Hacking Humans
Recent Episodes
On this episode of Hacking Humans, we are going old school with Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan sans T-Minus host Maria Varmazis (as she was hanging out with astronauts at the SpaceCom event). Not to worry, Dave and Joe have it covered sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, we have some follow up including a conversation Joe had with ChatGPT, some discussion on AI generated images of people, and scam letters that are sent out in the mail. Joe shares a text his office mate received from the "IRS." He also has a story about food workers taking photos of credit and debit cards at restaurant drive throughs. Dave's story is about a near-perfect scam attempt that almost fooled a very smart guy—Zach Latta, the founder of Hack Club. Our Catch of the Day comes from Reddit about a Facebook Marketplace scam using Zelle.
Despicable donation request scamming.
On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, Dave has the story from Ampyx Cyber that has a scam reporter on staff to do awareness videos and this latest one is about an amazing sale on fake leather bags. Joe has two stories this week. The first one sent Joe down a rabbit hole and is about romance scams where 3 people were recently sentenced. The second one is about one of the victims of that previous romance scam. And finally, Maria's story is about Restaurant Week in NYC and third-party brokers who do restaurant reservation auctions. Our Catch of the Day involves a GoGetFunding gift card scam related to a campaign looking for donations to help pay for a child's medical costs.
Back to the office, back to the threats.
On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week Maria has the story on how the return to office life brings unique security challenges, highlighting the need for Red Team assessments to uncover and address physical and digital vulnerabilities, empowering organizations to proactively enhance workplace security and protect against evolving threats. Joe's story comes from the FCC's warning about a scam dubbed "Green Mirage," where fraudsters impersonate mortgage lenders, spoof caller IDs, and use social engineering to trick financially vulnerable homeowners into sending payments via unconventional methods, often only discovered when foreclosure proceedings begin. Last but not least, Dave's story is on how a Reddit user shared their cautious experiment with a suspected Airbnb scam involving a new account requesting to move to WhatsApp, agreeing to unusually high rental rates, and engaging in rapport-building tactics, with red flags pointing to potential financial fraud or phishing attempts. Our catch of the day comes from listener William, who spotted a phishing scam disguised as a security alert about a compromised crypto wallet, featuring an unsolicited QR code and a generic warning that targets even non-crypto users.
Crypto chameleons and star fraud.
On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week we jump right into stories, Maria shares Apple’s new AI feature and how it is unintentionally rewording scam messages to make them appear more legitimate and flagging them as priority notifications, raising concerns about increased susceptibility to scams. Joe has two stories this week, the first focuses on two individuals, including an inmate using a smuggled cellphone, being charged with defrauding a Sarasota woman of $12,000 in a jury duty scam involving spoofed law enforcement identities and Bitcoin transfers, with authorities urging vigilance against such schemes. Joe's second story is on a LinkedIn job interview turned hacking attempt when a technical challenge contained obfuscated code designed to gather crypto wallet information from the user's computer; the scam highlights the importance of carefully reviewing code and using secure environments like virtual machines during such evaluations. Finally Dave has the story on a prolific voice phishing crew manipulating legitimate Apple and Google services to deceive victims, leveraging advanced phishing kits, social engineering tactics, and automated tools like "autodoxers" to target cryptocurrency holders and high-value individuals for significant financial theft. Our catch of the day comes from listener Keefe, who shares a voicemail from one suspicious sounding Walmart voice.
Nice to meet you, I'm a scammer.
On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. Our hosts discuss and ponder whether or not diamonds are the original cryptocurrency, as well as diving further into Yubikeys for organizations. Maria shares the story of a 66-year-old woman who lost her $2 million retirement savings to a romance scam on Match.com, highlighting the rise in such scams and efforts to pass the Online Dating Safety Act to protect users. Joe's story is on the Madoff Victim Fund's final $131.4 million payout, bringing total recoveries to $4.3 billion for victims of Bernard Madoff's infamous Ponzi scheme, which collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis. Dave's got the story on allegations that the PayPal Honey browser extension not only fails to deliver the best deals but also hijacks affiliate revenue from influencers by replacing their links with its own, sparking backlash and controversy. Our catch of the day comes from Reddit and Dave and Maria do their best impressions yet, as a scammer chats up an unsuspecting victim.