure out if Reality TV is actually real. Here’s what we found out.

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Episode 59: Dara Starr Tucker Sees Right Through a Scam

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0000

All Dara Starr Tucker wanted was an affordable place to live not quite in the center of things–a place to breathe easy. When she found what looked to be a dream rental for a third of her budget, she was excited, but when she got there her Spidey-sense told her to run.

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Episode 58: Ann Cavoukian Fights For Your Right to Privacy

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0000

When it comes to privacy, Ann Cavoukian is a legend. She created Privacy by Design during her tenure as Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, which landed her in the upper echelon of cybersecurity peeps. And she’s Raffi’s sister! Check it out.

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Episode 57: Brett Johnson is the Bad-Guy-Turned-Good-Guy We’ve Been Wanting to Meet

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0000

If you followed the news in the early 2000s, you probably remember the ShadowCrew cybercrime group. Brett Johnson rolled with them. These days he’s on the right side of the law, helping people avoid getting hacked, scammed and otherwise crimed… You don’t want to miss this one.

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Episode 56: Michelle Tea’s Tarot Business Draws a Fool

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Looking for the blue checkmark on Instagram is the easiest way for consumers to tell if they are dealing with a cloned account, but it’s not so easy to get. The site provides crucial exposure to creatives of all stripe. The problem is scammers are everywhere.

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Episode 55: Rudy Shepherd’s Money Goes to Zelle and Back

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 10:00:00 -0000

Rudy Shepherd was not used to selling his own work online. He had a gallery for that. But when the relationship with that gallery ended, he had to fend for himself, giving new meaning to the phrase, “learning on the job.” Listen in as he takes us on a tour of the Zelle hell with a scammer who knew just what to say.

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Episode 54: Andy Pham Claws Back a Multi-Million Dollar Heist

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0000

There are tens of millions of small and medium-size businesses in the United States alone, and depending on their state incorporation, many are in danger of business identity theft.

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Episode 53: A Stroll Down Scammery Lane with Adam, Beau and Travis

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Time flies when you’re having fun talking to people from all walks of life about getting scammed, hacked or otherwise cyberbamboozled. It seems like yesterday that we launched What the Hack with Adam Levin, but, this week marks our first anniversary! With highlights and noteworthy moments, our anniversary show is like a chocolate sampler, minus the gross ones with orange jelly that Travis likes.

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Episode 52: Michelle Waters’s Facebook Compromise as Teachable Moment

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Michelle Waters was a middle school teacher before getting into the teaching tools business, so she has nerves of steel. But when her Facebook account was misappropriated and badly misused, she learned that even veteran teachers have a melting point.

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Episode 51: Abby’s Compromise Costs Her Big Time

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 04:00:00 -0000

The Covid-19 pandemic put millions of people out of work and put billions of dollars in unemployment benefits up for grabs. What was a lifeline for the unemployed became a goldmine for scammers. In this episode, the scammer sometimes rings twice.

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Episode 50: Andrew Gold Shares Some Tricks of His Trade

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Social engineering is still a new term for some people. We break it down in this episode by focusing on how reporters and magicians use it. (Get it? There’s a trick involved!) Check out this wide-ranging conversation with journalist Andrew Gold that covers shamans, a classic girlfriend’s mother tale and nose picking.

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Episode 49: Beau Finally Comes Clean

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 07:00:00 -0000

You may have a little deja vu since Beau is constantly trying to get scammed, but in this episode, Adam, Beau and Travis talk about the scams they’ve stared down in the past–and of course Beau talks about the scam he fell for.

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Episode 48: Hope’s Hacker Husband Turns Out the Lights (Part 2)

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:00:00 -0000

An ugly divorce becomes fertile ground for an ex’s hacking skills as Hope is persistently compromised by forgotten backdoors to old devices and even a secret dressing-room camera. Hear how he kept getting in and what you can do if you’re worried about cyberstalkers.

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Episode 47: Hope’s Hacker Husband Turns Out the Lights (Part 1)

Mon, 30 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Ever wonder if your phone was listening to you? Have you stared at one of your smart home cameras and got the vibe that you were in the first act of a horror movie? Well, this episode proves that the worst you can imagine is just one bad relationship away!

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Episode 46: Yue and Julie Play Relationship Chicken with Online Faux-meos

Mon, 23 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Adam was a guest on the Date/Able podcast recently, and he had a lot of fun. With a head full of “The Tinder Swindler,” he invited them to be guests on What the Hack to discuss something near and dear to our hearts: Gutting faux-meo catphishers for fun and whatever the opposite of not-losing money and precious time looks like for you.

