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Year: 2025

Cybercrime / Privacy

We’re spying on students. Is that safe or dangerous?

March 12, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

I spent last week interviewing the parents of a teenager who committed suicide after a terrible encounter with sextortion. The entire episode began and ended in a single, horrible night on Instagram.  I’ll tell their full story another day, but the interviews are haunting me. Can’t something be done? Companies [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

One family’s desperate attempt to free dad from an online scam — this time, there’s no happy ending

February 28, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

One of the worst parts of my job is hearing from people trying to help someone they know break free from an ongoing scam.  They’ve tried everything to persuade these friends or family members to break off contact with online criminals — romance scammers, crypto scammers, timeshare scammers, it doesn’t [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

HP mandated 15-minute wait time for callers — why that was good news for criminals

February 21, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

I have long said that poor customer service is a massive cybersecurity and financial vulnerability. I realize that line doesn’t always click with people right away, so I’m devoted to sharing examples with you (like this dramatic story). Hewlett-Packard just offered up a slam dunk. The company recently deployed a [Keep reading]

Bob Sullivan's podcast projects

Yes, you can invest in whisky. But this man lost everything

February 10, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

You can invest in anything, so of course, you can invest in whisky.  I was surprised to learn recently how “easy” that is, however.  And, like all things that seem easy, there’s a catch.  As with all non-traditional investments, there is little regulation. And when there’s little regulation, there are [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Trafficked: My interview with Mariana van Zeller about American stuck in Mozambique prison

January 26, 2025 Bob Sullivan 0

Rodney Baldus thought he was going to leave his daughter an inheritance so she could save the family farm. Instead, the 74-year-old man is sitting in a crowded jail cell in Mozambique with little hope of ever getting out. His daughter, Nicole, is terrified her diabetic father will die alone [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan