The Tinder Swindler is a fascinating Netflix documentary about a serial romance scammer who took each of his “girlfriends” for more than $100,000 each. In this episode, we look at what we can learn from The Tinder Swindler, going beyond the easy “blame the victim” mentality to show how effective such scams can be, and to point out the individual red flags you should watch out for in any new romance.
The hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 was one of the most bizarre crimes of the decade. Instead of demanding money, the hackers threatened a terrorist attack on the USA if Sony didn't cancel the release of the film 'The Interview,' a comedy about two bumbling journalists who travel to North Korea and attempt to assassinate the country's Supreme Leader. The release went forward anyway, and thankfully, the threats came to nothing, and there were no casualties. Enjoy the terrible English in the hackers' written threats against 'The Sony,' and Michele's terrible attempts at reading them aloud in a North Korean accent.
Why are older people so susceptible to scams? There could be a relationship to the music you loved in your teen years. Just as most of us have a Musical Peak in our teens, I propose that we also have a Technology Peak in our 20s-40s. Nudging our elderly relatives out of their Technology Peak, and into the present, is the only way to break this pattern. And the only way to do it is by showing them.
References:
Study of link between adolescent age and music preference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2059204320965058
What would you do if you found out someone was using your identity to take out credit cards, steal your tax refund, or even raid your bank account? Meet Tiffany, Pete, and Astrid, all three of them victims of identity theft. Find out how each of them discovered the fraud, what they did to reverse the damage, and what they do now to prevent it from happening again.
How are bike thieves like hackers? Both look for the same kinds of vulnerabilities, including easy-to-crack passwords. Would you leave your bike's combination at the default of 0000? Of course not. In the same way, you should change default passwords and use something that a hacker won't find easy to crack. Be safe out there!
Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, is traditionally one of the biggest holiday shopping days of the year. But hackers aren't going to take a holiday–they'll use Black Friday as an opportunity to try and scam you. If you get a text about an order or a gift card, don't tap the link! Instead, go to the retailer's site and see if there's a message for you. Let's all have a holly jolly holiday season with no scams!
You've heard of Bitcoin, but how does it work, and why are so many people talking about it? Let's talk about blockchain–the tech behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency–in plain English, including hashing, a key part of blockchain technology. We'll also talk about why people invest in cryptocurrency.
Resources for this episode Development of blockchain: “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” by Satoshi Nakamoto: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Rising Bitcoin value: https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-surge-means-laszlo-hanyecz-paid-316-million-two-pizzas-2021-3 The fascinating original forum conversation about the pizza buy: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137.0 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/09/bitcoin-forgotten-currency-norway-oslo-home https://cointelegraph.com/news/satoshi-nakamoto-s-bitcoin-white-paper-is-now-a-13-year-old-teenager Bitcoin accepted as currency: https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-president-bitcoin-law-will-be-approved-tonight https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/who-accepts-bitcoin/ Losing the key: https://www.wired.com/story/i-forgot-my-pin-an-epic-tale-of-losing-dollar30000-in-bitcoin/ https://www.wired.com/story/wired-lost-bitcoin/ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/uk-man-makes-last-ditch-effort-to-recover-lost-bitcoin-hard-drive.html https://medium.com/luno/where-do-lost-bitcoins-go-7e8dd24abd0f How blockchain works: https://www.guru99.com/blockchain-tutorial.html https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp
If anyone–the IRS, the electric company, the police–calls you and asks you to buy a prepaid Visa card or a gift card to pay your bill over the phone, it's not who you think it is. They'll tell you to scratch the numbers off the back and read them the numbers. This is a ploy by scammers to get money from you. Don't fall for it!
This tip was inspired by a recent real-life story of a phone scam that terrified a woman in the San Francisco area: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/phone-scam-therapists-16483251.php
Hackers operate off of fear. They'll call you with an urgent problem: Your bill is overdue! Pay now! But if they don't know your name, social security number, or anything else about you, it's a scam. Hang up and be satisfied that you thwarted yet another hack.
In July 2015, a very polite group of hackers called The Impact Team stole the data of over 30 million users from Ashley Madison, a website for cheating spouses, and threatened to dump it all over the dark web if the site wasn't shut down. The site stayed up, and the data went out. Learn about how hackers worldwide have used the data to blackmail users, the denials (and eventual resignations) of Ashley Madison executives, and the many clues, including the hackers' unusual level of politeness, that point to certain culprits.