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Episode 45: Jeff Williams Helps Rout the Rustock Botnet

Mon, 16 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Jeff Williams has been on the cybersecurity beat before it had a name. Currently the Global Head of Security at Avast, Jeff was working the ramparts at Microsoft in the mid-oughts when he was tasked with bombing the botnets and making spam email a thing of the past. Your inbox reveals the outcome, but the journey will make you safer.

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Episode 44: They Accidentally Hacked the Presidential Inauguration

Mon, 09 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Retired Secret Service Chief of Staff Brian Ebert is back to talk about the time two Romanian hackers accidentally hit security cameras with ransomware that were monitoring the inauguration of Donald Trump. Hear how a sketchy Amazon vendor selling smoking guns (the culinary kind) led the Secret Service to the hackers days before the inauguration.

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Episode 43: Herb Weisbaum Talks Crypto Scams

Mon, 02 May 2022 07:00:00 -0000

ConsumerMan Herb Weisbaum is a veteran protector of all things scammable. On this week’s episode, he joined us to talk about crypto scams. If you invest in crypto you might want to check your accounts to make sure your dough's still there, because there are a lot of ways for it to go walkabout.

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Episode 42: Daniel Arnold Is Remarkably Chill About Identity Theft

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Daniel Arnold is a world-famous lenser known in equal parts for fashion and street photography, which may have made him a target. Tune in to hear his remarkably laid back reaction to becoming a victim of identity theft.

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Episode 41: Brian Ebert Cancels a Counterfeit Credit Card Racket

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Retired U.S. Secret Service chief of staff Brian Ebert joined us to recount the case of an international credit card skimming operation of mind-boggling proportions. Listen in as he tells a story that will make you freeze your credit before you even finish listening.

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Episode 40: Bill Gets High-Sticked by His Scammer

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Bill knows a lot about staying safe online and he still got scammed, which is what makes him the perfect guest for What the Hack. Trying to buy some last-minute tickets for a hockey game, he was in the scammer’s sweet spot–rushed and needing something specific. Listen in as he tells us the tale of how he stalked his scammers.

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Episode 39: Dan Ahdoot Gets Hacked by a Middle-Schooler

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 07:00:00 -0000

We like to think of our hackers (when they get you, they are yours forever) as being super STEM-smart computer lab rats, but as “Green Eggs and Dan” host Dan Ahdoot found out, sometimes they are thirteen-year-olds trying to earn some pocket money.

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Episode 38: Amanda, the Cyber Guy, a Catfish and Mister Fluffy

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 07:00:00 -0000

If you’re looking for love and companionship online, you know there are tons of jerks and rabbit boilers out there. You need to be careful. Here’s a story that will make you delete that dating app forever.

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Episode 37: Jack Rhysider Gets Stanned by a Superfan

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Darknet Diaries host Jack Rhysider is back! This time he tells us about a superfan stalker. Ever wonder if all that personal stuff you post on social media might get you in trouble? This week’s episode features an OG cyber expert’s story about just that.

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Episode 36: Jordan Harbinger Goes Into Hacker Mode

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 07:00:00 -0000

Jordan Harbinger is no stranger to the trust triggers that make people do things online and in real life. So, we figured he had some firsthand experience based on his coverage of hacking and social engineering on The Jordan Harbinger Show, but we didn’t know how wonderfully devious his stories from the early days were going to be. Check out this must-listen episode, or be hacked immediately.

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Episode 35: Noah Gets Hacked by a Ghanaian Syndicate?

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Identity theft, a Ghanaian car smuggling syndicate, and a mystery insurance policy that didn’t even make it into the episode – this story has it all, and from a previous guest we never imagined would become a victim of this sort of crime.

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Episode 34: Adam Goes to War with the Darkside

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Adam Burley is a “second-generation nerd” (that’s “cybersecurity expert” to you). He makes a living protecting businesses and their networks. When the ransomware gang behind the Colonial Pipeline attack infiltrated an unprotected server, he faced a crash course in how Ransomware-as-a-Service gangs operate.

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Episode 33: Jack Rhysider Dodges Bum NFTs on the OpenSea

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Darknet Diaries host Jack Rhysider is no stranger to cybercrime, but he’s relatively new to NFTs, a digital space still in Wild West mode. Jack joined us to talk about NFT pitfalls and the pickpocket vibes he’s encountered while investing in them, some digital wallet woes and more. He also had great advice for anyone thinking about making a move in the NFT space.

