This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire Maria Varmazis and Dave Bittner alongside Joe Carrigan are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. For our follow up this week we get an update Merriam-Webster dictionary for Joe, and listener Michael Amezquita suggested that customizable ChatGPT personality settings may explain why Joe and Dave received different responses on Hacking Humans. Dave shares reporting on a Binary Defense case where attackers used social engineering and a help desk reset to hijack a physician’s identity and reroute payroll deposits through a trusted internal system without triggering security alerts. Maria highlights a surge in AI-powered publishing scams targeting authors, where fraudsters use flattery and impersonate legitimate organizations to charge bogus marketing and promotion fees. Joe covers multi-state raids tied to a massive gold bar scam that stole tens of millions from seniors, with stolen gold allegedly melted down through cooperating jewelry stores. In our Catch of the Day, a Reddit scambaiter shared a bizarre ongoing conversation with someone claiming to be “Keanu Reeves from Brokeback Mountain” who reached out to non‑fans in Norway.
Resources and links to stories:
- Payroll pirates are conning help desks to steal workers' identities and redirect paychecks
- What is it like to attend a predatory conference?
- Hungry for Affirmation, Vulnerable to Scams: As a Writer, I Know the Feeling
- Third North Texas jewelry store raided over alleged connections to $74 million gold scam targeting seniors
- Federal and state authorities raid jewelry stores in multi-state $50 million gold bar scam
- Jewelry store raids in Irving, Frisco linked to $55 million gold scam targeting seniors, officials say
- Keanu Reeves from Brokeback Mountain reaches out to non-fans in Norway! - Part 1
Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.