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Introducing Now What's Next

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 19:58:36 -0000

Today, we want to introduce you to Now, What's Next?, an original podcast from Morgan Stanley. This season of Now, What's Next looks at how the supply chain connects us all, and what happens when it breaks. The “Great Kettlebell Shortage” episode looks at why it was so hard to get kettlebells during the height of the pandemic. In this episode we meet Jay Perkins, the co-founder of Kettlebell Kings. During the beginning of the shortage, Jay sold out of two containers worth of product in about 10 minutes. While some businesses were hurting, others stepped in to fill the gap left by China. We hear from kettlebell manufacturers in Vietnam and the US who took the opportunity to make their move.

Listen to Now, What’s Next? anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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Episode 32: Angela Crushes Her Lip-Syncing Catfish

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Valentine’s Day is Christmas for scammers. Millions of people looking for love make themselves vulnerable to strangers online every day. Sadly, the person pitching woo isn’t always who they claim to be. The catfish du jour was pretty brave, but the only bread he saw was for a cyber po’boy.

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Episode 31: Brian Tells Us Something We Don’t Know (Part 2)

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0000

We liked Brian so much, the conversation went on for a really long time. If you didn’t catch the last episode, we talked to Brian Fennimore about his ancient experience with a compromised Hotmail account after trying to find some fizzy candy online. This time around, we go deep and learn some security tricks we didn’t know about. Pro tip: If you want two episodes, fascinate us. (He really did tell us stuff we didn’t know.)

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Episode 30: Brian’s Fizzy Candy Crush Sizzles His Account (Part 1)

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Brian Fennimore does cybersecurity for a living, but even infosec pros don’t pop out of Zeus’s head perfectly formed. Listen to the story of how nostalgia, a sugar craving and a reused password landed him in trouble back before cyber was a thing.

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Episode 29: Whim Grace Plays a Shell Game with Scammers

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 28: Megan Carpentier Makes Her Trolls Cry–Buh Bye!

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Trolls are misunderstood creatures, but they’re so mean that it’s hard to feel for them–unless you’re sussing out their soft underbelly for a kill shot. We talked to journalist Megan Carpentier, who is no stranger to online harassment. She gave us a crash course on trolls–how to recognize them and make them go away.

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Episode 27: Lisa Seiffert (and Her Nude Suitors) Get Hacked

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

We all know Instagram influencer accounts get hacked and held for ransom. And it’s no secret men send women pictures of their private parts via DM. This episode meets at the crossroads of these two open secrets. Model and writer Lisa Seiffert joined us to tell the tale.

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Episode 26: Caitlin’s Scammer Does His Homework

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0000

Caitlin Brodnick was not the most obvious target since she’s the host of a podcast called ScamWow. Which is why we were obviously impressed by the effort of her scammer and by her ability to see it for what it is and avoid getting got. Also discussed: Why you should never answer questions on social media.

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Episode 25: 2021 in Review: They’re Baaaaack

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

From QAnon to Mahjong and a parade of phishing victims, 2021 offered up a lot of teachable moments. We revisit six episodes from our first year, and invite the guests back to tell us how they improved their cyber defenses (or haven’t).

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Episode 24: Liza and the Phantom Switch

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

One of the hottest holiday gifts of 2021 is the new Nintendo Switch. The problem is they’re sold out everywhere. When this week’s guest tried to think outside the big box stores, she ran into a classic e-commerce scam.

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Episode 23: Harry’s Holiday Bah Humbug

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Who steals a Christmas tree? Sadly, a lot of people do. Harry tells us about a scam that was way too evil for the Grinch playbook as well as the other kinds of scams he’s seen over his many years in the Christmas tree business.

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Episode 21: Kristine Solomon’s Low-Rent Craigslist Scammer

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Kristine had been living la vida expatriate during Covid, when work called her back to New York City and she had to find a short-term rental. How’d a hardened reporter get sucked into a Craigslist scam? The same way we all do, and it’s a very good story.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 20: Axton Betz-Hamilton Gets the Shock of a Lifetime (Part 2)

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0000

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Episode 19: Axton Betz-Hamilton Goes Looking For Her Identity Thief (Part 1)

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 18: John Juniper’s Workflow Gets Hacked

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Does your business depend on social media? How about your social life? Would you be willing to pay to get your account back if it got hacked? That’s this week’s dilemma for a well-known eyewear designer. Hear what he did.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 17: Josh Gets Over the Wire Scam

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0000

Josh works at a real estate company that oversees wire transfers every day. Hear the story about the time a single compromised email account almost cost his company big time.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 16: James’s Tale from the Crypt(o)

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 07:00:00 -0000

If you've waded into cryptocurrency investments, you probably know about crypto scams. But what you don’t know about crypto wallets could be exactly what a thief needs to steal all those magic gains. We also talk about bears, if you're into that sort of thing.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 15: Ivana Miličević Rises to the Bait

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 07:00:00 -0000

What happens when you combine an actor, a well-followed Instagram account, an early morning alert and a master cleanse with a hacker? An account takeover and ransom situation, of course! Also covered in this episode: no-click exploits.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 14: Jennifer’s Son Takes a Bank Shot

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 07:00:00 -0000

The teenage son of this week’s guest learned a lesson we've been banging on about for years--the hard way. Don't use your debit card when a credit card will do. There is a very specific reason we say this, and you can find out what it is right here.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 13: Emily McVicker Gets Taken for a Song

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 07:00:00 -0000

The Covid epidemic shut down music venues around the world, but with our ever more connected planet, the bands played on. Music people moved their gigs online and Twitch became a major venue for that. That’s where Emily McVicker ran into trouble with a new version of the overpayment scam. Also in this episode: Can you steal a Tesla with a Raspberry?

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 12: Loki Gets Tricked

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:00:00 -0000

Some scams give us something to laugh about whether it's the sheer audacity or the incompetence that made them work. Loki’s story is not one of those capers. He was the victim of a catfishing scam where he figured as the catfish as the result of identity theft. But the worst part? The person who did it to him...

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 11: Larry Clicks Anyway

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Larry worked on the assembly line at Ford and a long list of impressive jobs to which he can now add “Scam Slayer.” Online criminals often target retirees, because they assume senior citizens are easy prey. Larry is an object lesson in how not to fall victim to the kinds of crime targeting the AARP crowd.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 10: Mary J. White Snags a Catfish

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 21:55:00 -0000

Mary is a lot of things. Cannabinoid cooking maven, former radio host, and her banter could make the saltiest sailor blush. When she was angling to find love (and sex) online, a rather young-sounding catfish took the bait and what followed was pretty funny.

Read the transcript here.

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Episode 9: Joyce and a Bank Robber Play MahJong

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Read the episode transcript here.

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Episode 8: Paul’s High-Touch Hacker

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Paul Toma is in the business of making the world a greener place, which made him a target for someone looking to tap into his credit at a local bank. A stroke of luck was all that stood between him and economic ruin. Find out in the latest episode how Paul was compromised and why you should never reuse your passwords.

See the transcript here.

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Episode 7: Dan Beeler Stops a Slow-Roll Ransomware Attack

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Dan Beeler of Boyne Resorts protects fans of the great outdoors from prying eyes and other online threats. Fending off the assortment of cyber attacks that come his way is all in a day’s work, which is why Dan was the first to know when his company got hit by ransomware. Hear what happened, and how Dan saved the day.

See the transcript here.

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Episode 6: Noah Doesn’t Buy the Ark

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Noah’s son had a boat coming to him, but finding one to buy during the pandemic was like trying to raise the Titanic. This episode focuses on that classic moment when Noah found a deal too good to be true. Boat-selling skullduggery ahead, as we learn how be like Noah when it comes to online scams.

See the episode transcript here.

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Episode 5: Cristian Walks the Plank in Pirate Bay

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Digital pirates pick up all sorts of viruses and bugs while downloading their treasures. Episode Five features a savvy digital native who picked up a nasty bug during a digital stroll down the gamer’s version of Memory Lane. Whether you think you’re immune to online contagion, or you just need a little pirate humor, we got it here.

See the episode transcript here.

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Episode 4: Sally Gets Taken for a Ride

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Aunt Sally was happy to spend her time birdwatching and hanging out with her family. Then one day, a single typo put her in the crosshairs of a hacker who was intent on stealing all her money, rifling through her personal data and stealing her identity. Also: Don't post pictures of your vaccination card!

Read the episode transcript.

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Episode 3: Jake’s Dirty Little Secret

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 07:00:00 -0000

As a journalist, he’s traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world and managed to not get hacked. But the moment he gets some down time at home: O, the shame. Also covered: smishing, social engineering, 419 scams and once again, why you should never re-use your passwords.

Read the episode transcript here.

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Episode 2: Christen’s Enemy with Benefits

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:00:00 -0000

The Covid-19 pandemic created massive unemployment and with that, a shadow pandemic of unemployment scams. In our second episode, Adam’s sister-in-law was targeted in two different states and tells us the tale. Also discussed: are biometrics better than passwords?

Read the episode transcript here.

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Episode 1: Roy Gets Hacked by an Evil Clown

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 07:00:00 -0000

Read the episode transcript here.

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Welcome to "What the Hack?"

Thu, 13 May 2021 22:30:00 -0000

The award-winning true cybercrime podcast is back with new stories and actually helpful advice. Every week, we dive into scams, hacks, and digital disasters with real people who’ve been there and security pros who know how to help.

What the Hack is a production of DeleteMe.

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